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Bus transport in Cardiff

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Bus transport in Cardiff,the capital and most populous city inWales,forms the major part of thecity's public transport network,which also includes anurban rail network,Waterbusandinternational airport.Cardiff is a major city of the United Kingdom and a centre ofemployment, retail, business,government,culture,media,sportandhigher education.

Most of the city's comprehensive bus network is operated byCardiff Bus,which is owned byCardiff Council.The mainhubandterminusof the network wasCardiff Central bus station,which closed for redevelopment of the site in the autumn of 2015. The newCardiff Bus Interchangeopened in June 2024.

Operators such asStagecoach South WalesandNewport Buslink the city with other urban areas inSouth Wales.Adventure Traveloperates services including theFflecsidemand responsive servicein north Cardiff.TrawsCymruoperates a long-distance route toAberystwyth,Cardiff Airport (currently suspended) andWest Wales,whileNational Express,MegabusandFlixBusoperate long-distance coaches to towns and cities throughout Wales, Scotland and England.

History[edit]

Trams[edit]

See also:Cardiff Corporation Tramways

Horse busesran in the city from 1845 to 1909 andhorse tramsfrom 1872 to 1904. The first tram route ran fromHigh Streetin the city centre to theCardiff Docksand was operated by the Cardiff Tramway Company.[1]In 1898,Cardiff County Borough Councilobtained Parliamentary powers to take over all the tramways in the area and to launch electric trams. The new routes formally opened in May 1902 with the first recorded accident later that month – a collision with a cyclist. More than 23 million passengers were carried in 1904, up from 18 million the previous year.[1]When Cardiff became a city in 1905, 131 electric trams were operating on the network, mainly focusing on the busy Cardiff Docks.[2]In 1928, the network peaked at 142 cars and routes covering 19.5 miles (31.3 km).[3]By 1929, the tram network stretched fromVictoria Parkin the west, toGrangetownand Cardiff Docks in the south, toRoathandSplottin the east, and toGabalfain the north.[1]

The council initially refused to allow motor buses to operate in the city, but reversed this decision in 1910 and operated its own from 1920. 81 tramcars were also introduced by Cardiff Corporation Transport to negotiate the city's low railway bridges. By 1939, these vehicles were becoming worn out and it was decided to phase out tramcars.

Trolleybuses and motor buses[edit]

A Cardiff trolleybus in Custom House Street in 1966
Main article:Trolleybuses in Cardiff

In 1942,trolleybusesbegan to replace tramcars. The last tram service ran toWhitchurchin February 1950, making it the last place in Britain to commence trolleybus operation afterGlasgow.[3]Trolleybus routes were generally the same as tram routes although extensions were made.[3]The furthest and final extension of the network came in 1955, toEly,where trams had never run.[2]At this point, the system peaked at 79 vehicles and 18 route miles.[3]

In 1959, the Cardiff Corporation Transport (later City of Cardiff Transport) routes, with trolleybus routes in bold, were[2]

Trolleybuses stopped on Wood Street, rather than atCardiff Central bus station.A full transition to motor buses began in 1962 and was completed by 1970, bringing to an end 68 years of electric traction on the streets of Cardiff. The city has been served by motor buses ever since.[3]Cardiff had the largest municipal bus fleet in South Wales with 253 buses.[when?]The fleet of 1960s and 70s maroon and creamdouble-deckersincludedAEC Regent V,Daimler FleetlineandGuy ArabV. The company also operated single deckers includingAEC Swift.[4]

Other operators[edit]

Between the 1960s and 1980s, Cardiff had many small coach operators:[4][5]

Western Welshwas formed in 1929 and grew to cover an area fromSt Davidsin West Wales to the English border, operating 319 buses in its South Wales fleet by 1970. In 1978 it became National Welsh/Cymru Cenedlaethol which also ranRed & White.The two companies closed in 1992.

Neath & Cardiff's brown and redAEC Reliancefleet operated to towns to the west, toBridgend,NeathandSwanseain the 1970s. Its coaches were known as'brown bombers'.

In June 1970, Alan Barrington Smith operated the 59 service from Newport to Cardiff, previously operated by Davies and Baldwin and Red & White, usingBristol vehicles.This route was acquired by Smiths in 1972 and incorporated into their route 31 that circled Newport, but dropping the extension to Cardiff.

