The Last Bus In the Cynon Valley (Part 1)

This is the second part of my examination of the bus routes in and around Hirwaun, Aberdare, Mountain Ash and Abercynon, which I started with The Last Bus From the Cynon Valley. For this entry and a forthcoming one, I want to look at the buses which run purely within the Cynon Valley – although, in spite of the best efforts of the operators, the local authority, and the Welsh Government to put a stop to this unreasonable behaviour, a couple of them still manage to stray into the neighbouring districts. What can you do, eh…?

Figure 1 shows most of the area in question, sandwiched between the Merthyr and Rhondda Valleys:

[caption id="attachment_12057" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 1: The Cynon Valley and surrounding areas[/caption]

The main axis lies roughly north-south between Hirwaun and Abercynon. I've already dealt with the buses which run between Aberdare and Pontypridd/Cardiff, covering the southern part of that stretch. To recap briefly, the first bus from Aberdare southward leaves at 0605 on weekdays; then they're approximately half-hourly until 1800, at which point the timetable goes chaotic (in the mathematical sense of the word.)

I'm going to break the area up into manageable sections, working roughly from north to south. It's a lot of ground to cover, so for this first part I'm just going to look solely at the services operating in the northern portion of the valley. Even Cwmbach will have to wait until I've had chance to dissect the timetables properly, and done a bit of legwork as well. Prepare yourselves for a few surprises along the way…

Aberdare to Hirwaun and beyond.

The daytime buses along this artery are amongst the most frequent in the area. Most of them originate at Glynhafod and run through Aberdare, Penywaun and Hirwaun before proceeding to their final destination – Penderyn, Glynneath, or Merthyr Tydfil. Here's how their respective routes look on the ground:

[caption id="attachment_12201" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 2a: Route 7 runs from Aberdare to Penderyn[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_12202" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 2b: Route 8 runs from Aberdare to Glynneath[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_12203" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 2c: Route 9 runs from Aberdare to Merthyr Tydfil via Hirwaun[/caption]

Because these routes run largely in parallel, Stagecoach advertise 'buses up to every 10 minutes.' Outside peak hours, however, the service frequency is nowhere near as high, as you'll see. I'll deal with the northbound journeys first.

On weekdays, the first bus of the day leaves Aberdare at 0545 and arrives in Hirwaun at 0603. However, it continues only as far as Cefn Rhigos, at the top of the Glynneath Bank, as shown in Figure 3; from here, it runs back to Aberdare, arriving at 0640.

[caption id="attachment_12204" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 3: Cefn Rhigos is the cut-off point for Route 8 outside peak hours[/caption]

After this surprisingly early start, the subsequent services follow a straightforward out-and-back pattern as follows:

Table 1: Daytime buses through Hirwaun, Monday to Saturday

Service	Aberdare (dep)	Turning point	Return (dep)	Aberdare (arr)
8	0645	Rhigos	0710	0740
8	0700	Glynneath	0737	0815
9	0710	Merthyr	0805	0845
7	0730	Penderyn	0800	0835
8	0740	Glynneath	0817	0855
9	0750	Merthyr	0835	0915
7	0800	Penderyn	0835	0905
8	xx10	Glynneath	xx47	xx25
9	xx20	Merthyr	xx05	xx45
7	xx30	Penderyn	xx05	xx35
8	xx40	Glynneath	xx17	xx55
9	xx50	Merthyr	xx35	xx15

… and so forth until 1800 or so.

As you can see, there are indeed 'up to six buses an hour' – throughout the daytime from Mondays to Saturdays, anyway. Now let's have a look at the services at the end of the working day.

After 1730, the operating frequency drops off rapidly. However, there's another service to be considered (sort of): the 6A. This enigmatic bus serves Llwydcoed, then (to judge from the timetable) it tears through some quiet country lanes before arriving at Hirwaun. From there it travels on to Cefn Rhigos, with a little wiggle to Penderyn. I go into more detail about the 6A, and its very peculiar timetable, below. I'm determined to catch it one night, just to experience its magical mystery tour for myself:

[caption id="attachment_12205" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 4a: The 6A takes this weird route some of the time...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_12206" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 4b: ...and this weird route the rest of the time[/caption]

Table 2: Evening buses through Hirwaun, Monday to Saturday

Service	Aberdare (dep)	Turning point	Return (dep)	Aberdare (arr)
7	1730	Penderyn	1805	1835
8	1740	Glynneath	1817	1855
9	1720	Merthyr	1825	1905
7	1800	Penderyn	1835	1905
9	1830	Rhigos	1858	1940
9	1930	Hirwaun	1945	2000
6A	1940	Rhigos*	2002	2035
9	2030	Hirwaun	2045	2100
6A	2040	Rhigos*	2110	2135
9	2130	Hirwaun	2145	2200
9	2230	Hirwaun	2245	2300

* see below for more details

And that's your lot!

