First Cymru

[buscoaster]

Does anybody know if the Fisrt Cymru open tops are returning this year?

 

[Markdvdman]

for Tenby yes:

Tenby Coaster

Our Tenby Coaster is back for 2023, and it's running 7 days a week - including bank holidays! Our Tenby Coaster is back for 2023! Hop on board for spectacular views of the wonderful Welsh coast. Soak in the sights as our open-topper winds through New Hedges and enjoy the truly breath-taking...

www.firstbus.co.uk

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Does anybody know if the Fisrt Cymru open tops are returning this year?

Tenby is with two vehicles allocated (so a spare) whilst Swansea and Porthcawl aren’t as they are still short of drivers

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Wow - First Cymru has announced service changes....https://www.firstbus.co.uk/south-west-wales/news-and-service-updates/updates/29th-october-2023-service-changes

Reductions in government funding for buses mean we’re having to make changes to our services in south and west Wales.
Most services won’t be impacted, but we’re having to reduce bus frequencies and hours of operation on some routes, and we’re having to withdraw some others. This webpage contains full information on what's changing on 29th October 2023.
If a service is not listed, it is not changing on 29th October. But if you would like to confirm that a service is not impacted by these changes, you can view a list of unaffected services by area below.

Now, that doesn't sound too bad as most services won't be impacted.... and they're changing some hours of operation. The reality is the scale of the cuts is absolutely brutal

For example,

• Services from Swansea to Townhill are currently every 10 mins with routes 11/12/13. Route 11 goes completely and routes 12/13 get reduced so it's now a half hourly service.
• The X13 to Ammanford, which had already been reduced from every 20 mins to half hourly IIRC, goes to hourly,
• The services to Oystermouth and Mumbles were every 20 mins (2/2a/2b/2c) - now just the 2 remains at hourly (plus 2a Sundays).
• The 110 Llanelli to Swansea gets axed with "customers in the Borough Road area are advised to catch the revised service X11 from Loughor Monument or Loughor Crossroads" though the X11 has just been cut from every 30 to every 60 mins
  • In fact, it looks like Llanelli to Swansea goes from 5 to 3 buses per hour (roughly)

Numerous Sunday services axed as well like the X1 Bridgend to Swansea and 87 Neath to Port Talbot

 

[Yosh1saurus]

Before this, was going to ask what was happening to the ALX400s for the open top services - heard rumours of some B9TLs coming to replace them (37255/6).
After seeing those cuts though, they really are quite wide. Similar story to the 110 with the 44 - it's getting cut, and customers are advised to catch the revised route 6 - despite reducing that to every 90 minutes while missing out several stops that almost always had people waiting.
At least they'll use a bigger bus... oh wait, it's First we are on about here!

Feels like they've gone too far, too fast with the university services - doesn't seem like a coincidence to me that the quote-unquote 'minor' changes come only after those are introduced. I can get the funding reductions, but I wouldn't have thought it would be this severe.
Odd how despite withdrawing some services and reducing frequency on almost all of them, they are putting in a new park and ride service to Landore that was covered by the 34, before the cuts.

Cymru really has gone backwards this year, with the E400MMCs leaving, B7RLEs/full length E200s being withdrawn, and Bristol/Bath having a few of the E200MMCs now too - now this. Could be benefittial to NAT/SWT though, filling in some of the gaps that First have left.

 

[Markdvdman]

It is tragic and I can only seeing it getting worse in 2024. I tend to use the 128 and 129 myself which have not changed. Mind you a few years back the last bus back from Llanelli to Cross Hands was about 7:20 or 7:40pm from Llanelli Railway station. They at least had SOME integration then, although if the train was late the bus did not wait.

