Bus transport in Wales is a significant form of public transport in Wales. In 2021–22 52.3 million journeys were travelled in Wales on local buses.
History
In 1845, the first recorded horse-drawn bus services occurred in Cardiff.
In 1870, the Cardiff Tramways Company was established and later ran horse trams and buses.
By 1902, the Corporation of Cardiff had taken over the Cardiff Tramways Company, and had commenced operating electric powered trams in the city.
On 2 May 1914, South Wales Transport commenced their first bus services, with the company providing connecting bus services in Swansea to the Swansea Improvements and Tramway Company.
In 1921, Tanat Valley Coaches was founded.
In the early 20th century motor buses had some operations in Cardiff, although these early buses were described to be uncomfortable, with the pneumatic tyres not being introduced until 1924, and the closing of open top-decks with the first roofs until 1925.
In 1937, motor buses replaced trams in Swansea. In 1942, trolleybuses were introduced in Cardiff, including both single-deck and double-deckers.
In 1943, a pay-as-you go enter system replaced fare-collecting conductors on Cardiff's buses. While in May that year, Richards Brothers operated its first bus.
In 1950, trams stopped operating in Cardiff.
In 1958, Richards Brothers bought Owen Williams of Cardigan, while South Wales Transport bought the Swansea and Mumbles Railway, an electric tram service which was closed in 1960.
Starting in 1962, motor buses were introduced in Cardiff, phasing out the use of trolleybuses which were last operated until 1970.
On 1 January 1969, South Wales Transport became part of the National Bus Company. The National Bus Company operated a subsidiary known as Crosville, operating services across North and Mid Wales and Cheshire in England.
In 1971, Western Welsh withdrew from parts of West Wales and Richards Brothers took over the services between Fishguard and St. Davids. In 1972, Richard Brothers bought Lewis Williams (Blue Glider) of St. Dogmaels and in 1976 Pioneer Motors of Newport. In 1978, it expanded its facilities in Newport to accommodate an increase in local services there, and in 1982, the company bought a depot in Haverfordwest for an increase in that area's services.
In May 1987, the National Bus Company was undergoing privatisation, with South Wales Transport and Crosville sold to management buyouts.
In 1989, National Express bought Crosville Wales, but then Drawlane (to be British Bus) bought Crosville in 1991.
Following the formation of FirstBus in 1995, its Welsh operations were rebranded as First Cymru.
In 2002, Arriva Cymru, formed from the purchase of Crosville, merged with Arriva North West (England), but was demerged into Arriva Buses Wales in 2009.
In 2008, Adventure Travel, then New Adventure Travel, launched in South Wales. It was acquired by ComfortDelGro in 2018.
In July 2016, GHA Coaches, Wales' largest independent bus operator which operates in North East Wales, English West Midlands and North West England, went into administration.
Under devolution In 2018, a study suggested that the distance travelled by bus in Wales had declined by 20% from 2006–2007 to 2016–2017, the most of the UK nations, and that the miles covered with financial support from local authorities had almost halved. The Welsh Local Government Association stated the findings "undermine[d] the case for continued financial support for non-commercial services". The Welsh Government described the findings as "misleading", as the study did not consider the impact of an increase in train journeys and excluded the long-distance TrawsCymru bus services.
In July 2018, it was claimed by the Campaign for Better Transport that council funding for buses had been cut across England and Wales, with council funding for buses in Wales cut around 40 per cent from 2010–11 to 2017–18.
Bus Services (Wales) Bill In July 2019, the Welsh Government aimed to restructure the bus industry in Wales to introduce a "London-style system" where bus operators would bid to operate services, compared to the current system where aside subsidising unprofitable routes, bus firms have large amounts of leeway to decide what routes to run.
The Bus Services (Wales) Bill, was introduced by the Welsh Government as a white paper, which aimed to provided local authorities more "tools" to use in the planning and delivery of bus services within their local jurisdictions, and the improve the availability of bus service information. It would've created "Welsh Partnership Schemes" consisting of bus operators and the authorities, and allow local authorities to run their own bus services. Local councils would have the power to award bus firms exclusive rights to particular routes and prevent other operators from competing on the same routes. Although this would effectively mean councils would fund bus operators using contracts that dictate what routes bus firms should run.
Welsh ministers had stated as a lot of existing bus funded was with public funding it should be with more public control. It was compared to the franchising system in London, which unlike other parts of the UK had seen bus usage rise, and that the deregulation of the bus system had led to a suspected "lot of waste in the system".
