In the Swansea valley where I live, there are no trains—none. The same is true for the neighbouring Dulais valley, the Neath valley and the Afan valley. And although there are some great cycle paths, the geography and terrain of these valleys make active travel more challenging than in other urban areas of Wales. They are areas that are completely dependent on buses for public transport. And I want to make this point crystal clear, because this debate is sometimes framed around rural populations versus urban or the use of rail transport versus bus.

And another factor I also want to throw into the mix, as Heledd Fychan did here, is car ownership, or rather the lack of. Buses serve those without cars, and the Valleys communities I represent in South Wales West have below-national-average levels of car ownership. Buying and running a car is simply unaffordable and so, the bus is the only choice—the only way many people of all ages can access work, education, healthcare, shops, leisure and social activities. So, if you live in these areas and do not own a car, the way you can get around is already limited. And the number of complaints I receive about cuts to already skeleton services is huge, and I'd like to share some of them with you, because the voices of these people, as many Members have said, rightfully belong in this debate.

One 37-year-old woman told me that she relies completely on bus services. She used to use the bus to go to work every day: one bus from her village in the Neath valley into Neath and then one from Neath to her place of work just outside Port Talbot. But frequent delays resulted in her missing her connection, getting to work late. She no longer works there. Recent bus cuts and reduced Valleys services have meant that if she'd still been employed there, a journey that already took over an hour would now take even longer, if the bus turns up at all. As she is currently seeking employment, she says she has to take current levels of service into account when considering opportunities, which limits the jobs she can apply for.

Another woman, whose health is deteriorating, uses a car at the moment, but worries it won't be long until she can no longer drive, and she says she's really worried about getting old in her community. A woman who lives in Godre'r Graig told me service is already poor. She feels she's going to be completely cut off if there are any further reductions to services. She's really concerned for her son, who is due to start Neath college in September. Loss of service would mean that he would not be able to attend. Her sister works in Morriston Hospital. She doesn't drive, and regular and reliable bus services are vital for her employment.

And it's not just the Valleys communities in South Wales West. Dyffryn Clydach is a community in Neath, but it's on a long, steep hill—very long. Many residents have told me there they feel completely cut off on the weekend because there's no bus on a Saturday, and they can't even get into Neath town centre, therefore, to go shopping or meet people because of the lack of buses. 

But if buses are a lifeline, then the cost of a ticket is also often a barrier, and I think this is also something we must consider. A mother from Neath says she struggles with the cost of the fare if she has to go and pick up her child from school if she's sick or has a practice after school.

So, the absolute state of bus services in areas like mine is nothing new. South Wales West is predominantly served by First Cymru, with a number of routes served by South Wales Transport, Adventure Travel and Stagecoach. While a lot of the services between the main urban areas of Bridgend, Port Talbot, Neath and Swansea are run on commercial grounds and are well used, many of the Valleys areas, as I've outlined, have a lesser service. And in the Swansea and Amman valleys in particular, services are extremely patchy and infrequent. A 15-minute journey in a car can take well over an hour by bus, and sometimes even more. And, as I've said, many places have no weekend services, or very limited weekend services. And the availability of bus in the evenings can result in people not being able to attend events that go beyond 6 p.m. or get home, as Huw mentioned, after shift work. Any cuts to bus services will exacerbate these difficulties, limiting the mobility of even more people. 

In the summer holidays of 2021, Swansea Council launched their free bus initiative. Since that initial trial, it has been repeated many times during school holidays. In correspondence with the council, asking if they'd evaluated this and the impact of it, I was told that anecdotal evidence from a customer survey undertaken in December last year indicated that 25 per cent of people who've used the scheme would not otherwise have travelled. While it is clear the scheme proved popular and saved people money at the times it ran, Swansea Council stated that the nature of the initiative has made it difficult to assess longer term impacts. With similar schemes being pursued or explored in other parts of the country, what efforts is the Government taking, in conjunction with service operators and local authorities, to monitor and analyse the longer term impact of these schemes on passenger numbers? Given that one of the problems facing the bus sector is reduced passenger numbers, should we not be looking at the impact interventions like this can have on the number of people using buses, and exploring ways they can be scaled up if they prove to be successful in encouraging modal shift?

Meanwhile, people like those who live in cwm Tawe, cwm Nedd, cwm Dulais and cwm Afan are feeling forgotten about, devalued and anxious. They don't understand why there are shiny new buses and trains in some areas, constant talk of a greener, cleaner Wales in this place, when the communities they are living in are being left behind. Llywydd, a solution must be found, and I really want to hear what action the Government can take to address this, because they need to address this.