 

[stait.john]

Before this, was going to ask what was happening to the ALX400s for the open top services - heard rumours of some B9TLs coming to replace them (37255/6).
After seeing those cuts though, they really are quite wide. Similar story to the 110 with the 44 - it's getting cut, and customers are advised to catch the revised route 6 - despite reducing that to every 90 minutes while missing out several stops that almost always had people waiting.
At least they'll use a bigger bus... oh wait, it's First we are on about here!

Feels like they've gone too far, too fast with the university services - doesn't seem like a coincidence to me that the quote-unquote 'minor' changes come only after those are introduced. I can get the funding reductions, but I wouldn't have thought it would be this severe.
Odd how despite withdrawing some services and reducing frequency on almost all of them, they are putting in a new park and ride service to Landore that was covered by the 34, before the cuts.

Cymru really has gone backwards this year, with the E400MMCs leaving, B7RLEs/full length E200s being withdrawn, and Bristol/Bath having a few of the E200MMCs now too - now this. Could be benefittial to NAT/SWT though, filling in some of the gaps that First have left.

But surely First haven’t left gaps if this is due to a funding reduction? There wouldn’t be funding for any operator?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

But surely First haven’t left gaps if this is due to a funding reduction? There wouldn’t be funding for any operator?

I think the poster is questioning whether First Cymru have cut so much that they leave opportunities for anyone else? The cut of the 56 obviously allows SWT full reign over that route with their 256. However, would someone step in with anything else?

 

[markymark2000]

Something that is interesting is that First put no blame at all on themselves and their appalling services. When Swansea Football is on, no additional buses are put on and deckers aren't put on either to help the loads. Everyone gets crammed into a small E200 which runs every half hour or so. Or perhaps look at the fact the timetable planners got their inspiration from D&G, they are so padded so journeys take significantly longer than necessary because you end up sitting around at most stops. Or do we look at the poor promotion of services, almost no route branding anymore and the fact all First care about now in Swansea is the Uni stuff, everything else can go and stuff itself.

No network map, no proper promotion, huge lack of consistency in terms of branding and vehicles. I know that they aren't exactly blessed with Carmarthenshire council and Neath Port Talbot Council when it comes to properly supporting buses but Swansea Council is quite good at supporting buses and trying to get people onboard. Why hasn't First done more to try and push that partnership?

First Cymru, like most First Group areas, has so many failings.

Bit of a tangent but relevant. I put in the First Cymru Facebook group about their poor open data and their network planner replied (great I thought, we may get somewhere here), they refused to reregister the X2 and claim its on 'diversion' despite the road being closed for over a year and the road remodelled so buses would have to go the wrong way up a one way street. Becuase of their refusal to reregister the service properly, all online information including their own journey planners Traveline, open data, Google Maps the lot has all been wrong. All so that they could save £60 on a registration. That's before you look at the fact the Traffic Commissioner says long term diversions should be registered but First Cymru just don't care.


Something worth noting as well is that because of the new stupid areas that First have got, higher up Cymru management is shared with Bristol and so now a lot of the newer buses are moving out from Cymru to Bristol too. Another shot in the foot for getting people onto buses.

Could be benefittial to NAT/SWT though, filling in some of the gaps that First have left.

Oh god help us all. NAT have kept making more and more cuts to their network in Cardiff and even had drivers in from London to do the routes because they were so short staffed. No one wants to work for NAT. Plus the fact they are generally percieved as a lower quality company.
SWT isn't great either. Just cut a number of routes claiming not viable despite making zero efforts to make the route viable. When I brought it up with their owner, he spent more time criticising the new operators of the route rather than looking at his own operation. Very much 'don't look at us, look at how bad they are over there'. What a wonderful operator.

If you're relying on NAT or SWT, to swoop commercially, you'll be waiting a long time.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Something that is interesting is that First put no blame at all on themselves and their appalling services. When Swansea Football is on, no additional buses are put on and deckers aren't put on either to help the loads. Everyone gets crammed into a small E200 which runs every half hour or so. Or perhaps look at the fact the timetable planners got their inspiration from D&G, they are so padded so journeys take significantly longer than necessary because you end up sitting around at most stops. Or do we look at the poor promotion of services, almost no route branding anymore and the fact all First care about now in Swansea is the Uni stuff, everything else can go and stuff itself.