There's no doubt that a bus 'up to every ten minutes' represents a fantastic service outside a major city. In fact, it's little short of amazing – if you just want to travel the three miles or so from Hirwaun to Aberdare during the daytime. However, let's consider the situation from the point of view of someone travelling further afield.

The subtitle to this blog refers to 'differentiated public transport' – because in mathematics, differentiation is the opposite of integration. Well, welcome to the world of Differentiated Public Transport. For those of us in the South Wales Valleys, 'integrated public transport' is something that happens to other people: people living in developed industrial economies, where the Powers That Be take a holistic approach to the transport infrastructure.

Keen-eyed readers will have noticed that so far I've haven't mentioned the trains. I'll bring them into the picture now, because for many people commuting along that north-south axis, the train can be a better choice than the bus. For example, picture yourself as a commuter living in Hirwaun and heading to work in Cardiff. This particular example of differentiated public transport involves a bus journey into Aberdare, a short journey on foot to the railway station, and the train from there. Even that inter-modal transfer isn't as easy as it used to be; the road junction was remodelled at the end of 2013, as I told you in Desire Lines.

A quick glance at Table 1 shows that the earliest bus still isn't early enough to get you on the first train to Cardiff, which leaves Aberdare at 0622. Your earliest available train will be the 0652. The next bus from Hirwaun gets you into Aberdare in time for the 0722 departure. That's a slight improvement. However, there are communities beyond Hirwaun for which Aberdare is the nearest railway station. It's logical for people living there to head to Aberdare Railway Station. Or so you might think…

I'll consider Rhigos first. If you live in the village, and want to be in Cardiff for an 0830 start, you'll need to hit the road at just after 0600. If you leave home any later, the next bus will get you to Aberdare in good time for the 0752 train.

Now, on paper the 0752 train gets into Cardiff Queen Street at 0849. In reality, bottlenecks on the Valley Lines network mean that operating delays of ten minutes or more are not unusual. For most people working in the city centre, the 0722 departure is the only practical choice for commuting to work in Cardiff. As long as you live on the main Hirwaun-Aberdare stretch of the route, you have a convenient connecting bus. If you live any further along Route 8, you're stuck with the very early bus, or nothing.

Even so, you're considerably better off than someone living along Route 7. The first bus leaves Penderyn at 0800 – far, far too late if you're commuting to Cardiff. In fact, as I know from anecdotal evidence, it's too late if you're commuting to Pontypridd.

Here are two case studies to back up this statement. My mother knew someone who lived in Penderyn and worked in Aberdare. She was able to commute easily from her home to the office and back again. Then the company closed their Aberdare office and relocated to Pontypridd. The young woman in question had to give up her job, because she simply could not get to and from work any more. Similarly, I have a friend from Penderyn whose teenage son was in college in Pontypridd. As he was too young to drive, she had to take him into Aberdare every morning for him to catch the train. It's a crazy state of affairs!

Let's consider the plight of people returning from work. The trains arrive in Aberdare at xx46 and xx16 throughout the day (mostly!), and then go semi-chaotic in the evenings; they're timetabled to come in at 1746, 1816, 1846, 1946, 2016, 2046, 2142, and 2242. Compare these arrival times with the departure times of the northbound buses in Table 2. As you can see, most of them don't even attempt to connect with the trains. (In fact, you could be forgiven for thinking that they've been deliberately engineered not to connect with the trains. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you like, but it wouldn't surprise me at all!)

If you live in Hirwaun and travel home by train, you'll have to hang around in Aberdare for forty minutes or so before embarking on the final leg of your daily commute. That's bad enough, but if you live further out, it gets worse again!

Some years ago the Cynon Valley Leader carried an item about the landlord of the Lamb Hotel in Penderyn. He'd noticed that his trade had dropped off suddenly. He and his customers couldn't work out why – until someone pointed out that buses no longer served the village after six o'clock in the evening. Since then, things have changed. A bit…

If you live in Rhigos, you have a choice of two buses home after 1900. They both travel via the intriguing 6A route – and they leave Aberdare at 1940 and 2040 respectively, just a few short minutes before the train arrives (or fifty-odd minutes after, depending on your point of view!) You're still marginally better off than people living in Penderyn; after 1800, they have one solitary bus home – the 6A, which leaves Aberdare at 2040. The mystery of this 'service' doesn't end there. Get ready for more 6A-related nonsense.