CK Coaches Ltd was formed in 1974. In 1981, it gained two routes in the capital, charging lower fares and offering the first competition for the Cardiff municipal fleet within the city since 1927.Leylandbuses were bought fromLondon Transport(Daimler Fleetlines) andLeicester City Transportfor these routes; one of these was the 54 toCyncoed,which had a white and orange livery similar to that of Cardiff Bus, but made more use of the white colour. Its blue and white double-deckers served the heavily populated eastern suburb ofLlanrumney.CK Coaches later operated a route toLlanedeyrn,and used Wood Street in the city centre rather than the main stands of Central station. The company's licences were revoked on 31 March 1982, ceasing the services.

Falconer and Watts operated tours and excursions, private hire and some contracts from Llanishen, a suburb to the north of Cardiff from 1919 to 1982, when they were taken over by Warners Fairfax of Tewkesbury.[6]

Thomas Motor Services, aBarry-based company, at one time operated the sole bus link between Barry and Cardiff viaDinas Powys.Its Leyland Tigers ran on the route 304 from 1959 until 1970, withLeyland Leopardstaking over until 1982. Thomas continued to operate the route using coaches.

Greyhound's fleet consisted of around a dozen coaches in a blue and ivory livery. Some were used for local school contracts, such as atSt Teilo'sin thePenylanarea of Cardiff. Coastal Continental Coach Hire, which ceased trading in 2008, operatedLeyland Atlanteansin a red and cream colour on school routes forYsgol Gyfun Gymraeg GlantafinLlandaff North.

Bus stops[edit]

Bus stop in Llanishen displaying passenger information

Over 300 city bus stops have passenger information panels that display the estimated arrival times of bus services.[7]This information can also be found online.[8]

School buses[edit]

Many school buses are operated by companies such asAdventure Travel,Cardiff BusandEdwards Coaches.These are operated by school coaches or low floor double-deckers.

Cardiff Central bus station[edit]

The south-eastern end of the former bus station with Central railway station in the background on Central Square

Cardiff Central bus station,on Wood Street, was formerly the hub of the city's andSouth Wales' bus and coach network. With 34 stands, it was the largest bus station in the city and in Wales. It was located adjacent toCardiff Central railway station,forming a major bus-rail-cycle-taxi interchange.

Demolition began in 2008 with the terminus building being demolished. Before work began, there were 8 concourses lettered A–F and W (on Wood Street) with each concourse having numbered stands. Then, the stands were numbered B1–F2, JA–JD and JT–JQ.

The station handled the vast majority of bus and coach services that run in and through the city.Cardiff Busaccounted for 72 per cent of all bus services that stopped at the station by frequency.[9]

Eating and drinking facilities, such as aBurger Kingand other shops and bus company offices, faced the concourses on Central Square. Taxi ranks were located on both sides of the station. Toilets and a newsagent were located at stand A, which was demolished in summer 2008 as part of the redevelopment of the station. Some services remained available in the adjacent Cardiff Central railway station.

On 1 August 2015, the remaining parts of the bus station were closed and demolished as a part of wider developments in the central Cardiff area. A remodelledCentral SquareandBBC Cymru Wales New Broadcasting Housenow occupy the site.

Several schemes for a replacement bus station were proposed and scrapped until a final scheme was agreed between theWelsh Government,financiersLegal & Generaland developers Rightacres in 2019.[10]The new £89 million, 14-bay bus station[11]is currently under construction byISG Ltd,adjoining Central Square and facing the southern end of Westgate Street. It forms part ofThe Interchange,a curved eight-storey building which will include 318 for-rent apartments, two floors of office space and a retail unit on the ground floor.[12]It is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.[13]

City centre[edit]

Cardiff City Centre Bus Box
Legend
to North Cardiff
to North Cardiff
Greyfriars Road
Kingsway
Dumfries Place
to West Cardiff
to East & North Cardiff
St. Mary Street
Queen Street stationNational Rail
Westgate Street
Churchill Way
to South West Cardiff
Central StationNational Rail
St. Mary Street
The Hayes
Bute Terrace
 The Hayes
Central Library
to South Cardiff
The Hayes
Customhouse Street
&Cardiff Bay
City centre bus stops

Most city bus services call at other significant bus stops in the centre.[14][15]All city centre bus stops have a two letter code and most are found in clusters.

Interchanges and integration[edit]

Cardiff's transport networkalso includes rail, taxi,cycle,water and air transport. Cardiff Central bus station was located next toCardiff Central railway station,facilitating bus-rail interchanges. Many bus services stop at the 20 railway stations within the city.

TheCardiff Waterbusconnects with bus services at Central Station and atCardiff Bay.