No network map, no proper promotion, huge lack of consistency in terms of branding and vehicles. I know that they aren't exactly blessed with Carmarthenshire council and Neath Port Talbot Council when it comes to properly supporting buses but Swansea Council is quite good at supporting buses and trying to get people onboard. Why hasn't First done more to try and push that partnership?

First Cymru, like most First Group areas, has so many failings.

Bit of a tangent but relevant. I put in the First Cymru Facebook group about their poor open data and their network planner replied (great I thought, we may get somewhere here), they refused to reregister the X2 and claim its on 'diversion' despite the road being closed for over a year and the road remodelled so buses would have to go the wrong way up a one way street. Becuase of their refusal to reregister the service properly, all online information including their own journey planners Traveline, open data, Google Maps the lot has all been wrong. All so that they could save £60 on a registration. That's before you look at the fact the Traffic Commissioner says long term diversions should be registered but First Cymru just don't care.


Something worth noting as well is that because of the new stupid areas that First have got, higher up Cymru management is shared with Bristol and so now a lot of the newer buses are moving out from Cymru to Bristol too. Another shot in the foot for getting people onto buses.

I've not had the opportunity to look at First Cymru this year. However, I had a couple of trips in their patch last year including one in mid October (see msg 490 in trip reports) where I concluded with the following:

So observations of First (and other operators) in that corner of Wales? It's really quite average. First spent a lot of money in 2014/5 on new fleet and that is still evident on local routes, though they have drafted in some older deckers for Uni services. However, the promotion of those is a bit haphazard. Otherwise, the fleet isn't bad and is being upgraded as cascaded Solo SRs come from Hampshire as do secondhand 2015 e200s to remove the elderly Darts and Solos. Marketing is poor and confused - the Metro concept is still about but seems to have been superseded by the Stenning created imagery but it's rather piecemeal. The red livery is becoming more common but it's still a mix. Same with Cymru Clipper - most vehicles are in the new livery yet bus stops are often with the old logo. That said, bus stop flags were shocking in their presentation and the fragmented approach of the local authorities is shown by the quality of bus stop info - Carmarthenshire was good whilst Neath Port Talbot was more variable. I've said it before but the Justin Davies era of management was actually ok. His successor seemed to be getting things changed (Andy Sherrington) in a manner as per his mentor, James Freeman, but then the latest MD came in just as Covid was hitting so perhaps it's understandable that the progress seemed to stall. Now it's going to be managed from Bristol, I have concerns about how things will pan out - let's hope there's enough local management retained to make a difference.

In short, and I've often disagreed with @markymark2000 but I agree with a lot of what is said. I made the same point as regards the running times in that they are clearly set up with Mon-Fri peaks in mind. So if running into Swansea takes 43 mins from Llanelli at 0830 on a Tuesday, that's also the timing for a Saturday mid-afternoon. It is THE most noticeable I have ever seen.

There is an odd bus lane under the M4 at Ynysforgan (you run counter to the other traffic) that then makes you wait to cross the main road to Morriston - rather than a help, it's a hindrance as there's no bus priority. You then trundle through Morriston and then back out but we were stopping constantly to wait time. Timings are clearly aimed at Mon-Fri rush hour not late Sat afternoon and this is the issue when you don't have good bus priority. Traffic flows are so inconsistent that timings are almost worst case. So buses drag their heels the rest of the time.

If the X6 was bad, my final X11 back to Carmarthen was even worse. Having left the bus station, and being reunited with my earlier e200mmc, we trundled through the city centre and then waited time at every single stop on the A483 Carmarthen Road. I can imagine it was frustrating for the driver as he pulled in for a minute, and then limped along. Notably, on leaving the main road, the pace quickened as we passed across the Loughor Estuary and a beautiful view in the dusk.