According to the ever-helpful (*derisive snort*) Traveline Cymru website, the 1940 6A from Aberdare runs to Llwydcoed, goes on to Hirwaun, and terminates at Rhigos. On its way back into Aberdare, it calls at Penderyn at 2010, goes into Hirwaun, and then retraces its steps to Aberdare. After spending five minutes in the bus station (presumably so that passengers can admire its dazzling neo-Classical architecture and gaze in wonder at the hordes of hoodie-wearing teenagers slouching around), it turns round again and runs back to Rhigos – via Penderyn! If you can make any sense of this at all, please leave a comment below. I've read the timetable twice, and I still can't figure it out!

If you decide that life in this beguiling semi-rural gateway to the Brecon Beacons is for you, bear in mind that you won't be able to use public transport to get to work before nine in the morning; on the other hand, you won't be getting home much before nine at night either. If you do move there, public transport won't do wonders for your social life either. You'll have exactly five minutes to enjoy yourself in Aberdare before you have to go home again. Alternatively, of course, you could jump off the southbound 6A when it gets to Hirwaun, and lose yourself in the fleshpots of that thriving metropolis for all of half an hour.

It's hardly worth mentioning the Sunday buses, but for the sake of completeness I will. In keeping with Cynon Valley tradition, Stagecoach don't start running until early afternoon. But never fear! The local authority supported buses are there to fill the gap – until their funding dries up, anyway.

As well as our friend the 6A (operated by a local company, Globe Coaches, on a Sunday), the 89 service to Merthyr, operated by NAT and last seen in The Last Bus From the Cynon Valley, makes an appearance. I've summarised them in Table 3:

Table 3: Sunday buses through Hirwaun

Service	Aberdare (dep)	Turning point	Return (dep)	Aberdare (arr)
6A	1040	Rhigos ¹	1104	1135
6A	1140	Rhigos ²	1210	1235
6A	1240	Rhigos ¹	1304	1335
89	1345	Merthyr	1505	1545
9	1430	Hirwaun	1445	1500
6A	1440	Rhigos ²	1510	1535
9	1530	Hirwaun	1545	1600
6A	1540	Rhigos ¹	1604	1635
89	1545	Merthyr	1635	1715
9	1630	Hirwaun	1645	1700
6A	1640	Rhigos ²	1710	1735
9	1730	Hirwaun	1745	1800
89	1745	Merthyr	1805	1840
9	1830	Hirwaun	1845	1900
9	1930	Hirwaun	1945	2000
9	2030	Hirwaun	2045	2100
9	2130	Hirwaun	2145	2200
9	2230	Hirwaun	2245	2300

¹ via Penderyn on the return leg (apparently!)

² via Penderyn on the outward leg (apparently!)

As you can see, if you're trying to get to work on a Sunday, you're pretty much screwed. Just getting to Aberdare for a ten o'clock start is impossible – never mind travelling any further afield. Then again, the buses home do run until the pubs chuck out. Every cloud has a silver lining, I suppose.

Aberdare - Glynhafod

I know I said I'd only look at the northern part of the valley this time, but compared to the complicated business of the Hirwaun services, the southbound part of routes 7, 8, and 9 is straightforward. After leaving Aberdare, the buses run through the northern part of Aberaman and then veer off into the Aman Valley. They travel through the long, narrow main road of Godreaman and Cwmaman, before turning at Glynhafod and retracing their steps.

Because it's fed by three half-hourly services, this area boasts buses 'up to every 10 minutes' at peak times. It's a good thing, too. I'm always surprised by just how far away Glynhafod seems to be. It isn't a place which I'd care to walk to very often.

[caption id="attachment_12207" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 5: Routes 7,8 and 9 all continue to Glynhafod[/caption]

Given its back-and-forth nature, there's little of interest about the bus service. However, I do want to highlight its relatively good connections with the trains at Aberdare, with the usual caveat about early mornings. As you can see from Figure 5, using Cwmbach Station isn't really a viable option for people in the Aman Valley. There are no public transport links across the valley floor, and no convenient routes for pedestrians, so it makes far more sense to head for Aberdare itself.

The first bus of the day leaves Aberdare at 0630, reaches Glynhafod at 0645, heads back down at 0650, and arrives at Aberdare at 0705 – plenty of time to catch the 0722 departure to Cardiff. (You're left high and dry if you need to catch an earlier train, of course!) The next bus leaves Glynhafod at 0730 and arrives at 0745; after that, there's one at 0750, then they run every ten minutes until 1730. With a fifteen-minute journey time, that's a pretty decent service.