The T9 TrawsCymru bus service connected the city centre toCardiff Airportbut was suspended during theCOVID-19 pandemicin 2020 and is yet to be reintroduced.[16]

Local services and operators[edit]

Cardiff Bus[edit]

Cardiff Busat the now demolishedCardiff Central bus station

Cardiff Bus is the dominant bus operator in Cardiff and also servesPenarth,Sully,BarryandLlantwit Major.Its network consists of 64 routes[17]usingScania OmniCity,Scania N230UD,East Lancs Olympus,Alexander Dennis Enviro200,Enviro300andEnviro400 MMC,Dennis DartMPDs LMPDs and SPDs andMercedes-Benz Citaros.Cardiff Bus carries 100,000 passengers daily, has a turnover of £27million and employs around 720 people.[18]The fleet and drivers are managed against a timetable using software systems supplied by UK based software supplier Omnibus Systems,[19]which allows the real-time digital information displays positioned at many stops around the city, to inform people when the next bus is due and alerting waiting passengers of any delays. Raised kerbs have been installed at the majority of stops.

In addition to scheduled city buses, Cardiff Bus is contracted to operate some school routes in the city.[20]

Asmart cardfor Cardiff Bus passengers was trialled in spring 2009[21]and launched as theIff cardin October 2010.[22]In March 2018, Cardiff Bus introducedcontactless paymentacross its services.[23]

In January 2022, Cardiff Bus began to introduce 36Yutong E12electric busesto the city, part funded by the UKDepartment for Transport's ultra-low emissions bus scheme.[24]

Stagecoach[edit]

Stagecoach South Wales bus at the junction of Westgate Street and Wood Street, Cardiff

Stagecoach South Wales,which has its headquarters inCwmbran,operates routes mainly to theSouth Wales Valleysfrom central Cardiff.

It also operates the TrawsCymru T4 between Cardiff and Newtown in the county of Powys in Mid Wales.

Its fleet of over 400 buses is one of the most modern in the country, and includes many low-floor, easy access buses with step-free entrances, dedicated buggy areas and wheelchair access.

It does not issue return tickets. However it issues amegariderpass for all day travel, valid from four weeks until a year.[25]The Cardiff zone stretches toTaffs Well,Creigiau,Castletonand Travellers Rest.[26]

In 2009, Stagecoach launchedWi-Fion its X4 Cardiff-Hereford ADL/MAN Enviro 300 buses, which are themselves new, replacing older coaches that operated on the route.[27]

Then in 2015, Stagecoach replaced the ADL/MAN Enviro 300's with new ADL/Scania Enviro 300's due to MAN Enviro 300's poor reliability.

First Cymru[edit]

First Cymrubus at the now demolishedCardiff Central bus station

First Cymru,the principal operator inSouth West Wales,operates inter-urban services west of Cardiff, and three services within the city. They currently operate the TrawsCymru T1C between Cardiff andAberystwythin Mid Wales (until April 2018), the X10 Swansea to Cardiff Express (previously called theGreyhound100) between Cardiff and Swansea, and the Cymru Clipper X2 between Cardiff andBridgendandPorthcawl.

Newport Bus[edit]

Newport Bus,the principal operator in neighbouringNewport,operates an hourly express service between Cardiff,University Hospital of Wales,and Newport. It also operates a non-express service to and from Newport jointly withCardiff Bus.Like Cardiff Bus, it is amunicipal bus company,owned byNewport City Council.

City Sightseeing[edit]

City Sightseeingoperates timetabledopen topdouble-decker bustours around the city centre and the Bay, including theMillennium Stadium,Cardiff Castle,theCivic Centre,theNational Museum of Walesand Alexandra Gardens on the route. The tour takes 50 minutes[28]

Adventure Travel[edit]

The NAT Group's X1 Crosscity service

Adventure Travel,formerly the NAT Group, operate the X1, X5 and X8 Crosscity services, with the X1 being launched in 2015 which connect the western, central and eastern parts of the city, serving populous areas such as Pentwyn and Llanedeyrn, as well as Canton.

NAT Group updated their services in Cardiff in March 2017; The X11 (no longer operates) had received an extension to Grangetown and Cardiff Bay, and the X8 service was launched connecting Thornhill, Llanishen, Birchgrove, and Maindy to Cardiff City Centre, as well as leading to Cardiff Bay, providing a northern-southern Crosscity service for the capital.

Their latest addition to the Crosscity services was in early September 2017, and it introduced the X5, which now operates between Cardiff City Centre and Newport, serving many new stops in Adamsdown and Trowbridge. They also altered the X11 service's southern terminus, changing the route from the city centre from Cardiff Bay to serve Canton along with the X1, and extending further west to Pentrebane.