The new First management structure is based in Bristol and it certainly shows. I might add that the movement of the e400mmc from Swansea to Bristol perhaps indicates that they aren't entirely bewitched by the Swansea uni work, but more that they need those vehicles to support the various BSIP services in Bristol. I will defend Carmarthenshire Council - they do actually subsidise buses and they provide roadside material. However, NPT and Bridgend are frankly awful but as @markymark2000 says, First don't help themselves.

Doug Claringbold and his marketing team are absolutely focussed on digital promotion. Nothing else. Now I'm not suggesting that they produce a full timetable booklet but there is no promotion otherwise. The former cabin in Port Talbot bus station was abandoned and still had out of date info plastered on it. Llanelli has a closed office used for driver reliefs but no effort to even use the windows to communicate any information. Branding for the Cymru Clipper services is half hearted. The Uni services are now to be branded as standard services in the fleet red livery. This is reminiscent of what has happened in Bath where strong imagery/livery was replaced by the standard colours and a small Unibus logo in order to be easier operationally.

This is exactly what I feared when I saw Cymru was to be managed from Bristol.

 

[RELL6L]

These cuts are certainly very savage. The X11 and X13 flagship corridors cut to hourly with no peak hour extras, the 349 to every 90 minutes and other services reduced from 60 to 90 minutes or even to every 2 hours.

I’ve only been to the area once since Covid and I took the X11 most of the way along the corridor, all seemed pretty busy. Cutting the 110/111 to twice an hour would make sense if it fitted in with a half hourly X11. I also took the 16 into Swansea, this section is being used reduced to hourly. I don’t know if it’s true but it seemed to me like the 16 had already been diverted in Swansea to replace a town service, this will be a further cut to the area.

In 2019 I took the X13 with the 6am journey from Ammanford and even this was very busy.

So have things got much worse or is it purely down to the government being less supportive? If the latter then what are they supporting- certainly not drivers! Are First just being greedy and hoping they are doing just enough to keep most passengers while cutting back the costs? How long before say the 349 goes 2-hourly?

I agree nobody else is likely to step in, you wouldn’t get any new routes, just fill in between journeys, that’s not sustainable.

 

[markymark2000]

So have things got much worse or is it purely down to the government being less supportive?

The 56 will be down to the Welsh govt not supporting routes which they claim compete with eachother. The issue arose in September with Adventure Travel and Stagecoach as the Welsh Govt refused to fund Bridgend to Porthcawl as they were 'competing' (hardly competing but anyway) and so consequently they both withdrew the routes due to funding and no people are only left with First. In short, anything which competes with another operator, even if it doesn't compete, just runs along the same roads, the Welsh govt won't fund.

The rest of it, I think the Welsh govt is reducing funding slightly with a view to operators becoming more commercial again but the issue we have is everyone is too happy having their bills paid by someone elses money, no one is doing what needs to be done to get people back onto the buses so that the operators can pay their own bills.

Are First just being greedy and hoping they are doing just enough to keep most passengers while cutting back the costs?

Given the recent fleet movements, new deckers and now the 16 plate ex Glasgow E200MMCs moving to Bristol, theres half a chance they are doing the cuts so that they can move more buses out to Bristol way and not have to send anything to Cymru.

 

[Dai Corner]

In short, anything which competes with another operator, even if it doesn't compete, just runs along the same roads, the Welsh govt won't fund.

The Welsh Government obviously don't think making passengers change at Bridgend is a disincentive to the bus travel they purport to support.

I think it's quite well known that they are reluctant to fund bus services without also micro-managing them and want a franchise system like Manchester.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I’ve only been to the area once since Covid and I took the X11 most of the way along the corridor, all seemed pretty busy. Cutting the 110/111 to twice an hour would make sense if it fitted in with a half hourly X11. I also took the 16 into Swansea, this section is being used reduced to hourly. I don’t know if it’s true but it seemed to me like the 16 had already been diverted in Swansea to replace a town service, this will be a further cut to the area.

