Bus transport in Cardiff
Cardiff is a major city of the United Kingdom and a centre of employment, retail, business, government, culture, media, sport and higher education.
The main hub and terminus of the network was Cardiff Central bus station, which closed for redevelopment of the site in the autumn of 2015.
TrawsCymru operates a long-distance route to Aberystwyth, Cardiff Airport (currently suspended) and West Wales, while National Express, Megabus and FlixBus operate long-distance coaches to towns and cities throughout Wales, Scotland and England.
[1] In 1898, Cardiff County Borough Council obtained Parliamentary powers to take over all the tramways in the area and to launch electric trams.
[3] By 1929, the tram network stretched from Victoria Park in the west, to Grangetown and Cardiff Docks in the south, to Roath and Splott in the east, and to Gabalfa in the north.
81 tramcars were also introduced by Cardiff Corporation Transport to negotiate the city's low railway bridges.
The last tram service ran to Whitchurch in February 1950, making it the last place in Britain to commence trolleybus operation after Glasgow.
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.
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.
CK Coaches later operated a route to Llanedeyrn, and used Wood Street in the city centre rather than the main stands of Central station.
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, a Barry-based company, at one time operated the sole bus link between Barry and Cardiff via Dinas Powys.
Coastal Continental Coach Hire, which ceased trading in 2008, operated Leyland Atlanteans in a red and cream colour on school routes for Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf in Llandaff North.
[8] Many school buses are operated by companies such as Adventure Travel, Cardiff Bus and Edwards Coaches.
It was located adjacent to Cardiff Central railway station, forming a major bus-rail-cycle-taxi interchange.
[9] Eating and drinking facilities, such as a Burger King and other shops and bus company offices, faced the concourses on Central Square.
A remodelled Central Square and BBC Cymru Wales New Broadcasting House now occupy the site.
[10] The new £89 million, 14-bay bus station[11] is currently under construction by ISG Ltd, adjoining Central Square and facing the southern end of Westgate Street.
The T9 TrawsCymru bus service connected the city centre to Cardiff Airport but was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and is yet to be reintroduced.
[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.
[26] In 2009, Stagecoach launched Wi-Fi on its X4 Cardiff-Hereford ADL/MAN Enviro 300 buses, which are themselves new, replacing older coaches that operated on the route.
City Sightseeing operates timetabled open top double-decker bus tours around the city centre and the Bay, including the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Castle, the Civic Centre, the National Museum of Wales and Alexandra Gardens on the route.
The tour takes 50 minutes[28] 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.
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.
Cardiff is also linked by Megabus coach to Newcastle via Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.
Service T1C launched in December 2016 on a six-month trial basis, is operated by First Cymru and connects Cardiff with Carmarthen and Aberystwyth.
The cost includes bus travel to the City Centre, usually less than many multi-storey car parks.
