Created 17-Jan-20
Modified 8-Mar-24
This gallery looks at what I always consider the core services of the Rhondda operation - those which follow the valley of the Rhondda Fawr from Pontypridd to Blaencwm and Blaenrhondda. The service has its roots in the tramways operated by Pontypridd Urban District Council and Rhondda Tramways, as the company was then called.
The lower section of the Rhondda valley, from Porth to Pontypridd, was also served by a separate service until 1969. This service and the history of the tramways in on that section are covered in a separate collection R24 - Pontypridd to Porth.
The Rhondda Tramways line up the Rhondda Fawr were largely opened in 1908, in several stages that were close together, starting with Trehafod to Partridge Road (via Trealaw) on 11th July, on to Treherbert on 12th September and the section from Porth to Partridge Road via Tonypandy on November 5th. The tramway was later extended from Treherbert to Tynewydd on 30th March 1912.
From August 1922 a bus service was introduced which connected the tram terminus at Tynewydd with the villages of Blaencwm and Blaenrhondda. This continued until the abandonment of the tramways. The first section to be abandoned was that between Pontypridd and Porth on 31st August 1931, the remainder was withdrawn and replaced by buses from 2nd February 1934. The buses now ran through from Pontypridd to Blaencwm and Blaenrhondda. I believe at this stage the service ran direct on the main road from Ystrad to Treorchy as the trams had done, only later did the services loop through Gelli. To cater for this demand there was a supplementary service introduced in 1938 from the Co-operative Store at Ton to Carter's Corner at Ystrad.
The service changed with the Second World War and to economise by 1940 the service from Ton to Ystrad was withdrawn and the main service ran just from Porth to Blaencwm and Blaenrhondda, through passengers having to change in Porth onto the Pontypridd to Porth service. This pattern continued long after the war and it wasn't until the September 1954 timetable that buses started to run through to Pontypridd again. The June 1957 timetable saw route numbers advertised for the first time:
R20 - Pontypridd to Blaenrhondda
R21 - Pontypridd to Blaencwm
R22 - Porth to Blaenrhondda
R23 - Porth to Blaencwm
From 31st January 1966 the Monday to Friday afternoon service was reduced from a core ten-minute frequency to a fifteen-minute frequency, a move the company described as being due to reduced custom and increased costs.
By June 1967 some of the Blaenrhondda journeys were extended to Fernhill Colliery on Saturdays, although through fares had been introduced as far back as 7th April 1957. The Pontypridd to Porth service ceased from 5th October 1969 and this is probably when the services were renumbered with the R22 and R23 previously used for short workings from Porth being abandoned and the R22 used for buses from Pontypridd to Fernhill Colliery. This had certainly happened with the timetable issue the following June. With absorption by Western Welsh, Rhondda Transport's services were renumbered and the R20-R22 became the 520-522.
From 1st December 1975 the service was reduced with only half of the buses continuing beyond Porth to Pontypridd and none at all in the early morning and evening, except for Sunday evenings. Through bookings were possible, changing at Porth to the 332 which now had the same fares and used the same stops on that section. By this stage all Blaenrhondda journeys continued to Fernhill Colliery as the 520 and the use of the number 522 ceased. A feature of the revised timetable was that journeys ran through from Pontypridd to Blaencwm but in the opposite direction ran through from Blaenrhondda to Pontypridd, something that remained until 1981. By 1977 buses only ran to Blaenrhondda, with just a few continuing to Fernhill Colliery at shift change times. This change would be a consequence of the demolition in 1976 of the long terrace that was Caroline Street which meant there was no housing left to serve. The service was converted to one-man operation from 1st July 1979 and by this time was operated by National Welsh.
The NBC Market Analysis Project New Rhondda scheme introduced on 24th May 1981 saw the bus services of the Rhondda re-cast, with few surviving in their original form. There were now two services - the 520 from Pontypridd to Blaenrhondda (as before) and the 530 from Porth to Blaencwm which ran via Trealaw instead of Penygraig. The 520 ran half-hourly and the 530 hourly, Blaencwm was served additionally by an extension of the 321 which gave a half-hourly service from Blaencwm to Penygraig. As before services only ran through to Pontypridd on Monday to Saturday daytimes. On Sundays the 520 served both Blaencwm and Blaenrhondda and the 530 instead ran from Cwmparc to Porth. There were no journeys advertised to Fernhill Colliery. Until 24th July 1983 most 530 journeys ran from Llwyncelyn (Nythbran) but didn't run to there.
By 1985 the core service was every thirty minutes with alternate buses to Blaenrhondda and Blaencwm, all running to Pontypridd during the day Mondays to Saturdays but to Porth at other times. The 530 via Trealaw no longer ran. Deregulation on 26th October 1986 saw little change apart from renumbering the service to become 120.
A much bigger change came from 22nd November 1987 when the service up the Rhondda Fawr was converted to Bustler (minibus) operation. A much more frequent service was now operated with buses every ten minutes. These ran alternately via Trealaw to Blaenrhondda or via Penygraig to Blaencwm. The service still only ran to Porth outside Monday to Saturday daytime and the 120 bus at this stage still ran on Sundays. However by February 1991 the Sunday service was also worked by minibuses. The two alternative routes were given different numbers from 28th July 1991 with the service via Trealaw becoming the T5.
The services became operated by Rhondda Buses from 5th February 1992, initially under a Tellings-Golden Miller licence. They were clearly anxious to get rid of the minibuses and operation with full size buses resumed around late 1992. The services were the 120 which ran from Pontypridd to Blaencwm via Trealaw and the 130 from Pontypridd to Blaenrhondda via Penygraig. The numbers were more indicative of the route rather than the destination and some buses served the 'other' terminus instead or, in some cases, as well. Buses still terminated at Porth outside the Monday to Saturday daytimes.
One final change in the period covered by this narrative is the introduction of one late evening round trip operated by Shamrock, supported along with some other journeys, by Rhondda Cynon Taff Borough Council.
© David Beilby
