Created 17-Jan-20
Modified 8-Mar-24
This was a very important service to Rhondda and was once one of the most lucrative. Sadly for all its importance it was not well-recorded by enthusiasts with almost all the photographs being in Cardiff bus station. Once they had entered the fleet its operation was dominated for many years by the 30-foot long forward-entrance AEC Regent Vs.
This service has its origins in a service from Porth to Cardiff which started in February 1925, seemingly as an extension of the Porth to Tonyrefail service started in May 1924. This service involved the arduous climb from Porth to Trebanog. There was a single journey that ran to Llantrisant station and the services ran through a district Rhondda referred to as Green Talbot until 1930 when they changed to referring to it by the now-familiar name of Talbot Green.
From May 1927 the service was changed to become one from Treherbert to Cardiff and the timetable evolved quite quickly to take account of more powerful, faster, buses such that the journey from Treherbert to Cardiff in 1931 took as long as the one from Porth to Cardiff in 1925 - 1h 35m. Connections from Porth were advertised, changing at Tonyrefail, until 1934. Cardiff had been quite opposed to Rhondda's routes into the city and the terminus initially reflected that, with the terminus originally being on Cathedral Road. It moved later to Fitzhamon Embankment and by 1935 at the latest was in Scott Street where it remained until the opening of the bus station in 1955.
A wartime economy saw the service cut back to Treorchy, whilst in about 1947 and additional service terminating was introduced and it is worth describing the routes as they were at that time. It left Cardiff along Cathedral Road and through Llandaff following the current A4119 to Mwyndy Cross Roads, then through Miskin and Pontyclun to Talbot Green, Coedely, Tonyrefail, Trebanog, Penygraig and Tonypandy. Beyond Tonypandy, once in Llwynypia it took Nant-y-Gwyddon Road to reach Gelli and Ton Pentre, where it took Maindy Road and Pen-Twyn Road to enter Treorchy past the Parc and Dare Institute. It then continued a short distance towards Treherbert, terminating at the Cardiff Arms. The Ystrad Rhondda service turned onto Bridge Street as it was entering Tonypandy and ran via Trealaw and Llwynypia.
From around 1957 the Treorchy service was extended to Fernhill Colliery on Saturdays and route numbers were introduced;
120 - Cardiff to Treorchy
121 - Cardiff to Ystrad Rhondda
122 - Referred to in timetable indexes but no service shown
123 - Cardiff to Fernhill Colliery (extension of 120)
Timetables from 1954 to 1956 showed a separate service to Rhydlafar Hospital which then disappears from the timetables until 1965, when it appears once more, by this time numbered 125.
From 31-Jan-1966 the Ystrad service was extended to Treorchy (following the route of the R20-R23 services) and the Saturday extension to Fernhill Colliery ceased, eventually being replaced in 1967 by a Saturday extension of the Pontypridd to Blaenrhondda service - in the meantime passengers were offered through fares on Saturdays using the short-lived R35 (Fernhill Houses to Fernhill Colliery) service. From 3rd January 1971 the 120 and 121 were renumbered 320 and 321 following the absorption of Rhondda by Western Welsh, with the Rhydlafar Hospital service 125 becoming 325, although this ceased running by 1974. Also at about the same time the 321 ceased to run via Trealaw on Saturdays, instead running through Llwynypia. This rather confusing situation didn't last long and by 1972 journeys through Trealaw had ceased with every bus serving Tonypandy; at the same time the 321 was diverted to run via Tynybryn instead of Tonyrefail Mill Street, a routing that had only become possible with the demolition of the railway bridge in Tonyrefail. Finally, the terminus in Treorchy changed from the Cardiff Arms to the Parc and Dare Institute.
From 1st December 1975 the Sunday service was reduced to operate from Cardiff to Tonypandy only and on 20th September 1976 the service was converted to one-man operation which resulted in a slightly revised timetable. By 1977 a minor change saw an exchange of routes between Treorchy and Ton Pentre, with the 321 now going via Pen-Twyn Road instead of the 320 as previously. However, major changes were to come with the Market Analysis Project service revisions introduced from 24th May 1981. The 320 ran from Cardiff to Porth serving Tynybryn, Capel Estate and reaching Porth beyond Tonypandy via Llwynypia and Trealaw. The 321 ran from Cardiff to Blaencwm using Tonyrefail Mill Street and following the previous 521 route from Tonypandy to Blaencwm and made an additional detour via Danescourt Way on the outskirts of Cardiff. By 1983 these services had been renumbered with the 320 becoming the 522 and the 321 becoming 521 but by 1985 the 521 had ceased to run.
On deregulation on 26th October 1986 the 522 became the 122. By 1988 the only journeys to and from Porth were at the beginning and end of the day, otherwise the service ran from Cardiff to Tonypandy, this varied slightly over the next few years. It changed very little in the Rhondda Buses era, the variations being mainly evening services supported by Mid-Glamorgan County Council and later Rhondda Cynon Taff Borough Council. The service remained a shadow of its former self, in the 1960s buses ran every fifteen minutes but it had become hourly in later years, albeit there was by then also the X9 express service which gave a much faster run from Tonypandy into Cardiff.
There were some odd workings on the service which didn't always appear in the timetable. There was a morning journey from Gilfach Goch to Cardiff and return in the afternoon. This had to be worked by single-deckers due to low bridges and often required duplicates. There were also at various times odd journeys from Porth that ran direct via Trebanog.
© David Beilby
