Created 17-Jan-20
Modified 8-Mar-24
The service first ran from 6th July 1925, commencing at the same time as the Pontypridd to Porthcawl service. There were three round trips daily which ran from Porth through Tonypandy, Penygraig, Tonyrefail, Aberkenfig and Bridgend. This service continued in the 1930s and was listed as also serving Treorchy and Ystrad but in practice passengers had to use connecting services to Tonypandy, although eventually through buses were run, later from Treherbert instead of Treorchy.
Surprisingly, the service continued during World War II except for reverting to Treorchy instead of Treherbert as a a terminus and later just from Tonypandy. From 19th May 1947 it once again ran to Treorchy, there being two services. One started at Treorchy running via Ystrad and Tonypandy and the other form Porth depot running (probably via Trealaw) to Tonypandy then both following the same route to Porthcawl. One peculiarity was that some buses from Porthcawl to Porth ran from Penygraig direct to Porth and didn't call at Tonypandy as on the outward journey.
The two services were always shown in a single timetable as they shared a common route. Latterly the Red & White 172 was also shown in the same timetable as this also shared a common route from Tonypandy to Porthcawl apart from the 172 running via Trebanog. It was treated as a joint service with inter-availability of tickets. In the June 1957 timetable the services were given route numbers as shown:
160 - Porth to Porthcawl
161 - Treorchy to Porthcawl
Demand for the service, particularly in the winter, clearly started to wane and around 1965 several of the journeys started to run only in the summer season. The timetable then remained unchanged with just a re-numbering of the services from 3rd January 1971 following the absorption of Rhondda by Western Welsh when the 160 became the 503 and the 161 became the 504. The services ceased operation altogether by 1974.
© David Beilby
