Mr. Hugh Creegan:

We have a programme which we roll out for bus shelters each year. They are expensive. They all require individual planning permission, which takes some time. Also, quite frequently they require works to be carried out by the local authority to facilitate them. All of that takes time to organise. We have been doing about 100 shelters per year around the country. In the past year that has reduced a little because of Covid. We hope to do probably more than that. There are approximately 12,000 stops throughout the country and it is not possible to put a bus shelter at every one of them. We have to be somewhat selective as to where to put them and where the most value can be gained. That is the programme on which we are working. It is approximately 100 bus shelters per year, with each requiring individual planning consent and equally relying on the local authority doing prior works to make changes to the road layout in those areas, which takes time.

The Deputy also asked how many buses we have purchased with two wheelchair spaces since January 2020. The answer is we have not purchased any. We have been purchasing buses with one wheelchair space and one buggy space for some years. We have not transitioned to creating space for two wheelchairs because that is going to require the removal of seating from the bus, which will reduce the overall capacity. There may come a time when we will be able to do that, but prior to the Covid pandemic we had a problem with our bus service being at over capacity. The short answer to the question is we have not purchased any buses with two wheelchair spaces, at least for the urban bus fleet. Some for Local Link may be purchased, but not for the urban bus fleet.