, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 3
Okay. How much of it is down to—? Bev, you were talking earlier about it costing £0.25 million to submit a franchise bid. How much is that down to not having the data? Because, obviously, these things everybody carries, they tell you the journeys that people…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 3
Right. I wanted to ask about the Welsh Government's 'Bws Cymru' strategy, and I want to use it in the context of how we're going to reverse the vicious circle. How are we going to use the carrots and the sticks to achieve our ends, given that the Welsh…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 3
So, what do the regulations say? Is it the wheelchair user who has priority for that space?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 3
That's your aspiration, but our witness in the wheelchair said that she was always being bypassed, that the bus would just go on because they couldn't be bothered to—you know, the time taken to actually load the wheelchair user.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 3
Yes, I've got two things. One is that one of the people who gave us evidence in our community outreach work was a disabled person in a wheelchair, who said that the bus was constantly just going past. So, what are the rules amongst your operators around the…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 2
I think it's about making the modal shift as fast as we need to make it in light of the climate emergency, and whether the metros are able to drive that modal shift in our three main urbanised areas, our main centres of population. So, for example, in the…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 2
Okay. So, Joe, do you think that it doesn't matter who actually owns the bus, it's about controlling the objectives?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 2
[Inaudible.]—an earlier evidence session said, 'We have to seize the moment. Even if you don't have the expertise, you have to develop it', as we did when we took over the rail franchise. So, what is your experience, both David and Joe, of the experience in…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 2
Okay. All right. Fine. So, just moving on to the Welsh Government's proposal to introduce a Wales-wide franchised bus service. Silviya, in your paper, you express concern about whether the public sector has the expertise, as well as the financial resources. I…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 2
Okay. But nothing you can add to that, David Beer, because, obviously, your focus is on this.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 2
Okay. Quick supplementary, which is around the push factor posed by the rise and rise of petrol and diesel prices, because Silviya, in your paper, you talk about the way in which the cost of owning a car has risen much less than the cost of travelling by bus…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 2
Particularly, surely, it's the service provider's responsibility and they can just stop the bus and say, 'We're not going on until this activity ceases.'
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 2
[Inaudible.]—experience of street harassment. I've seen surveys done with students and young people in secondary school talking about harassment on the bus. So, I just wondered, as you're part of a coalition, whose responsibility is it to address feeling…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
Thank you.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
Okay. Could you just say why you think mobility as a service is a potential game changer?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
And we've got the chicken-and-egg problem, which is that we can't force people to get out of their cars until we've got those alternative options on public transport. People have got to get to X.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
Okay, all right. Just quickly talking about the metros, you've talked earlier, Professor Barry, about grabbing the road-pricing opportunities before the Treasury does. Is this something that the metro could seize on?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
So, how do we resolve these procurement and contract management issues that you have spoken about?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
Fine, okay. I just want to move on to rail, then, which is: what are the opportunities and threats of the UK Government's proposed rail reform, including the creation of this 'Great British Railways'? So, moving from ending franchising to a fee-based…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
Okay, but the price of diesel going up obviously is a—
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
Okay, but, for example, Cardiff Bus and Newport Bus have both acquired electric buses through a grant from the Department for Transport. Why would it not be possible in theory for a smaller company to also apply for those sorts of resources?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
Earlier, Professor Parkhurst, you said that electric buses cost three times more than diesel buses, so, therefore, it wasn't possible to afford them if you were a small company. Could you just say a little bit more about why that's the case?
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
Thank you.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Bus and rail transport in Wales - evidence session 1
I just wanted to pick up on the point where you were talking about a 30 to 40 per cent reduction in car use, when the Welsh Government's Net Zero Wales talks about a 58 per cent reduction in car use. So, are you watering down your ambitions, or has the Welsh…
, Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Post-Brexit funding
I was astonished to hear you say, 'Why does Wales need this money any longer?' We're in the middle of a climate emergency and we have a massive programme of decarbonisation that we need to achieve, and that's one of the things that the European programme was…
