What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the potential for Mobility as a Service, as a solution to deliver improved transport connectivity in rural communities?
We are in discussions with Transport for Wales (TfW) on the further development of Mobility as a Service in order to improve transport connectivity throughout Wales. These discussions include exploring how car clubs and other on-demand, shared mobility systems could benefit both rural transport and Wales’ Metro networks.
TfW are developing an integrated ticketing system to improve transport connectivity. It will deliver similar benefits to a dedicated smartcard but will be based on a tap and go scheme, primarily using contactless bank cards.
Pilots in the north and south Wales will inform TfW’s development of a more comprehensive platform for this contactless system across all transport modes in Wales, including the roll out of multi-modal integrated ticketing and synergies with work on fair fares.
We have also provided funding to Pembrokeshire County Council to introduce an innovative new demand responsive Fflecsi bus service which will serve the northern part of the county. This is one of a number of pilot Fflecsi schemes we are running with TfW and local authorities across Wales this year. The results of the pilot schemes will inform our approach to pre bookable and demand responsive services going forward.