Not surprisingly, the evening services tail off rapidly, with buses leaving Glynhafod at 1740, 1750, 1810, 1830 and 1845. After 1900, Glynhafod becomes one end of a shuttle service with Hirwaun at the other. This gives rise to a fairly limited evening service, leaving Aberdare on the hour and returning at xx15. It also means that, apart from one, the trains coming into Aberdare connect fairly nicely with the buses to Glynhafod. The very last bus of the day leaves Glynhafod at 2315. There's only one pub left in the Aman Valley, sadly – but at least you can stay until last orders and get back to Aberdare.

Sunday, apparently, is still a day of rest in the Aman Valley. The first bus doesn't leave Glynhafod until 1415, and they run hourly until 2215. It's not much to write home about.

Aberdare - Llwydcoed

I've pretty much covered this area already, since Llwydcoed is served by the 6 and 6A buses. I looked at the daytime 6 in my previous entry, as it continues to Merthyr Tydfil. With two services an hour during the day, Llwydcoed is fairly well catered for. Outside peak times, it's a different story entirely.

[caption id="attachment_12208" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 6: Route 6 serves Llwydcoed on its way to and from Merthyr Tydfil[/caption]

The first bus of the day leaves Aberdare at 0650, turns at the top end of Llwydcoed at 0707, and arrives back in Aberdare at 0720.

That's right – a mere two minutes before the train leaves Aberdare! Bear in mind that the doors are closed thirty seconds before the driver gets the 'right away'. Bear in mind, too, that during the winter the trains leave a full minute earlier than in the summer. Let's 'unpick' this situation, as media people say.

First, I'll assume that it's even possible to get off the bus and onto the train in that small window of opportunity. (Personally, I doubt whether it is. If anyone wants to take up the challenge, let me know. I can borrow a stopwatch if needs be!) Even if it can be done, the bus has to be in Aberdare absolutely on the dot.

Back in the day, Stagecoach didn't have a great track record of running this bus on schedule. I know, because I used it regularly from May 1992 to August 1998. On a large number of occasions, it didn't even arrive in Aberdare in time to connect with the 0725 bus to Cardiff – and that left from about twenty metres away! In fact, part of the reason I bought my house was because it was within walking distance of Aberdare. It meant that I'd no longer be stuck with Stagecoach's unreliable first bus. Things might have changed in the intervening period. If they have, please leave a comment below, as I'd love to have some good news to report.

The next bus leaves Aberdare at 0735, runs back down at 0750, and arrives in Aberdare at 0802 – ten minutes after the 0752 train has left! Even so, if you live in Llwydcoed and need to commute down the valley, you're still slightly better off than someone living in Penderyn. Only slightly…

The same applies at the other end of the working day. My earlier comments about the 6A are valid here, as it provides the only evening 'service' to Llwydcoed. Once again, if I were paranoid, I'd be tempted think that the bus timetables had been drawn up not to connect with the trains.

Sundays, of course, are the preserve of the 6A alone. You can look up the timetable for yourselves on the Traveline Cymru website, and see if it makes any sense in your eyes!

Before I move on, I'd like to mention a public building which lies beside a quiet road between Hirwaun and Merthyr Tydfil. It's in constant use throughout the day, and large numbers of people from the Cynon and Merthyr valleys pass through its gates during its opening hours. It has bus stops right outside the gates, yet no buses have passed that way for several years. It's an important civic amenity in the middle of nowhere, an obvious hole in the bus network map of South Wales, and a major inconvenience to many people living locally: Llwydcoed Crematorium.

[caption id="attachment_12209" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 7: Llwydcoed Crematorium is only accessibly by car or on foot[/caption]

To me, it would make perfect sense for the daytime Merthyr - Hirwaun - Aberdare services to stop at the Crematorium entrance. It might add a minute or two to the journey time, but it would be a useful service and would probably pay its way over time.

Aberdare - Cwmdare

I'm focussing on the opposite hillside now, with buses which run into another side valley. There are two services between Aberdare and Cwmdare (technically, they run to Bwllfa Dare, at the far end of the village.) They start and end in parallel, but take very different routes in the middle. The 11A runs through Trecynon and into Cwmdare via the sizeable Maesgwyn estate. The 11C runs through the large Glandare estate, then the even larger new development at The Ridings, and finally into Cwmdare. (I've only caught the 11C once, by accident, and I didn't know where I was for ages. Never again!)

