Rhondda Bus Routes

Created 26-Apr-19

As stated in the introduction, the main objective of these galleries is to record bus operation as much as the buses themselves. In this section it is the intention that you will find covered all the routes ever operated by Rhondda Transport and its successors from Porth depot with a historical outline of their development. In deciding how to sort them I have tried to keep some form of logical grouping recognising that much of the more obscure parts of Rhondda bus operation was just never recorded on film.

The galleries are introduced with a route number where applicable and the one used is that initially used by Rhondda Transport when they started using route numbers in the 1950s, except when the route was not operated then when the first number used is shown. There have of course been many changes and re-numberings but for some of the galleries at least the list of route numbers would be just ridiculous as you will see from the narratives.

The general method of presentation is to take you on a ride along each route from one end to the other, however, this works better for some galleries than others depending on the level of coverage. It will also allow you to see how areas changed over time as photographs of the same location will usually be grouped together.

One or two of the routes have a less obvious connection with Rhondda but again hopefully the narratives explain why I have included them. Some galleries are also not related to fixed routes but show how Rhondda buses ended up travelling far and wide, most memorably in the mass seaside excursions that were such a distinctive feature of Rhondda bus operation and have their own gallery.

In here is also a chance to look round the depot, these buses being by definition not in service. However, on or two are waiting to leave on services and have been included in the relevant galleries. Some of the services passing the depot used to call in for crew changes as well, whilst in service.

In the case of jointly-operated services, you will find the buses of the joint operators in these route galleries as well. In the case of the Merthyr Tydfil service and the TrawsCambria coach service the other operators tend to dominate the galleries.

Finally, there is a selection of galleries not really connected to routes but showing vehicles in different stages of their life. The first shows vehicles before they entered service with Rhondda, with most of these relating to Rhondda Buses secondhand acquisitions. Secondly, Rhondda vehicles did go on hire to other operators. Whilst this was generally quite limited, after the absorption by Western Welsh many former Rhondda Transport buses could be found working from other Western Welsh and even Red & White depots and this aspect is well covered. Finally, more so in the 1950s and 1960s, Rhondda Buses were eagerly sought by other operators and many of the immediate postwar fleet vehicles saw further service with a variety of users. Some in the 1970s went much further afield!