They also operate the TrawsCymru T9 Cardiff Airport Express between Cardiff Bay, Cardiff City Centre and Cardiff Airport, until the route was suspended during theCOVID-19 pandemicin 2020,[16]the TrawsCymru T1C between Cardiff and Aberystwyth in Mid Wales from April 2018, as well as Service 304 to Barry and some home-school coaches in the Cardiff area. In partnership withTransport for Wales,and thelocal council,they also operate the G1Fflecsiroute.

Edwards[edit]

Edwards Coachesoperates the 400 bus service betweenBeddauand Greyfriars Road bus stop in Cardiff.

National operators and services[edit]

Megabus[edit]

Megabusis a low-costno-frillsintercity coach network in the United Kingdom operated byStagecoachthat commenced operations in 2003, including non-stop services toLondonin a journey time of three and a half hours. Other longer routes to London stop inNewportandBristol.Cardiff is also linked by Megabus coach toNewcastleviaBirmingham,Manchester,Leeds,MiddlesbroughandSunderland.

National Express[edit]

BirminghambasedNational Expresshas operated |intercity coach services across the United Kingdom since 1972 and sub-contracts toEdwards Coachesthe operation of routes from Cardiff to:

FlixBus[edit]

In April 2021, German-owned low-cost coach operatorFlixBuslaunched a twice-daily service connecting Cardiff withSwansea,BristolandLondon.[29]

TrawsCymru[edit]

Main article:TrawsCymru

TrawsCymru are a set of routes, set up by the Welsh Government but operated by private bus companies using the TrawsCymru branding. This service is similar to a previous service,TrawsCambria.

Service T1C launched in December 2016 on a six-month trial basis, is operated byFirst Cymruand connects Cardiff withCarmarthenandAberystwyth.It is a replacement for the former 701 service that ceased operating in August 2016 when its final operator, Lewis Coaches, ceased trading. Unlike the 701 however, the T1C only operates once a day in and out of Cardiff, does not operate on Sundays, does not stop at Port Talbot and a single deck city bus is used, not coaches.

Service T4 launched in May 2011 and is operated byStagecoach South Wales.It connects Cardiff withBreconandNewtownand operates up to 7 times a day.

Service T9, also known as the Cardiff Airport Express, launched in August 2013 and is operated byNew Adventure Travel.It connects the centre of Cardiff withCardiff Airportand operates up to every 20 minutes. When launched, this route was originally operated byFirst Cymru.It was suspended during theCOVID-19 pandemicin 2020 and is yet to be reintroduced.[16]

Snap[edit]

Snapoperated an on-demand service that chartered coaches from local operators. It provided services from several pick-up points in and around Cardiff to various cities in England.[30]It stopped operating in March 2020 during theCOVID-19 pandemicand announced in August 2021 that it would not be restarting.[31][32]

Other bus services[edit]

Bus passes[edit]

Residents of Cardiff (and Wales) who are over sixty or suffering from certain disabilities, injuries or impediments are entitled to a bus pass enabling free travel across most bus services in Wales. For the Cardiff area, the following buses are exempt from this facility:National Express(including Airport Buses 200, 201 and 202),EurolinesandMegabus.

Park and ride[edit]

Park and Ride servicesrun every weekend in Cardiff throughout the year. The cost includes bus travel to the City Centre, usually less than manymulti-storey car parks.There are four Park and Ride services in the city:

The Park and Ride services are part of Cardiff council's Sustainable Travel City initiative, which is partly funded by the Welsh Assembly Government. There are plans to extend the number of space from 340 to 1,100 due to its sudden increase in usage.[33]

Iff card[edit]

Main article:Iff card

Iff cardis acontactless smart cardintroduced by Cardiff Bus in October 2010, allowing customers to travel on its services after having pre-paid. The first 30,000 cards were issued free of charge and pre-loaded with £3 of credit, after which the cards will be charged at £5.

