Created 17-Jan-20
Modified 8-Mar-24
This story starts with Rhondda Tramways' original motor bus service which was from Tonypandy to Clydach Vale and started on 4th August 1920. A short service with a running time of just ten minutes, it remained unchanged for many years. There was an intensive early morning service which would have been primarily to serve the Cambrian Collieries but when they closed in the mid-sixties the early morning service was reduced considerably. The service was given the number R27 in 1957 and when under Western Welsh ownership it was renumbered again to 527 from 3rd January 1971.
Another early bus service, started in June 1922, ran from Treorchy to Cwmparc. This was another short service with a run time of ten minutes. A feature of the wartime timetable for this service was the extension around colliery shift times with journeys starting at Partridge Road or various other intermediate points to Treorchy. In 1957 it was given the number R26.
Another service commencing in June 1922 was run initially from Ystrad to Ferndale over Penrhys. Early timetables show this as a workman's service. From 30th July 1932 it was extended from Ferndale to Blaenllechau. During 1949 it was extended from Ystrad to Treorchy, running directly and not looping through Gelli. This was numbered R32 in 1957. Around 1967 this service was linked with the R26 Cwmparc service and the combined service from Cwmparc to Blaenllechau was numbered R32, becoming the 532 from 3rd January 1971.
Penrhys estate was officially opened in 1968 and with 951 houses resulted in a large increase of traffic over the mountain. As a consequence a new service was introduced by 1970 which ran from Ferndale to Tonypandy via Penrhys, Ystrad and Llwynypia. It didn't remain the R35 long and was renumbered into the Western Welsh series as 535 from 3-Jan-1971. This service went into Penrhys estate unlike the 532 which just stopped at the roundabout.
By 1973 the 527 and 535 services were joined together to give a 527 Ferndale to Clydach Vale service. Initially it was just a combination of the services retaining the same service pattern but by 1974 more journeys from Clydah Vale had been extended to Penrhys. In combination with the 532 service and also with one hourly short journey from Tonypandy to Clydach Vale it means that both the latter place and Penrhys had four buses an hour during weekdays. This provision seems to have been greater than necessary and from 1st December 1975 the services were revised to become:
527 - Blaenllechau-Ferndale-Penrhys-Ystrad-Tonypandy-Clydach Vale
531 - Clydach Vale-Tonypandy-Trealaw-Porth
532 - Ferndale-Penrhys-Ystrad-Treorchy-Cwmparc
The 532 was extended from Ferndale to Blaenllechau on Sundays when the 527 just ran from Tonypandy to Clydach Vale. The 527 was two buses an hour, one just from Penrhys to Clydach Vale, whilst the through bus from Blaenllechau entered Tonypandy via Trealaw. The services were then unchanged until the Market Analysis Project revisions introduced on 24th May 1981. This then gave the following services:
526 - Porth-Trealaw-Llwynypia-Tonypandy-Llwynypia-Ystrad-Penrhys Estate
527 - Porth-Penygraig-Tonypandy-Llwynypia-Ystrad-Penrhys (Roundabout)-Ferndale-Blaenllechau
528 - Evanstown-Gilfach Goch-Tonyrefail-Penygraig-Tonypandy-Clydach Vale
531 - Maerdy-Ferndale-Porth-Trealaw-Tonypandy-Clydach Vale
532 - Maerdy-Ferndale-Penrhys (Roundabout)-Ystrad-Treorchy-Cwmparc
A single journey on the 526 towards Porth in the morning started in Blaenllechau. From 27th February 1984 the new X9 express service from Cardiff started (which has its own story, q.v.). This service ran to Cwmparc and seems to have replaced the 532 service, there was also a single 520 journey late evening diverted to serve Cwmparc. By January 1985 the X9 only offered a limited service to Cwmparc, there were additional journeys between there and Treorchy but it is not clear how they were worked or what service number was allocated.
In about January 1985, there was further service rationalisation when the 531 was renumbered the 526 (replacing the previous service), running between Trealaw and Tonypandy via Trinity instead of Llwynypia as the previous 526 had done. At the same time 528 ceased to serve Clydach Vale and after Tonypandy continued to Llwynypia, Ystrad, Penrhys, Ferndale and Blaenllechau, now numbered 572. This replaced the section of the previous 526 no longer covered by the new service with that number. The 527 continued but was now extended to Clydach Vale.
Deregulation on 26th October 1986 saw further changes and in many cases new numbers:
X9 - Cardiff-Tonypandy-Ystrad-Penrhys-Ferndale-Blaenllechau (limited stop between Cardiff and Tonypandy)
T1 - Penygraig-Tonypandy-Clydach Vale (Bustler service)
129 - Tonypandy-Llwynypia-Ystrad-Penrhys
139 - Treorchy-Cwmparc
The 129 was described as a circular but in practice that just meant it made a loop round the estate at Penrhys. The one late journey on the 520 via Cwmparc still continued.
The X9 was cut back to Penrhys from 28th July 1991 but otherwise continued unchanged until the Rhondda Buses takeover in 1997.
From 22nd November 1987 the T1 service was extended and a new T2 service introduced replacing the 129. The T1 now continued beyond Tonypandy via Trinity and Trealaw to Porth. The T2 ran from Clydach Vale via Trinity and Trealaw to Llwynypia, Ystrad and Penrhys, with some journeys extended to Blaenllechau from 28th July 1991 to replace the withdrawn section of the X9. When Rhondda Buses were able to replace the Bustler services new services were introduced as below:
171 - Maerdy-Ferndale-Blaenllechau-Ferndale-Penrhys-Ystrad-Llwynypia-Trealaw-Tonypandy-Clydach Vale
173 - Porth-Aubrey Road-Penygraig-Tonypandy-Clydach Vale
174 - Porth-Trealaw-Trinity-Tonypandy-Clydach Vale
An isolated appearance in the 7th July 1996 timetable was service 170 which ran from Tonypandy to Clydach Vale (Council Offices). There were just three late afternoon/early evening journeys run Mondays to Fridays when offices are open or meetings are taking place.
The 139 saw some minibus operation start around 1988, with some evening journeys then running via Tallis Street. There had for a long time been factory journey's to Polikoff's at Ynyswen but these were now given a separate service number 134. These had disappeared by 1991 and it appears for some time the Cwmparc service was worked by another operator as a tendered service. Rhondda Buses operation resumed, still as the 139, by 1996 with journeys now operating out via Tallis Street and back via Park Road or vice versa. By late 1996 Shamrock were working the evening journeys.
© David Beilby