The X11 seemed busy between Burry Port and Swansea when I travelled last year - I could've seen a cut to hourly towards Carmarthen but halving it is a pretty substantial cut. Checking back, I thought the X13 was 20 mins but think I was mistaken but still quite the reduction.

The 16 also follows an odd route in Gorseinon that looks like it replaced something else.

So have things got much worse or is it purely down to the government being less supportive? If the latter then what are they supporting- certainly not drivers! Are First just being greedy and hoping they are doing just enough to keep most passengers while cutting back the costs? How long before say the 349 goes 2-hourly?

To be honest, the drivers are also part of the issue. As a consequence of a complaint I submitted last year (and resolved amicably, I might add), FC now appears in my twitter timeline. It was there that I noticed this announcement there but I've seen posts cancelling a lot of journeys recently around Swansea.

I agree nobody else is likely to step in, you wouldn’t get any new routes, just fill in between journeys, that’s not sustainable.

Depends if someone feels there is an opportunity to exploit - certainly, dropping Townhill from 6 to 2 bph is huge cut

Given the recent fleet movements, new deckers and now the 16 plate ex Glasgow E200MMCs moving to Bristol, theres half a chance they are doing the cuts so that they can move more buses out to Bristol way and not have to send anything to Cymru.

I think you may be right. It allows the shipping out of the mmcs, and they can probably have a clear out of the older e200s.

 

[iantherev]

They don't help themselves make a case for retaining the MMCs when they continually appear on local services leaving Solos, short StreetLites and standard Enviro 200s to cover Clipper service.

 

[Woolos 22]

Wow - First Cymru has announced service changes....https://www.firstbus.co.uk/south-west-wales/news-and-service-updates/updates/29th-october-2023-service-changes



Now, that doesn't sound too bad as most services won't be impacted.... and they're changing some hours of operation. The reality is the scale of the cuts is absolutely brutal

For example,

• Services from Swansea to Townhill are currently every 10 mins with routes 11/12/13. Route 11 goes completely and routes 12/13 get reduced so it's now a half hourly service.
• The X13 to Ammanford, which had already been reduced from every 20 mins to half hourly IIRC, goes to hourly,
• The services to Oystermouth and Mumbles were every 20 mins (2/2a/2b/2c) - now just the 2 remains at hourly (plus 2a Sundays).
• The 110 Llanelli to Swansea gets axed with "customers in the Borough Road area are advised to catch the revised service X11 from Loughor Monument or Loughor Crossroads" though the X11 has just been cut from every 30 to every 60 mins
  • In fact, it looks like Llanelli to Swansea goes from 5 to 3 buses per hour (roughly)

Numerous Sunday services axed as well like the X1 Bridgend to Swansea and 87 Neath to Port Talbot

Can any one know when these alterations were notified given to the traffic commissioner .

 

[MasterSpenny]

First Cyrumu was hit by Halloween vandalism this year, resulting in thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Buses and drivers attacked during Halloween vandalism

First Bus Wales and West has been forced to cancel a number of services today after Halloween vandalism which saw drivers and moving buses attacked.

news-wew.firstbus.co.uk

First Bus Wales and West has been forced to cancel a number of services today after Halloween vandalism which saw drivers and moving buses attacked.

At least two buses in Bristol and one in Wales were vandalised last night, with at least two incidents involving large objects being thrown directly at the driver. At present, no injuries have been reported.

Last night, a handful of services were cancelled following fears more attacks could take place, and today a number of buses have been taken out of action while thousands of pounds of repairs are carried out.

Rob Pymm, First Wales and West’s Commercial Director, said: “It is utterly disgraceful that our drivers and customers have faced this despicable behaviour from a minority of mindless vandals.

