First Cymru

First Cymru

Enviro200 Dart in Maesteg in April 2014
Parent FirstGroup
Headquarters Penlan
Service area South Wales
Service type Bus & coach services
Depots 6
Fleet 387 (March 2014)
Website www.firstgroup.com/south_west_wales/

First Cymru[1] is an operator of bus services in South Wales. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup with its headquarters in Penlan, Swansea.

History

Plaxton bodied Volvo B7R in Cardiff in March 2006
Marshall Capital bodied Dennis Dart SLF at Neath bus station in April 2014
Wright StreetCar operating an Ftrmetro Swansea journey in February 2014

In 1987, South Wales Transport was sold during the privatisation of the National Bus Company in a management buy out.[2]

In February 1990, along with Brewers Motor Services and United Welsh Coaches, South West Transport was sold to Badgerline.[3] All initially retained their trading names but following Badgerline merging with GRT Group in April 1995 to form FirstBus, all Welsh operations were rebranded as First Cymru.

In January 2015 two successive First Cymru bus drivers refused to accept a Scottish banknote as payment from a schoolboy, despite the note being legal currency across the United Kingdom. The schoolboy had to walk for an hour in pouring rain and freezing temperatures to get home.[4] A First Cymru Bus spokesman said: "Scottish currency is legal tender in the UK and it should have been accepted on our buses as payment for the journey he was making. We will investigate what has happened here."

Operations

The company operates around 200 bus services in the south Wales area, in and between Haverfordwest, Pembroke, Tenby, Carmarthen, Llanelli, Swansea, Pontardawe, Neath, Port Talbot, Maesteg, Bridgend and Cardiff.

The company operates a bus rapid transit route in Swansea, branded Swansea Metro and a frequent shuttle service from Swansea to Cardiff.

Unibus

For students of Swansea University, Unibus service 8 links the Hendrefoelan Student Village, Singleton Park Campus and Bay Campus to Swansea City Centre. They also run a half hourly shuttle bus between Singleton Park Campus and Bay Campus called 8X and service 10 linking Singleton Park Campus and Bay Campus with student areas Uplands and Sketty. These replaced the 82a and 85.

Park and Ride

First Cymru operates park & ride sites, which are located at Fabian Way and Landore in Swansea and Nant-Y-Ci in Carmarthen. They also operate a summer park & ride in Tenby.

X10

First Cymru operate an hourly shuttle service between Cardiff, Bridgend Designer Outlet and Swansea called the X10. This replaced a Greyhound UK service in December 2015.[5][6][7]

Cymru Clipper

In 2014, First Cymru started the Cymru Clipper express network which spans from Carmarthen to Cardiff.

Services X1, X2, X3, X4, X11, X13, X50, X51, X55 and X58 are encompassed into this network. Dedicated vehicles operate these services, with the majority of them offering WiFi and leather seats as standard.

Swansea Metro

First Cymru operate a bus rapid transport route between Singleton Hospital, Swansea University, Swansea City Centre and Morriston Hospital as Swansea Metro. On 28 August 2015 the fleet of Wright StreetCar articulated buses that operated the service were replaced by conventional buses and had lost the FTRmetro branding.[8][9]

National Express

Until July 2012 First Cymru were a National Express contractor and operated services on routes:

Fleet

As at March 2014 the fleet consisted of 387 buses and coaches.[10]

Depots

First Cymru operate seven depots in Bridgend, Cardiff, Haverfordwest, Llanelli, Port Talbot, Tycroes and Ravenhill.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Companies House extract company no 133884 First Cymru Buses Limited formerly The South Wales Transport Company Limited
  2. ↑ NBC sale at halfway stage Commercial Motor 16 May 1987 page 21
  3. ↑ Names remain the same Commercial Motor 1 March 1990 page 20
  4. ↑ Swansea schoolboy bus row over £10 note BBC News 14 January 2015
  5. ↑ Greyhound has changed First South & West Wales 17 November 2015
  6. ↑ Swansea to Cardiff Greyhound services to be scrapped from this week Wales Online 2 December 2015
  7. ↑ Greyhound brand in the UK comes to an end Route One 16 December 2015
  8. ↑ First Cymru announces Swansea's bendy bus services to be scrapped South Wales Evening Post 24 June 2015
  9. ↑ "Three depots and Swansea ftr axed in First cutbacks" Buses issue 725 August 2015 page 6
  10. 1 2 FirstGroup Fleetlist Steve White

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