Is Your Journey Really Necessary?

I was in Cardiff the weekend before last, and while I was walking through St David's Centre I saw a large group of students studying a large mural. I wondered what was causing so much excitement, so I decided to check it out for myself. This is what I found. (I know the photo isn't great, because I took it with my phone, but there's a reason for that.) It's a clever idea, isn't it? Grafting Cardiff and the suburbs onto the Tube map – that iconic piece of design which evolves as the network grows and changes – proves that someone at the South Wales Echo (where it originally appeared) has a sense of humour. Unfortunately, it had totally confused the youngsters. A couple of Chinese students were having a very animated discussion about it; a few West African girls were equally enthralled by the idea of the Barry John Line, the John Charles Line, and the Cardiff Arms Dart. I looked at it with them for a few minutes, took a couple of photos, and then turned to them and s...

I could be wrong, but I think this is my last-ever letter to the Cynon Valley Leader on the subject of public transport. It was printed in the issue dated April 7, 2007. At the time, Network Rail and Arriva Trains Wales were building a crossing loop to allow bidirectional working on the Merthyr Tydfil line. Abercynon station was completely rebuilt to accommodate the increased traffic. The Leader 's unpaid stringer for the village, Stuart Gregory, put a paragraph in the paper to announce that the work had been completed. Needless to say, after a decade and a half of commuting to Cardiff, I was less than optimistic when the plans were announced… I was intrigued to read Stuart Gregory's Abercynon column a few weeks ago. It seems that the redevelopment of Abercynon railway station will allow passengers to 'throw away the timetable.' May I assure Mr Gregory that those of us who battle with Arriva Trains Wales in order to get to and from work did just that a couple of years ...