Created 17-Jan-20
Modified 8-Mar-24
The new X9 service started on 27th February 1984 and ran hourly during Monday to Saturday daytime. It left Cardiff using the M4 to get to Talbot Green then ran through Tonyrefail, Penygraig and Tonypandy to Treorchy from where it ran up to Cwmparc and back again before continuing to Treherbert. The outer end of the service clearly didn't work well and on Mondays to Fridays by February 1985 the service didn't run beyond Treorchy. However, early morning and early evening buses and all Saturday journeys ran beyond but this time ran from Treorchy to Treherbert then back to Treorchy to terminate in Cwmparc. At the same time the route between Tonypandy and Treorchy changed, no longer looping through Gelli.
From deregulation on 26th October 1986 the X9 changed again, following the original route from Cardiff to Ystrad then running through Penrhys and Ferndale to Blaenllechau. From 28th July 1991 the service was cut back to Penrhys with the exception of one early morning departure from Ferndale, supported as far as Penrhys by Mid Glamorgan County Council. Another feature of the timetable at this time was that the first departure from Cardiff at 0822, which only ran Mondays to Fridays, ran as a 122 between Cardiff and Talbot Green, not on the M4.
An additional service introduced at deregulation was the X25 which was clearly intended for commuters and ran once each way on Mondays to Fridays. Starting at Treorchy it ran direct to Ystrad, Tonypandy and Penygraig and then took the Tonyrefail by-pass to Talbot Green and then the M4 to Cardiff. This service doesn't seem to have run for long.
The timetable remained generally unchanged from 1991 until the takeover of Rhondda Buses with the only change being the cessation of the early morning working from Ferndale in the mid-1990s.
In the National Welsh era coaches were used on this service carrying branding, but because the X8 and X9 services were interworked at Cardiff the branding referred to both services.
The X10 was a much later introduction by Rhondda Buses. There had briefly been an earlier X10 which ran from Talbot Green to Cardiff with journeys into Cardiff (only) travelling through Pontyclun and Mwyndy Cross. It ran on Mondays to Saturdays from 21st November 1988 to 24th December 1988 and was presumably aimed at the pre-Christmas shopping market.
By July 1996 Rhondda Buses had introduced a Blaencwm to Cardiff service numbered X10. This travelled as a local bus from Blaencwm to Tonypandy (including running via Gelli) and then, calling at Penygraig and Williamstown, took the new Ely Valley Road to run direct to Ynysmaerdy and Talbot Green after which it used the M4 to get to Cardiff. Like the other express services it started as an hourly daytime service running Mondays to Saturdays although some afternoon journeys only ran on Saturdays. The unusual feature of the service was that it didn't terminate in the bus station, continuing instead to the Ice Rink and returning directly from there to Talbot Green.
By November 1996 the X10 service had been drastically cut with just three journeys each way daily, one of those in each direction being just between Cardiff and Tonypandy. At the same time a new X11 started, one trip each way Mondays to Fridays from Gilfach Goch to Cardiff. The timings would seem to have been targeted at shoppers, they were not suitable for commuters. This service disappeared very quickly.
© David Beilby