There were concerns the legislation may put some bus firms out of business, and bus firms opposed the legislation during a public consultation, arguing it was unnecessarily expensive and poor value. Charity Bus Users UK opposed the plans, and stated the franchising model was unsustainable as it requires ongoing public investment, with the Public Transport Consortium stating the system does not address the issue of a lack of funds of councils, and would stifle innovation, restrict private investment and could lead to bus firms, who are unable to secure contracts, to have their employee pay and pensions susceptible to failure. It was withdrawn in July 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In July 2020, Gwynedd Council published a "2020 North Wales Regional Bus Strategy".
Other recent history In March 2022, the Welsh Government proposed changing the structure of the bus system in Wales into a single franchising system and network styled , an equivalent to London Buses. The white paper proposed establishing one ticketing system, one timetable and one operator, with private firms bidding to run services, while Welsh Ministers held a larger say in the management of the system. A 12-week consultation was launched following the announcement, and the government would introduce a law to franchise all bus services in Wales. The proposed system differs from England and Scotland, where local authorities command more control, although the Welsh Government also announced it intends lift the ban on allowing local authorities to set up new publicly owned bus companies.
In November 2022, First Cymru simplified its "Tap On-Tap Off" fare capping service in Bridgend County Borough where adult customer fares would be calculated based on the direct distance travelled by the customer.
On 11 February 2023, the Welsh Government's Bus Emergency Scheme was extended for three months until June 2023. The scheme aimed to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales on the bus industry. The Welsh Government later confirmed that it would not extend the scheme further. The termination of the scheme would potentially lead to cuts to bus services in Wales, and not all them can be funded. Llyr Gruffydd MS criticised the cuts, stating it would leave the poorest and most vulnerable people isolated.
In March 2023, the Coach and Bus Association Cymru warned that the cuts must be averted for the Welsh Government to meet its long-term policy for the future of the network, and argued there were medium-term solutions to avoid the threat of a "skeleton" network. While two Labour council leaders stated the cuts would be "devastating".
In April 2023, the Welsh Government extended the scheme for three more weeks from the initial June deadline, now lasting till 24 July. A May 2023 committee was held over concerns of the end of the scheme, and it was argued "modest additional funding" would protect services till March 2024.
On 23 May 2023, the Welsh Government offered an additional £20 million to the industry but stated it would not be enough to cover all services at risk of cutting.
On 30 June 2026, the Welsh Government announced that a new coach service would be launched between Carmarthen and Bangor, it will reduce journey time by over an hour. It was latter revealed that the service will be called and daily services would start from 25 October 2026.
Services
Bus and coach services are regulated by the Transport Act 1985, Transport Act 2000 and Transport (Wales) Act 2006. The Welsh Ministers do not have any powers in relation to UK-wide regulatory regime of the bus industry.
Statistics Local bus services can be a "vital part of Welsh economic and social life" for the 19 per cent of the population of Wales recorded to not have access to a car or van in the 2021 United Kingdom census, where bus services may be relied on to travelling to work, hospital, social activities, shopping or leisure.
During the 2021–22 period between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, 52.3 million passenger journeys on local buses on a total of 82.8 million vehicle kilometres were undertaken in Wales. The passenger journeys figure is an increase from 25.9 million in 2020–21, but 43 per cent lower than the last year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales, with 91.0 million in 2019–20. Journeys per person and vehicle kilometres on local buses were lower in Wales compared to Scotland and England, all three have seen a general trend of declining journeys since 2009.
Of the total 82.8 million vehicle kilometre-distance travelled, 75.8 per cent were on commercial routes, with the remaining 24 per cent on subsidised services. The figure is an overall increase of 27.9 per cent from the 2020–21 figure, with commercial services increasing by 31.2 per cent and subsidised by 26.9 per cent, and the increases may be a result of relaxing restrictions implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the distance travelled has been overall slightly declining since 2009–10.
The Welsh Government defines local bus services as those where passengers can get off within 15 miles from their pick up point and while using separate fares.
For 2021–22, there were 2,934 bus and coach drivers in Wales, a decrease of 10.6 per cent from 2020–21, and part of a general decrease over the past four years. Although the number of local bus and coach vehicles increased by 1.1 per cent in the same period (2021–22) to 2,215 vehicles, although lower than a decade earlier in 2011–12.
Operators
National
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. The network is planned to be entirely zero-emission by 2026. Between July 2017 and May 2018, all TrawsCymru services on weekends were free.
Fflecsi
In May 2020, Transport for Wales launched a trial demand-responsive bus service, named "fflecsi", which was operated by local bus operators across Wales. By the beginning of September 2020, fflecsi had recorded over 7,000 journeys on its service since its launch in mid-May 2020. The largest pilot of the service commenced in Newport, South Wales, with up to 48% of all fflecsi journeys being in the city in September 2020. The Newport pilot service ended on 25 September 2022. From May 2020 to May 2021, it had recorded 50,000 trips on its then seven pilot services across Wales, with four being single bus routes.
UK-wide