Created 17-Jan-20
Modified 8-Mar-24
This service has a very long history, running right from the start of motor bus operation to the end of the period covered by this gallery.
The Rhondda Tramways line up the Rhondda Fach opened to Pontygwaith on 11th July 1908, with the originally-planned line being extended to Ferndale on 2nd September the same year. The tramway was later extended from Ferndale to Maerdy on 30th March 1912. The section of tramway relevant to this story, from Porth to Maerdy, ceased to run on 31st December 1933.
The story of the bus service starts with the Cardiff to Pontypridd section, a route which saw quite a lot of competition in the early days. Rhondda started operation in March 1924 and this section became a joint operation between Rhondda Tramways and White's, Tresillian's and Cridland's Motors - the latter three all eventually becoming part of the Western Welsh operation. This service developed until it ran every 15 minutes in the morning and every ten minutes in the afternoon and the Cardiff terminus at the time was in Park Place.
From 11th August 1930 Rhondda and White's extended some of the journeys to Ferndale giving at that stage an hourly service. This introduced a difference in route between those services running just to Pontypridd and those continuing beyond, something which continued until the building of the new Sardis Road bridge in the 'sixties. Services to Pontypridd would run into Pontypridd via Broadway and terminate on Sardis Road which was not, at that time, a through road. Through services would use Pentrebach Road and Ynysangharad Road to enter Pontypridd, leaving for Ferndale via Mill Street.
The pattern of service was now set for many years to come and the only significant change of note was the absorption of the other operators into Western Welsh. Cridland and Tresillian were taken over in 1929 and White's in 1936, although in the latter case the name continued to be used (and appeared in the Rhondda timetables) until 1938. A feature introduced around 1936 was through services from Maerdy to Pontypridd on Saturday evenings.
The service saw frequency reductions and loss of the Saturday evening Maerdy service with the onset of World War II, as did most others, but otherwise continued normally. The next two changes both occurred around 1955 and possibly simultaneously. Firstly the terminus of the service moved to the new Central Bus Station in Cardiff and secondly some journeys were extended beyond Ferndale to Maerdy (generally alternate journeys ran to Ferndale or Maerdy). By the 1957 timetable route numbers were shown as follows:
130 - Cardiff to Ferndale
131 - Cardiff to Pontypridd
132 - Cardiff to Maerdy
Western Welsh were even later than Rhondda in introducing route numbers and when they did they used a system that allocated blocks of numbers to specific areas. Cardiff and Barry area routes were numbered in the 300-series and as a consequence the routes were renumbered from 130-132 to 330-332. A feature introduced in the early 1960s was the running of additional limited stop journeys in the morning on Mondays to Saturdays, changed slightly by 1968 to be only Mondays to Fridays reflecting the move to a five-day week. From around 1965 the use of a separate number for Ferndale workings ceased. By 1970 the new Sardis Road bridge was opened and the numbers had changed subtly such that the 331 meant services entering Pontypridd via Broadway and 332 for services entering via Ynysangharad Road. Whilst normally 331s ran to Pontypridd and 332s ran to Ferndale/Maerdy on Sundays a 331 service to Ferndale ran via Broadway, there being no Cardiff to Pontypridd workings on that day.
By 1972 the use of Ynysangharad Road had ceased and all journeys entered Pontypridd via Broadway. The 331 was then the Cardiff to Pontypridd service and the 332 Cardiff to Ferndale/Maerdy but by 1973 the 331 workings had ceased and all journeys now continued to Maerdy. From 1st December 1975 the stops and fares were changed to be the same as other services on common sections between Pontypridd and Maerdy as the 332 became at certain times the only service on some sections.
The service was not significantly changed as part of the Market Analysis Project, despite the introduction of the X8 Maerdy to Cardiff Express service, and the next change was a renumbering at deregulation when the service regained its earlier number 132.
The only other changes in the period covered by this gallery were right at the end of Rhondda Buses existence in 1997, when two (later three) Sunday journeys were extended to Splott Market in Cardiff and also one late evening weekday journey from Cardiff to Ferndale, along with one Porth to Maerdy working in each direction on Sundays, were diverted via Wattstown (Heol-y-Twyn) supported by Rhondda Cynon Taff Borough Council.
© David Beilby
