CARL SARGEANT AM WELCOMES NEWS OF RECORD NUMBER OF FREE BUS PASSES
A RECORD number of concessionary bus passes have been snapped up by pensioners and disabled people during the past financial year in Wales and Alyn & Deeside, according to new data.
Figures released by the Assembly Labour Group showed 612,559 passes were issued across Wales during 2008–09 compared to 245,000 in 2001-02.
Labour AM, Carl Sargeant, who represents Alyn & Deeside, welcomed the news and challenged the Tories to back the scheme.
He said: “These latest figures show thousands of people are now enjoying free bus travel across Wales. This policy has transformed the way pensioners travel and has given a substantial boost to public transport in Wales. We are proud in Labour to be the party that implemented this scheme in Wales and we will continue to support it. “
Earlier this year, Welsh Tory Transport spokesman David Melding said he would like to see the scheme restricted to off peak times only.
He said: “The danger of the current policy is that it is eating up far too much of the transport budget and not allowing us to develop other public transport networks."
Carl Sargeant AM said: “Different Conservative politicians are saying different things on this policy. It seems that Mr Melding’s views are pretty clear cut and he is determined to take away full concessionary passes from pensioners who benefit from them."
A RECORD number of concessionary bus passes have been snapped up by pensioners and disabled people during the past financial year in Wales and Alyn & Deeside, according to new data.
Figures released by the Assembly Labour Group showed 612,559 passes were issued across Wales during 2008–09 compared to 245,000 in 2001-02.
Labour AM, Carl Sargeant, who represents Alyn & Deeside, welcomed the news and challenged the Tories to back the scheme.
He said: “These latest figures show thousands of people are now enjoying free bus travel across Wales. This policy has transformed the way pensioners travel and has given a substantial boost to public transport in Wales. We are proud in Labour to be the party that implemented this scheme in Wales and we will continue to support it. “
Earlier this year, Welsh Tory Transport spokesman David Melding said he would like to see the scheme restricted to off peak times only.
He said: “The danger of the current policy is that it is eating up far too much of the transport budget and not allowing us to develop other public transport networks."
Carl Sargeant AM said: “Different Conservative politicians are saying different things on this policy. It seems that Mr Melding’s views are pretty clear cut and he is determined to take away full concessionary passes from pensioners who benefit from them."
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