Climate Change and Buses

Written by Kirsty Williams AM and published in Mid Wales Journal on Friday 22nd February 2008 on Fri 22nd Feb 2008

Climate change; a phrase no doubt all too familiar, indeed it could be said that if we spent less time talking about climate change and more time taking action to combat it we may be in a better state of affairs. Last week the Assembly debated 'climate change'; a tall order to fit such an immense topic into just 60 minutes. As always there was cross party consensus that this was a terrible infliction on Wales and that action needed to be taken to reverse the trend. However whilst the other parties paid lip service to greening our nation the liberal democrats were the only party to have policies to reinforce the positive words being spoken.

We all know the urgency needed to tackle climate change, and while it is a global problem, we know that action needs to be taken locally in order to make immediate cuts to our CO2 emissions. The Assembly Government has set a low target of reducing CO2 emissions by 3% per year and given the record I am fearful they may struggle to reach even this.

There are many ways in which we can reduce our CO2 emissions and as transport spokesperson I am particularly interested in the positive impact getting people out of their cars and onto buses and trains can have. But this is not being made easy for people, particularly in rural areas such as ours. My postbag is constantly full of letters lamenting the loss of a bus service or a reduction in its hours. Part of the problem, particularly in rural areas, is the increasing distances people have to travel to access services. Thanks to Labour's lack of support, we have seen a multitude of post office closures; the lack of business rate relief contributes to a climate where it is difficult for a local shop to survive. While the distance needed to travel to access local services continues to increase, it seems that the Government is trying to push people into their cars.

The most recent affront to our public services in Wales is the Assembly Government's decision not to increase the bus services operators' grant in line with the increase in fuel duty brought in last October. They are now at a disadvantage to their English counterparts who have been given a rebate for the increase in tax. As a result bus operators are having to consider options such as increasing fares, cutting marginal services - with early morning, evening and rural services being the most vulnerable - and cancelling investment plans. The situation has been made all the worse as local authorities are unable to provide any financial support as they have been left reeling from the poor budget settlement. The result of all this? Passengers will suffer, services will be reduced, people will have to use their cars and those vulnerable sectors of our society who do not have private transport will be hit worst of all.

The Assembly government is on the one hand raving about tackling climate change and on the other making policy choices that do just the opposite. I believe that we must use transport to help progress Wales and the UK as a whole into a cleaner, greener country but the Assembly Government is lagging behind by investing in a future of dirty, polluting cars and road freight.