Welsh bus users face 'skeleton service' in funding cuts

Wales' bus network looks set to be reduced to at best a "skeleton" service when Covid-era funding ends, the Senedd has been told.

There are fears large numbers of routes will be scrapped once the Welsh emergency scheme runs out in June.

Deputy Transport Minister Lee Waters says money is not available to keep the scheme going.

One Labour MS called for a deal between Labour and Plaid Cymru to be renegotiated to find more cash.

It comes a day after the Welsh government's roads review saw all major road projects in Wales scrapped.

Plaid Cymru said the cuts will leave people stranded, but Mr Waters told the Senedd that Labour and Plaid had not agreed that bus services were a priority in their co-operation agreement.

Governments across Great Britain stepped in to provide support to bus companies when passenger numbers collapsed at the start of the Covid pandemic.

In Wales the Bus Emergency Scheme (BES) spent £157m to keep bus firms going. Budget documents suggest it was worth £28m in 2022-23 alone.

It was due to end in March this year - following discussions with the mostly-private industry the Welsh government extended BES, but only for three months.

This was despite a budget document to committees having suggested that the scheme would be maintained into the next year at the same level.

One industry body, Coach and Bus Operators Cymru (CaBAC) which represents small firms, raised fears of 65% to 100% of services being cut.

It is not the only source of cash - subsidy is also provided through the concessionary fares scheme - worth £60.4m in 2022-23, and the bus services support grant, £25m the same year.

In a topical question in the Senedd called by Plaid Cymru's Delyth Jewell, Lee Waters said there needs to be a "reconfiguring" of bus networks after passenger behaviour changed.

"There are fewer older people travelling. There are more leisure journeys than there are commuting journeys," he said.

But he said ministers were trying to "square a very very difficult budget settlement", and said Labour and Plaid had prioritised "a whole range of funding for free school meals, for the cost of living crisis, and for a pay deal for the NHS".

The deputy transport minister said "this wasn't" one of the priorities that had been agreed.

Mr Waters said he hoped to work closely with the bus industry during the three month extension "to give us the best chance to have a skeleton service" that would take buses into the planned franchising system "which is a couple of years away".

Mr Waters said it was a problem in England and Scotland as well.

With no extension planned in England, Mr Waters said he would "plead to the UK government, because they're having these problems, to put extra money into the transport budget of the UK level" which could produce extra funding for Wales.

The Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport Natasha Asghar accused the Welsh government of "stripping away a much needed cash lifeline".

"If funding plans are not put into place, by cutting financial help for buses, this government's going to inflict major problems on countless people all four corners of Wales."

Plaid Cymru's Transport Spokesperson Delyth Jewell said: "As it stands, the Labour Welsh government's cut to public transport will leave people stranded."

"If we want to commit to a net-zero future - which we must do, for the sake of our planet and our own wellbeing, then we must ensure that bus and train services are widely available to link communities to one another."

In the Senedd Mr Waters faced criticism from Labour backbenches.

Alun Davies, Blaenau Gwent Labour MS, called for "emergency legislation".

He said his constituents, hearing of a "skeleton service" would know "it won't serve Cwm, it won't serve Blaenau, it won't serve Abertillery, Tredegar or Ebbw Vale. That isn't a service that we can accept".

"We need a plan for buses, and we need it now," he said, while Mike Hedges, Swansea East MS, called for rate relief to be scrapped for "large companies".

Meanwhile Huw Irranca-Davies, who represents Ogmore, called for Plaid Cymru to see if some parts of the co-operation agreement can be renegotiated.

Heledd Fychan, Plaid Cymru MS for South Wales Central, said public transport "is in the agreement, including encouraging people to switch to public transport".