Is Your Journey Really Necessary?

I had an email from Transport for Wales earlier this week, outlining their new measures to tackle the plague. They've also published some 'activities' for schoolchildren who are stuck at home – puzzles, word searches, colouring sheets (design your own livery for a train) … that sort of thing. One that caught my eye was an invitation to draw your ideal railway network on a blank map of Wales. It really is a blank map, as well. None of the cities or major towns are marked, so the housebound kids have only an outline of the country to work from. The biggest irony is that Wales did have a pretty decent railway network once upon a time. A century ago, in fact. Have a look at this outline map of South Wales, which I found online. https://images.app.goo.gl/VXTxGwNH7VrEp5RW9 And that's only the area which will be (mostly) covered by the South Wales Metro and its Swansea Bay counterpart. (Assuming the money doesn't run out once the European funding dries up, of course.) I...

A friend of mine has recently moved from Aberdare to Talbot Green. I haven't been there for ages, but I do know that it's pretty much at the centre of a large (and growing) area encompassing Llantrisant (old and new), Pontyclun, Beddau, Ty Nant, and the surrounding villages and large new-build estates. It's a couple of bus stops from the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, so there's a 'direct' bus route from Pontypridd to Bridgend, serving the hospital during the day. Situated just off the M4 and twenty minutes from Cardiff by train, Talbot Green Bus Station and Pontyclun Railway Station should be ideal transport hubs. Should … I've been investigating various ways for my friend and I to meet up and have the occasional break from the Valleys routine. I'll go into my findings about the buses another time. For this entry, though, I want to highlight the situation facing rail passengers travelling to and from Pontyclun. Technically speaking, Pontyclun forms part of...

This kinda forms a supplement to my previous entry. That outlined the difficulties posed by having so many different transport operators in South-east Wales, and no overall structure to make ticketing easy and affordable. My friend and I are planning a trip to Caerphilly Castle (weather permitting, of course). Problem: find the cheapest way of doing it. You see, we'd initially have to pay to get from beyond Aberdare to Caerphilly – by bus and/or train – and then pay to get into the castle. Not cheap, as you'll see from the tables below. But luckily for us, I know the area quite well as I've travelled it extensively over the last forty years. I know bus routes have changed – and timetables and fares have certainly changed – but the basic framework is still there. I also get newsletters from the public transport providers, so I get to hear about their special offers. Summer is always a good time for these because it's tourist season. The real trick is to combine as m...

On my birthday three years ago, I was making my regular visit to London when the front page of the Western Mail caught my eye in Cardiff. I can't remember the exact headline , but it seemed that a committee of the Welsh Assembly had recommended an Oyster-style card covering the whole of Wales. The first thing that came into my head was 'What a good idea!' As a frequent visitor to London, I'd found out just how efficiently the Oyster card allows you to travel around the city. I'd also found out how much money it can save you over a period of time. (Or even a single day, when you compare it to the Travelcard.) I bought the paper and read the full story on the coach. The second thing that came into my head was 'What a stupid idea!' You see, the contrast between London and Wales couldn't be more apparent. Greater London is pretty much one continuous, flattish, dense urban sprawl covering over 1,500 square kilometres. It's criss-crossed by dozens of...

Next week I'm planning a day trip to Bristol, and I need to be a short distance outside the city centre by 12.30 p.m. Considering that Bristol Temple Meads lies on a direct route from Cardiff Central, that should be a piece of piss. Shouldn't it? You might think that – I couldn't possibly comment. To make sure I'm where I need to be in good time (and even that isn't guaranteed, of course), I'll have to arrive at Temple Meads at 1119. That gives me ample time to catch the bus to Bedminster and find the right place. (Any later and it'll be cutting things too fine.) So that puts me on the 1030 departure from Cardiff Central. And here's the problem. To get to Cardiff Central in time for 1030, I'd have to catch the 0922 train from Aberdare – eight minutes before the off-peak fares kick in. (According to raileasy.trainsplit.com I'd have to catch the 0852. I don't know whether they allow a margin of error for changing platforms.) Either wa...

Let me explain … Some years ago, when I first got into the Observer 's fiendish Azed crossword, one of the clues was 'Tonite, in an FM special, the newsroom variety show'. I must have had a moment of inspiration, because I realised that the first four words of the clue were an anagram of the solution: INFOTAINMENT. Anyway, this is a media word for the media itself – the sort of blended news and feature items that make up a typical edition of The One Show . I mention it here, because I spotted a poster on a Transport for Wales train last Monday. It shows their timeline of proposed improvements over the next five years or so. One of these highlights is 'free infotainment'. At which point my blood ran cold. Having spent a lot of time on Cardiff buses in the last fifteen years or so, I have a horrible feeling that the content will probably involve live streaming of the BBC News channel. You see, I think I must have missed the announcement in the papers when...

I spotted this picture in Aberdare Library, and thought I'd share it with you. Could this be the Spring 2019 advertising campaign for Transport for Wales? Or is it a bit optimistic?