New routes and fares in city bus war
NEW night bus services are being introduced in Cardiff as two bus operators go head-to-head.
Cardiff Bus is extending its night route and introducing new “short hop” fares in the latest battle of the buses
New routes are being introduced and existing ones extended as the firm’s rivalry with NAT (New Adventure Travel) hots up.
NAT, which caused a furore with its “ride me all day” slogan on the back of its buses in 2015, announced it will be introducing a new route from Thornhill to Cardiff Bay from March 6.
Now Cardiff Bus, which already runs the number 27 service between Thornhill and the city centre, has responded by announcing a series of changes from March 12 including a night service seven days a week.
The 27 service will also have more buses running across all days, with buses running up to every seven minutes on Monday to Friday, up to every 10 minutes on Saturdays, and up to every 20 minutes on Sundays.
NAT’s new X8 service will operate every 15 minutes from 6.30am until 8.30pm between Monday and Saturday and will travel via Llanishen, Birchgrove, Maindy, Cardiff city centre, Bute Street and on to Cardiff Bay.
On Sundays and bank holidays it will run every 30 minutes.
It said this is part of a wider plan to introduce a number of new routes throughout Cardiff and the surrounding areas this year.
A NAT spokesman said: “We’ll be endeavouring to operate the best service possible regardless of other operators’ actions and we hope that the travelling public utilise them.”
Cardiff Bus is also introducing night buses on its 44 and 57 services from Thursday to Saturday but the night service on the number eight is being axed because of low usage.
A new “short hop” zone will also be introduced for travel around Ely, where journeys within the area will cost £1 for adults or 70p for young people.
The short hop area runs between Cowbridge Road West and Culverhouse Cross B&Q and includes all stops in between.
A short hop zone is also being introduced in Pontprennau/Pentwyn for services 51, 53, 57, 58 and X59. The short hop area will run from Asda in Pontprennau to the Maelfa shops and include all stops in between, excluding Park and Ride East.
Cardiff Bus is also offering a reduced cost for people who buy three-day tickets on the Iff app which don’t have an expiry date.
Gareth Stevens, commercial manager at Cardiff Bus, said: “We take customer feedback very seriously and their needs are at the heart of everything we do.
“We try to keep our services as reliable and convenient as possible, in often challenging traffic conditions, and hope these new changes reflect that.”