An amount of money is electronically loaded onto the card, either upon boarding a bus or at the Cardiff Bus customer service centre. A passenger then chooses a ticket type. The card can also be used as a season ticket. The card should be topped-up when the balance is low, however the card allows the customer to acquire a negative balance up to £3.[34]

The card can be topped-up in units of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5, £10, £15 and £20 up to maximum amount of £50. The card may be used by persons aged between 6 and 60. The Iff card cannot be used to pay a partial amount. The card would be cancelled if not used for a continuous period of one year[35]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcGould, David (1996).Cardiff's Electric Tramways.Oxford:The Oakwood Press.ISBN0-85361-487-3.
  2. ^abcDavies, Roger (2006).Streets of Cardiff.Hersham, Surrey:Ian Allan Publishing.ISBN0-7110-3098-7.
  3. ^abcdeLockwood, Stephen (2005).Cardiff Trolleybuses.Midhurst,West Sussex:Middleton Press.ISBN1-904474-64-0.
  4. ^abBooth, Gavin (2006).Bus Operators 1970s Midlands and Wales.Hersham,Surrey:Ian Allan Publishing.ISBN978-0-7110-3035-0.
  5. ^Wiltshire, Andrew (2009).Independent Buses of South & West Wales.Bristol:Bernard McCall.ISBN978-1-902953-43-4.
  6. ^"Robert Falconer".
  7. ^Steve Harrhy (24 August 2006)."Home, Bus Stop Real Time Travel Information, Bus stop Real-time Travel Information".Cardiff. Archived fromthe originalon 9 June 2011.Retrieved9 May2009.
  8. ^"Real Time Information – Cardiff".Cardiff.acislive.com. Archived fromthe originalon 27 April 2009.Retrieved9 May2009.
  9. ^"The Office of Fair Trading: Cardiff Bus".Oft.gov.uk. Archived fromthe originalon 16 April 2009.Retrieved9 May2009.
  10. ^Mosalski, Ruth (30 July 2019)."Cardiff's bus station is finally going to be built - but won't open for another four years".WalesOnline.Retrieved7 September2022.
  11. ^Barry, Sion (5 December 2019)."Cardiff's new bus station will be eight storeys tall and cost £89m".WalesOnline.Retrieved7 September2022.
  12. ^Lewis, Ffion (1 December 2021)."Cardiff's long-awaited bus station finally taking shape as windows added to towering development".WalesOnline.Retrieved7 September2022.
  13. ^Lewis, Ffion (20 July 2023)."Completion of long-awaited Cardiff bus station delayed again".WalesOnline.Retrieved5 August2023.
  14. ^"Archived copy".Archived fromthe originalon 9 June 2011.Retrieved8 May2009.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 21 May 2009.Retrieved8 May2009.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^abc"TrawsCymru T9".Retrieved7 September2022.
  17. ^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 5 February 2009.Retrieved8 May2009.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. ^"Staff turnover plummets to record low levels".TUC Wales. Archived fromthe originalon 10 June 2015.Retrieved2 November2008.
  19. ^"Case Study – Cardiff Bus (Bws Caerdydd)".omnibus-systems.co.uk.Retrieved2 November2008.
  20. ^Nina Stedman (9 October 2008)."Home, School Bus Routes".Cardiff. Archived fromthe originalon 9 June 2011.Retrieved9 May2009.
  21. ^James, David (28 January 2009)."Cardiff set for its own Oyster card".WalesOnline.Retrieved9 May2009.
  22. ^"Cardiff Bus smartcards are unveiled".BBC News.6 October 2010.Retrieved7 September2022.
  23. ^Hughes, Marcus (8 March 2018)."Cardiff Bus is introducing contactless payments this month".WalesOnline.Retrieved7 September2022.
  24. ^Thomas, Elizabeth (14 January 2022)."First look at new zero-emission electric buses as they're launched in Cardiff".WalesOnline.Retrieved7 September2022.
  25. ^http://www.stagecoachbus.com/shop/index.php?action=&sid=20090512224948-7319&product_id=14&location_id=180&x=67&y=3[permanent dead link]
  26. ^"Stagecoach - Home".Archived fromthe originalon 2 October 2009.Retrieved10 November2009.
  27. ^"Stagecoach new buses offer commuters internet access".19 April 2009.
  28. ^"City Sightseeing Worldwide – the world's largest open top bus tour operator".City-sightseeing.com. Archived fromthe originalon 21 March 2009.Retrieved9 May2009.
  29. ^Barry, Sion (15 April 2021)."New Swansea to Cardiff coach service launches".WalesOnline Business Live.Retrieved7 September2022.
  30. ^"Get a Coach to Cardiff".Snap.Retrieved9 June2020.
  31. ^"Twitter:SnapTravelTech".19 August 2021.
  32. ^Thomas Ableman (19 August 2021)."Why Snap's not coming back".Freewheeling.
  33. ^"New park and ride is a 'resounding success'".4 December 2009.
  34. ^"Cardiff Bus | Iff".Archived fromthe originalon 7 October 2010.
  35. ^"Cardiff Bus | Iff: Terms and Conditions".Archived fromthe originalon 10 October 2010.

External links[edit]

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