Colin Eaketts, Head of the Intergrated Transport Unit in the Welsh Assembly Government, has been in Pembrokeshire learning about the county's community transport..

He visited Haverfordwest last Thursday and met organisers and users of the variety of community transport services available in the county.

Organised by Pembrokeshire Association of Community Transport Organisations (PACTO) in association with Pembrokeshire County Council, the visit gave Colin Eaketts the opportunity to learn at first hand what community transport services mean to people in Pembrokeshire and the developments made possible as a result of Welsh Assembly funding.

Community Transport helps people who are unable to access ordinary public transport services because they live too far from a bus stop or because they find it physically difficult to get on or off a bus. It also provides access to key services and helps to build sustainable communities.

Altogether, Pembrokeshire's Community Transport services provides over 42,000 passenger journeys a year.

Services which are supported by Welsh Assembly funding include rural Dial-a-Rides, such as the Green Dragon minibuses, which operate in areas where conventional bus services are not viable, and the innovative Town Rider scheme, funded as part of the Assembly's Community Transport Concessionary Fares Initiative, which now runs in five of Pembrokeshire's main towns.

Rod Bowen, chairman of PACTO, said: "We are delighted to have had this opportunity to showcase the services on offer in Pembrokeshire.

"Our passengers often tell us how we help them to stay independent and active when they might otherwise be housebound.

"It was important that Mr. Eaketts saw for himself the difference that Assembly funding is making."

Pembrokeshire County Council deputy leader, Jamie Adams, cabinet member for highways and planning, who chaired the event in County Hall, said the authority and the voluntary sector had a track record of working in partnership in Pembrokeshire to address some of the most complex transport needs.

"One of the point we raised was the importance of continued funding for these services" he revealed.

Ieuan Wyn Jones, the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Transport, said that he encouraged officials to visit examples of community transport and was delighted to hear of the success of community transport services in Pembrokeshire.

He added that the Assembly Government was committed to providing investment in the community transport sector.

It was very clear that community transport services made a real difference to the lives of people in rural areas.

It also had a vital role to play in the Assembly Government's vision for an integrated public transport system.