Cardiff and Newport Buses 2021
It
is some seven years since the independent
transport videos cameras
visited South Wales to record the operation of buses in Cardiff, the
capital of
Wales and neighbouring Newport. A good
deal has changed since our visit in 2014 and this is seen in this DVD
programme. The main focus during our visit to Cardiff is
that of the local operator, Cardiffbus,
a bus company still wholly owned by Cardiff City Council.
This interesting fleet has a good variety of
vehicles for the bus enthusiast.
Introduced in 2006 there is a fleet of Scania articulated buses, which
will leave the fleet in early 2022 as well as their ‘rigid’ cousins,
the Scania
OmniCity that were introduced in 2007 and are still in service.
There are also Mercedes Benz Citaro
single-deckers, some from the Isle of Man and a good selection of
Alexander
Dennis buses in the shape of Dennis Darts in varying lengths, Transbus
Enviro300s and the latest ADL Enviro200MMC bodied single-deckers.
You will also see Wrights-bodied Scanias in
this programme. Double-deckers also form
part of the fleet and include East Lancs Olympus-bodied Scania N230s
introduced
in 2007/8 and the newest double-deckers are ADL Enviro400MMCs that
joined the
fleet in 2015 and can carry 99 passengers.
Our filming locations include Duke Street, Castle Street, Westgate
Street, St Mary Street, Canal Street, Bute Street and Churchill Way.
Other operators captured by our cameras
include Adventure Travel,
which operate both local and
long distance routes in South Wales, First
Cymru,
and Stagecoach
South Wales.
Look
out for the TrawsCymru
liveried MCV
Evora-bodied Volvo B8RLE single-deckers operated by Stagecoach
South Wales.
Open-top tour buses seen are those operated by Tootbus
and also Readingbuses
520 (V524 ESC), a Plaxton President on loan to Cardiffbus.
Newport
Bus
are also recorded on the 30
service that runs in from Newport. We
now travel to the city of Newport and film along Kingsway and at the
busy bus
stations. The main one is served by Newport
Bus
and the other adjacent station
is used by Stagecoach
and for longer
distance routes. Like Cardiff, Newport
Bus
is wholly owned by Newport
City Council.
The biggest change here
since our last visit in 2014 is the introduction of the first electric
bus
fleet in Wales. A fleet of 15 Yutong E12
single-deckers are operated, the first one arriving in 2018. Z01
(YK66 CBC) is a former demonstrator and
was followed by a further 14 in 2020 numbered Z02 to Z15.
Other single-deck types seen are Scania OmniCitys,
Wright Meridian-bodied MANs and short ADL Enviro200s.
Double-deckers include Dennis Trident ALX400s,
ADL Enviro400s and new ADL400MMCs in a white and green livery.
Other operators captured on film include Phil
Anslow Coaches,
Stagecoach
South Wales
and Cardiffbus,
running the 30 joint service
between the two cities. We conclude our
South Wales trip with a brief visit to Chepstow where Newport
Bus
operate their 73 service to. We also see Stagecoach
in both their own livery and in TrawsCymru
colours. To
conclude our programme we take a look back in still photographs at Cardiff
Corporation
and Newport
Corporation
buses back in 1974,
1975 and 1976. Just see how they have
changed!
