Sir,
I would like to reassure your correspondents Mollie Neate and Anne Price that I am fully behind their valiant efforts to keep the Pembroke Dock to Carmarthen bus service running.
I have already had lengthy discussions with Silcox and both Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire County Councils on the matter and have also written to Welsh transport minister Ieuan Wyn Jones to explain the situation and to request a meeting.
This vital bus service does not get enough funding under the Assembly Government's concessionary rebate system for it to be viable.
At the moment, the rebate is worked out as a percentage of the average price paid for all Silcox journeys. This means that the shortfall to the company on long routes like this one is massive.
But this service is a vital one to many people, not just for shopping in Carmarthen, but also for getting to hospital appointments at Glangwili.
Once again, we are in danger of being punished for living in a rural area where the journey to the nearest hospital or department store is a long one.
I would be delighted to personally present the petition gathered to the Welsh Assembly's petition committee and will advise the petitioners on the format required by officials.
Angela Burns,
South Pembrokeshire
Conservative AM.