“The images we have seen of our buses from last night speak for themselves; who in their right mind would consider throwing a heavy object at a moving bus, let alone towards the driver, endangering them and everyone on board.

“Sadly, we had no option but to pull some routes last night, and today our passengers continue to be inconvenienced while the buses are off the road being repaired. All we can do is apologise and reassure the public that we will resume a normal service as soon as possible.”

 

[markymark2000]

First Cymru it seems is looking to close Bridgend depot Bridgend Council has put the 63, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74 and 76 commercial routes all up for tender. Vale of Glamorgan has put the X2 up for tender as well. 68/69 aren't up for tender so I am unsure what is going on with these routes.

Links to the tender pages (no point in me quoting as the public facing website gives no info and to get more info, you have to have an account). The tenders are due to commence in April 2024
Bridgend: https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=NOV457685

Vale of Glamorgan:

View notice - Sell2Wales

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Dare I say it but when I was looking at the raft of service changes that First were making around Swansea, I did wonder why Bridgend got off so lightly. Is this why?

 

[anthony263]

Some changes co.ing to First Cymru from 1st April
.
So we know the:

303 Bridgend to Llantwit major
304 Llantwit Major to Cardiff
305 Cardiff to Dinas Powys via Penarth
Have Been won from Adventure Travel.

410 Fishguard Town service according to local press :

Popular town bus route safe, council says

There will be no changes to a popular bus service with a much-loved driver, however the service could run under a different provider.

www.westerntelegraph.co.uk

Concerns circulating on social media that the 410 Fishguard to Goodwick Town Service was stopping have been allayed by Pembrokeshire County Council.

Fears that the much-loved driver would lose her job have also been put to rest. The council said that under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings -Protection of Employment) legislation drivers would keep their job even if the route is transferred from one operator to the other.

“Where a route is transferred from one operator to another, drivers are entitled to transport across under TUPE legislation with the same conditions of employment,” said the council spokesperson.

“Therefore, drivers would be able to continue to drive the routes they currently work on.”


The council said that there is a reduction of around £3 million in funding from Welsh Government for bus services in Wales for 2024/25.

However, there are no proposed changes to the 410 route or timetable. There is always a public consultation for any proposed route or timetable changes to a bus service.

The authority added that a widely publicised public consultation of bus service prioritisation, relating to all the county’s bus services, ran from December 8 2023 until January 7 this year.

Taf Valley Coaches have deregistered the likes of the 322 Haverfordwest to Carmarthen so I won't be surprised to see First regain it. I've heard talk that Haverfordwest has done very well in these tenders.

 

[Yosh1saurus]

Few changes now: 305 isn't going to First in favour of Cardiff Bus (makes a bit more sense) and 320/321 are going to First.
Wonder if they aren't leaving Bridgend then as those tenders might've suggested?

 

[markymark2000]

Few changes now: 305 isn't going to First in favour of Cardiff Bus (makes a bit more sense) and 320/321 are going to First.
Wonder if they aren't leaving Bridgend then as those tenders might've suggested?

First ended up winning all of the tenders which Bridgend Council put out to replace the First commercial services. So yes, it seems the depot is safe and, if anything, I am guessing they will be making more money now than before as they have more work and the existing work is all fully tendered so there's no revenue risk.

 

[Ridercross]

Looks like there are plans to divert the 349 away from Penally village and divert it along the A4139 bypass:

Councillors in battle to save Pembrokeshire village bus route

Proposals to alter a bus route so that it no longer travels through a Pembrokeshire village, have been met with dismay by local community councillors and residents.

www.tenby-today.co.uk

No date, but presumably this will be with the April changes.

Not surprised, as the road through Penally village is very narrow in places, and as mentioned often blocked to the bus by parked cars. The bypass actually skirts the edge of the village, so isn't that inconvenient apart form the plan to only have one stop on there by the railway station which is a long way from the other ends of the village. Certainly my observations have been that all parts of the village generate passengers andneed to have stops.

