Английская Википедия:First Cymru
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Use British English Шаблон:Infobox Bus transit
First Cymru[1] is an operator of bus services in South West Wales. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup with its headquarters in Swansea.
History
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 Wales 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.
Operations
The company operates 98 bus services in the South West Wales area, in and between Haverfordwest, Pembroke, Tenby, Carmarthen, Ammanford, Llanelli, Swansea, Pontardawe, Neath, Port Talbot, Maesteg, Bridgend and Cardiff. Their network used to be larger and included destinations such as Brecon, Llandovery and Cardigan.
In addition to internal South Wales work, First Cymru also operate the TrawsCymru T1 service between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth under contract to the Welsh Government using Yutong electric vehicles owned by them.
First Cymru branding was previously used across the network. However, local 'Swansea and the Bay', 'Western Welsh', 'Neath Port Talbot' and 'Bridgend and County' branding is gradually being applied to services in its sub-areas.
University Services
First Cymru has provided bespoke services for students of Swansea University for a number of years. The original service, known as 'Bright Orange Bus' linked Hendrefoilan Student Village to Singleton Campus and the City Centre. The service was expanded to the Bay Campus when it opened in 2015 and renamed 'Campus to Campus'. A new route was also introduced between the two campuses via Sketty, Uplands and Swansea railway station. The network was redesigned and rebranded 'Unibws' following the closure of Hendrefoilan Student Village in the summer of 2023. Newly numbered services 90-94 link the two campuses with the city centre, Sketty, Uplands and new student accommodation in the Parc Tawe, railway station and Morfa Road areas, with service 91 operating 24-hours a day during term time.
Park and Ride
First Cymru operates park & ride sites, which are located at Fabian Way and Landore in Swansea.
Cymru Clipper
In 2014, First Cymru introduced the Cymru Clipper network of longer distance routes, spanning from Carmarthen & Ammanford to Cardiff.
Services X1, X2,[4] X3, X5, X6, X7, X11, X13, are encompassed into this network. Dedicated vehicles in blue livery 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 Wright StreetLite buses and were rebranded to red metro branding.[5][6]
TrawsCymru
First Cymru have held the contract for the T1 service between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth since 2014, when Arriva Buses Wales pulled out of Mid Wales. In 2023, First began operating Welsh Government owned Yutong electric vehicles on this service from a bespoke depot in Carmarthen.
Cymru Coaster
In May 2021, First Cymru launched two new open top bus routes in Swansea and Porthcawl:[7]
- 1 Swansea (Bus Station) to Bracelet Bay via Mumbles
- 99 Trecco Bay to Rest Bay via Porthcawl Town Centre[8]
[9]
A further two open-top coaster services were launched in June 2022:
- Aberavon Coaster Port Talbot Bus Station to Aberavon Seafront
- Tenby Coaster Tenby to Saundersfoot
In 2023 just one open top service ran in Tenby.
Previous Services
Coach Services
First Cymru used to have its own coaching division and operated school services, National Express contracts and interurban services. Special services were also operated to Abergavenny market and Oakwood Theme Park and Tenby in the summer.
Swansea to Cardiff Shuttle Service
First Cymru operated an hourly shuttle service between Cardiff, Bridgend Designer Outlet and Swansea, which was known as the 'Shuttle100'. From 2010-15, this service was part of the Greyhound UK network.[11][12] Following the demise of Greyhound this service was renumbered X10. [13] The service was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and has not since been reinstated, marking the end of First Cymru's coaching operations.
Greyhound UK
In 2010, the Swansea-Cardiff shuttle service became part of the Greyhound UK network and was operated by coaches with leather seats and additional legroom, which could be booked online for the first time. In 2013, the service was extended to Newport, Bristol and Bristol Airport. In March 2015, the Cardiff to Bristol Airport leg of the route was withdrawn and in December 2015 the Greyhound UK brand was dropped. This was the last Greyhound service to operate in the UK. National Express launched its 216 service between Cardiff and Bristol Airport immediately after the withdrawal of the Greyhound service.
National Express
Until July 2012, when the contract was lost to Edwards Coaches, First Cymru were a National Express contractor and operated services on routes:[14]
- 201 Swansea - Gatwick Airport
- 202 Swansea - Heathrow Airport
- 508 Haverfordwest - London Victoria Coach Station
- 528 Haverfordwest - Rochdale
Fleet
As of November 2023, the fleet consisted of 215 buses. The fleet consists of Volvo B9TL double deckers for university work and Alexander Dennis Enviro200, Wright StreetLite, Optare Versa, Optare Solo and Alexander Dennis Transbus Enviro300 single deckers.
Depots
First Cymru operate depots in Bridgend, Haverfordwest, Port Talbot, Tycroes , Carmarthen and Swansea.[15]
They previously had depots in Llanelli, Pontardawe, Maesteg and Cardiff.
See also
References
External links
Шаблон:Commons category-inline
Шаблон:Bus companies in Wales Шаблон:FirstGroup Шаблон:South Wales Metro Шаблон:Transport in Bridgend county borough Шаблон:Transport in Cardiff Шаблон:Transport in Carmarthenshire Шаблон:Transport in Swansea
- ↑ Companies House extract company no 133884 First Cymru Buses Limited formerly The South Wales Transport Company Limited
- ↑ NBC sale at halfway stage Commercial Motor 16 May 1987 page 21
- ↑ Names remain the same Commercial Motor 1 March 1990 page 20
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ First Cymru announces Swansea's bendy bus services to be scrapped South Wales Evening Post 24 June 2015
- ↑ "Three depots and Swansea ftr axed in First cutbacks" Buses issue 725 August 2015 page 6
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Greyhound has changedШаблон:Dead link First South & West Wales 17 November 2015
- ↑ Swansea to Cardiff Greyhound services to be scrapped from this week Wales Online 2 December 2015
- ↑ Greyhound brand in the UK comes to an endШаблон:Dead link Route One 16 December 2015
- ↑ Edwards Expands Coach & Bus Week 2 May 2012
- ↑ FirstGroup Fleetlist Steve White
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