Further cash for Welsh buses promised amid cuts fears

The first minister has said he is "confident" further cash will be available for bus services once Covid grants end.

The industry has warned of significant cuts - and small firms ceasing to operate routes - after the Bus Emergency Scheme (BES) ends in June.

It had been extended, but only by three months.

Mark Drakeford said ministers want to find a "sustainable solution" with passenger numbers down.

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price accused Mr Drakeford of "slashing subsidy for the bus industry".

"You're effectively pushing large parts of the bus industry over the edge of a cliff at the end of June," he said.

His Deputy Climate Change Minister, Lee Waters, told the Senedd in February that the bus network could be reduced to a "skeleton service".

He later said ministers wanted to find agreement with the industry on which services "are more important than others".

The BES is not the only form of public subsidy for buses. In the long term ministers want to reform bus regulation to give the public sector more of a say in services, through franchising.

Mr Drakeford told First Minister's Questions in the Senedd: "I'm confident that we will be able to go on finding further money.

"The additional money is emergency funding - it cannot go on forever.

"We have to find a way of agreeing with the industry a sustainable solution in the context that passenger numbers using buses have not recovered to where they were before the pandemic.

"I'm confident from the discussions we had yesterday that we will find further funding beyond the £12m to sustain emergency funding to the first quarter of this year."

Mr Drakeford said public transport is a "very important priority for this government".

His comments came after Adam Price proposed that income taxes could be raised to help fund cheaper rail fares.

Questioning the first minister on the 5.9% increase in rail fares, the Plaid leader said it was "hard to disagree with Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, who said this savage fare hike will be a sick joke for millions reliant on crumbling services".

Mr Drakeford said normal practice would have been to increase rail fares in line with inflation, which "would have meant a 12.3% increase".

He said it was the "best bargain we could come to in Wales within the resources we have available", and said the contribution from the tax payer is increasing.

Mr Price added: "What's the point of this place if we're simply a cut and paste parliament that passively implements Tory austerity.

"You could have done what the Scottish government did which is to reduce peak fares and pay for it through a progressive use of your income tax powers."