 

[JD2168]

Ex First York B9TL Gemini 37256 has entered service at Ravenhill depot in full York University service 66 livery.

 

[Anonymous10]

Looks like there are plans to divert the 349 away from Penally village and divert it along the A4139 bypass:

Councillors in battle to save Pembrokeshire village bus route

Proposals to alter a bus route so that it no longer travels through a Pembrokeshire village, have been met with dismay by local community councillors and residents.

www.tenby-today.co.uk

No date, but presumably this will be with the April changes.

Not surprised, as the road through Penally village is very narrow in places, and as mentioned often blocked to the bus by parked cars. The bypass actually skirts the edge of the village, so isn't that inconvenient apart form the plan to only have one stop on there by the railway station which is a long way from the other ends of the village. Certainly my observations have been that all parts of the village generate passengers andneed to have stops.

It already does so if there is construction works. If it encounters the bin lorry (frequently on the 9am) then it has to reverse and several times have I been amazed that we haven't damaged a wall, bus or car as we pass with inches of clearance.

 

[Yosh1saurus]

Along with the service changes (Swansea ones to be announced soon, today was the last day of not being able to say anything according to NAT), there's some ticketing changes too. Zones are gone, with day tickets going up to £6/£4 (MTP/child). TOTO is also being introduced on all services, capped to £6 a day.
381/322 require Euro 6 vehicles, so would imagine the 23 plate Streetlites go further west, with E300s moving back to Tycroes for the X11/X13? The red front Streetlites could possibly move to Bridgend for the 303/304 (PVR of 8, 10ish spare), possibly with some more transfers from elsewhere - hopefully some more deckers as capacity seems to be an issue.

 

[anthony263]

Along with the service changes (Swansea ones to be announced soon, today was the last day of not being able to say anything according to NAT), there's some ticketing changes too. Zones are gone, with day tickets going up to £6/£4 (MTP/child). TOTO is also being introduced on all services, capped to £6 a day.
381/322 require Euro 6 vehicles, so would imagine the 23 plate Streetlites go further west, with E300s moving back to Tycroes for the X11/X13? The red front Streetlites could possibly move to Bridgend for the 303/304 (PVR of 8, 10ish spare), possibly with some more transfers from elsewhere - hopefully some more deckers as capacity seems to be an issue.

304 is interworked with the X2s on Sundays and late evening on weekdays

Swansea service changes to be announced monday

 

[SW Buses]

304 is interworked with the X2s on Sundays and late evening on weekdays

Swansea service changes to be announced monday

The 304 is 2-hourly on Sundays and the X2 is hourly so they can’t all interwork?

Also, assuming the 2-hourly intereork was planned wit( the crew relief at Bridgend the trip of Bridgend - Cardiff as X2, 304 Cardiff to Llantwit Major and return and then X2 Cardiff to Bridgend is a little longer than 5hrs 30mins…..

 

[Markdvdman]

Well ticket prices have been overhauled as have zones. (Not the T1 and Pembrokeshire routes). Single journeys capped at £3. You could go from Cardiff to Swansea for £3 single (though would take a while!). Day tickets go up to £6 BUT that is across the 'zones' too. Pushin tap on, tap off it does work but it takes 10p off your bank account and the £3 2 working days later! Staegecoach do it straight away! This is a great contrast to the huge increases implemented by Stagecoach South Wales!

 

[Anonymous10]

Well ticket prices have been overhauled as have zones. (Not the T1 and Pembrokeshire routes). Single journeys capped at £3. You could go from Cardiff to Swansea for £3 single (though would take a while!). Day tickets go up to £6 BUT that is across the 'zones' too. Pushin tap on, tap off it does work but it takes 10p off your bank account and the £3 2 working days later! Staegecoach do it straight away! This is a great contrast to the huge increases implemented by Stagecoach South Wales!

Pembrokeshire routes were included.