[caption id="attachment_12210" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 8a: Route 11A, Aberdare - Trecynon - Maesgwyn - Bwllfa Dare[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_12211" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 8b: Route 11C, Aberdare - Glandare - Cwmdare (The Ridings) - Bwllfa Dare[/caption]

These buses don't start running as early as the others I've looked at so far. In fact, the first one, the 11C, leaves Aberdare at 0725 and reaches the terminus at 0739. It sets off again at 0741 and arrives back in Aberdare at 0755. The 11A leaves at 0755, arriving at Bwllfa Dare at 0809, and returning to Aberdare at 0825. At 0825, the 11C sets off again.

And that's the pattern throughout the day. Effectively, it means that people living on the sections where the routes diverge have an hourly service in each direction. Do I really need to mention the train connections? In short, there aren't any. The buses arrive at Aberdare a tantalising three minutes after the trains depart – or twenty-seven minutes before, depending on your perspective once more.

(Incidentally, the turning circle for these buses is just above the Top Lake at Dare Valley Country Park. I know there's a bus stop further along the road, at the end of Bwllfa Dare Terrace, but if you wait there for a bus you'll have second prize, as we say in the Valleys!)

After six o'clock the service frequency drops even further: the 11A leaves Aberdare at 1755; the 11C at 1825; the 11C (again) at 1920; the 11A at 2020; the 11C at 2120; and the final 11A at 22.20. These evening services are operated by Globe Coaches, so we can't blame Stagecoach for offering what is effectively a two-hourly service on the alternate routes.

A two-hourly service is still better than no service at all, mind you. That's the situation on Sundays, as far as I can make out. I'm fairly sure that my one and only 11C experience took place on a Sunday afternoon, though. Your grandparents were right, folks – things were better in the old days.

Abercwmboi - Aberdare - Robertstown - Trecynon - Penywaun

This is one of the obscure services which I alluded to in the opening section. I've never caught this particular bus, but I have seen it on a number of occasions. It's service number 91, and here's where it goes:

[caption id="attachment_12212" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 9: Route 91 is a real mystery tour[/caption]

Operated by Globe Coaches, this is another one on my Bucket List. It runs hourly in the daytime from Mondays to Fridays, and in the course of thirty minutes its passengers can take in the wondrous sights of Abercwmboi, Aberaman, Aberdare Bus Station, Tesco car park, Aberdare Railway Station, Robertstown, Trecynon, and Penywaun. It's a mini-adventure on a minibus. Any takers for an excursion?

Aberdare - Abernant

This bus and the next one are hardly worth considering, but it seems petty to omit them. After all, if I've included the 91, I'd better mention these two as well.

I'll begin with Route 1, a six-minute daytime journey from Monday to Saturday.

[caption id="attachment_12213" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 10: Route 1 is a short trip uphill to Abernant[/caption]

There's not much to tell you about this one, to be honest. The first bus leaves Aberdare at 0720 and arrives at the top end of Abernant at 0726. Don't be confused by the little southbound loop out of the bus station – in order to get to Abernant, the bus has to travel via the bypass. (It's difficult to cross from the town centre to the railway station on foot, but it's impossible in a vehicle!) The next bus leaves Aberdare at 0920, then they run hourly until 1820. After that, there's a bus at 1910, another at 2010, and the last one runs at 2110.

The return journeys depart from Abernant a minute after they arrive, so I won't spell them out here. There are no services on Sundays. It might not look far to judge from Figure 10, but Abernant is at the top of a very steep hill; the bus journey, limited though it is, is a far quicker option.

Aberdare - Ty Fry and Heol-y-Mynydd

Ty Fry is opposite Abernant, at the top of another steep hill. It's a fairly large estate leading to a smaller estate at Heol-y-Mynydd. Stagecoach service 2 runs to both of these, as you can see from Figure 11:

[caption id="attachment_12214" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 11: Route 2 serves Ty Fry and Heol-y-Mynydd, also at the top of a steep hill[/caption]

As with Abernant, there's not much to tell you about this bus. From Monday to Saturday, the first one leaves Aberdare at 0750, reaching Heol-y-Mynydd at 0757 and Ty Fry at 0758. The return trip arrives in Aberdare at 0804. Subsequently it runs hourly throughout the day until 1750. There are only two journeys in the evening, leaving Aberdare at 1950 and 2215. I'll sure you'll be amazed to learn that there's no Sunday service.

And that brings us to the End of Part One. There's much more to come, but I need to do some real exploring before I embark on trying to write it up. Watch this space, folks!