Thank you to Plaid Cymru for this motion. I'm going to be supporting the motion unamended.

Just let me tell you a little story about door-knocking in a village called Llangynog, which is just south of Llanwddyn, near lake Vyrnwy. I came across a lady who told me about the bus service that she took every week with her friends, run by Tanat Valley Coaches, based in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. Once every Tuesday, the bus would pick them all up at about 11 a.m. They would go to Oswestry, actually—in England, I'm afraid—to have their hair done, to do their shopping and to have a cup of coffee, and they would come back. That was the only bus service, once a week. But, to go back to Delyth's point, it was so important for that community. It was run by Tanat Valley Coaches, who I actually visited as well. Tanat Valley were a service that offered bus services to schools as well, and, actually, they told me that they made a loss, but they felt it was so important that they continued with this community resource. I do praise them and support them for that. We know that, for those rural communities—. Many of us represent them and we've heard from many Members here how vital they are. The bus emergency scheme was so vital to them as well to protect those services, and we're now facing a cliff edge around funding. I totally agree with everything that's been said about deregulation as well, but, in rural areas, we do need a solution. I agree with the Minister that long-term funding is needed. It would be devastating for our communities to lose the bus emergency scheme in its current form. It has been a lifeline. Graham Vidler of the Confederation of Passenger Transport has said that some communities in rural west Wales would be cut off altogether. We need to ensure that important routes linking communities to services, as you've heard, in rural locations, like local hospitals and schools, don't see a significant reduction in services. 

Rural areas need certainty, and our communities need investment. We all want to promote a sustainable economy in our rural areas, but it does depend on decent public transport links, and turning around the long-term decline in bus use. I do pick up Huw Irranca-Davies's point as well: we do need to use them, or we will lose them. I look forward to the roll-out of the Fflecsi bus service, which has been piloted. I've been very impressed with that, having seen it in Pembrokeshire, so I do look forward to hearing more about that.

We know we cannot achieve net zero without increasing bus use. The effect of the cliff edge now means that the bus industry could face catastrophe for passengers and for the industry, and it does undermine the Government's commitment to environmental aims. Wales already has the highest rate of car commuting of any nation in the UK, and we need to ensure that we look at the language of climate emergency through that lens. I do applaud the roads review. I think I was probably the only Member here who supported the roads review without any conditions at all. So, I thank you for that, and we need to move forward on that; that is really important.

I've long advocated as well the introduction of free bus travel for all under-25s. It would have a transformational effect on the lives of many young people, again, particularly in those rural areas. I hope that the Minister will match his ambitions with action. We need to give bus operators the certainty they need to deliver the services that we need for sustainable growth in the kind of rural areas that I represent. I don't believe we can withdraw the emergency support until we have at least a proper funding plan in place, because that's what the ladies of Llangynog need. Diolch yn fawr iawn.