13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
What we're doing is we're going to have a series of regional active travel advisors in Transport for Wales, who will work with a small group of local authorities on an ongoing basis to support and advise them to understand, at a much more granular level, what…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
And Scotland.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
We're monitoring that really closely, Delyth. I think the real solution there is road surface differentiation rather than exemption. So, bus lanes, effectively, or priority at traffic lights and so on. You want that for a number of reasons, actually. You want…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
We do.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
Yes. So, since the beginning of COVID, we've put £200 million into buses. So, it's a substantial investment, and we're, frankly, just not getting back from that investment the kind of service that we need, for all kinds of complicated reasons—and that's not…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
Yes, absolutely.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
Yes, yes. Absolutely. And you know there are already real issues. I live in a community like that, and the school bus will have two or three seats on it, but they're not allowed to be used by other members of the communities, because there are issues about…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
That's up for discussion. That's easier in some places than others. So, it's easier in big cities than it is in rural areas, but, you know, ideally, I would say that, if we could get a very good bus network running in every part of Wales, there'd be no reason…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
That's why I'm telling you that we don't yet have a set-in-stone model, because we're working through what are the ramifications of that. One of the things we want to do is remove the prohibition from local authorities that don't currently run a bus company…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
Yes. I mean, one of the complexities of the franchising process—and this is a discussion that's been going on for five years or more, right—one of the discussions there is exactly the problem we have with all bidding in to Government projects: will we allow…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
Committee will remember that we put a White Paper out that had a lot of this in it, and then we're just discussing a model that has TfW at the centre, and then the local authorities feeding into that. We're still in discussions with the local authorities…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
We definitely want to do that, Janet.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
We're absolutely, absolutely in conversation with our bus operators. We work with them hand in glove. Ruth practically lives with them. [Laughter.] I have met them on a large number of occasions. We are very interested in making sure that we can sustain the…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
And just to say, Janet, we have a mixed economy in bus. So, in Cardiff and in Newport, we have local authority owned bus companies. So, if we did a one size fits all, we'd be chucking those under the proverbial bus as well.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
That is something that comes through loud and clear in the bus meetings that we have. It's not like we've got a functioning system and we're wilfully changing it. This system does not function. It doesn't work for them, it doesn't work for us. It doesn't work…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
Of course there is, because it's a change, isn't it? Some of the very well established companies around Wales are used to the current operating model, but the current operating model doesn't work for them any more than it works for us. They're all struggling.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
June next year, isn't it?
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
Yes, go on, Peter.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
We meet with the bus companies very regularly. Lee does when he's here, and I do as well, actually. Peter meets with them very regularly, and so does Ruth. We have a well-developed network of meetings with the bus operators, done on a regional basis across…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
Yes, that's exactly what it will be. TfW is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Welsh Government, just to say. So, obviously, they are us for this purpose. We hold them to account in that way, and they will hold the reins, if you like, for the local services…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
What we've been working on with local authorities—and we've been doing this for years—is something that allows TfW to be the expert, if you like, in the middle, or the controlling mind—I think we used that language at one point—and then for the local…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
Joyce, this is one of the reasons why we put the CJCs in place, and I know you all know I was the Minister who took that Bill through, so it's really nice to see them coming into operation. The whole purpose of them was to make sure that we had regional…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
I'm very pleased to say that all the CJCs have submitted their implementation plans. They did that by the end of October. Those plans are being reviewed, and they're being signed off as they go, subject to a small number of comments being addressed. We've…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
I feel obliged at this point to say, Huw, that I've made a very similar journey myself, but I sailed through as I have an electric car. [Laughter.]
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Craffu ar drafnidiaeth gyda'r Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd
Yes, because it works in cities where mass transit works, and it's much easier to travel by public transport than it is to drive your car, frankly; so, that's what we need to do. We need to make the right choice the easy choice. That's the thing we say all…
