TrawsCambria / TrawsCymru

[Rhydgaled]

The new Richards timetable for the X50/550 has appeared on their website. They have changed their services to provide good connections with the new Arriva services for most of the day, and there are more through X50 services.

I'd already seen the new X50/550 times, but the Bwcabus routes are new to me. I can't see any extra through X50 services though, just minor timing tweaks. I doubt the 08:50, 10:50 and 12:50 services from Cardigan will connect now though, as service 40 will no doubt be very, very late due to Arriva's timetable which is really just a wish list. I'm sure the half hour wait between these X50s reaching Aberaeron and the 40/X40 leaving (introduced at Arriva's last X40 timetable change back in October/November 2011) will remain.

 

[Greenback]

Then why does the new timetable make it look like they won't be using the mini-depots at New Quay and Pencader?

Sounds more sensible to sell the business rather than close depots though, as you say. However, could they sell the Aberystwyth portion of the business if it doesn't make a large enough profit for their likeing but they still want to keep the rest of Arriva bus?

The closure of the sub depots may be part of an ongoing review to cut costs within the bus business.

I don't know how easy it would be to just sell a part of the business. They might want to split off the part or parts to be sold off from the main business in order to make a sale easier. This happens a lot in other industries, such as retail.

 

[anthony263]

Arriva have been advertising the new services changes at Aberystwyth and onboard their vehicles.

The 2 coaches to be used to work the journeys which extend beyond Carmarthen to Cardiff are ready to enter service on 26/02/2012.

The new deckers should arrive from Late July and there is no plans to close Aberyswyth depot although there are some reductions at the outstations which could change if more contracts are won.

 

[Sun!]

I can confirm that the Aberystwyth Arriva Depot is indeed loss making at the moment. The closing of any outstations is a cost cutting procedure that needs to be completed.

Take the situation in Aberystwyth town.
In previous years in Aberystwyth many students purchased a bus pass for £40 to use the buses, subsidised by the university by around £70,000. This year Arriva pulled out of the deal, and decided to charge £180 with no subsidy provided by the university (This is despite the university issuing a tender for a subsidy (Only Arriva applied) and they wanted to carry on with the agreement)
Before
£40x2500 (The number passes sold 2010/11)= £100,000 plus the £70,000 subsidy equals a total of £170,000
Current
£180x300 (The number of passes sold 2011/12 so far)= £54,000 (Plus £0 subsidy)

Mid Wales Travel operate their own bus pass which served a slightly smaller area, but a comparable service for just £65 which was new this year, because of Arrivas price hike. This has only exacerbated the problem as many have chosen Mid Wales Travel.

The situation currently in Aberystwyth is ridiculous, Arriva run a double decker to the university twice an hour and there are never more than 5 or 6 passengers. And just in case anyone didnt know arriva actually run more services this year despite the massive fall in passenger numbers. Even at peak times other buses are rarely more than half full, and can run around empty during the day.

Arriva have already pulled out of Penrhyncoch and reduced their service to Penparcau, both to the benefit of Mid Wales Travel. TrawsCymru routes are the only routes at the moment making money, from what I have heared.

 

[anthony263]

I did read that the tempo's which Arriva used on the old service X50 have returned to Ceredigion County Council so perhaps some could go to Richards Brothers or perhaps to Stagecoach etc to work the Trawscymru services T4 and X63

 

[Rhydgaled]

I can confirm that the Aberystwyth Arriva Depot is indeed loss making at the moment. The closing of any outstations is a cost cutting procedure that needs to be completed.

Take the situation in Aberystwyth town.
In previous years in Aberystwyth many students purchased a bus pass for £40 to use the buses, subsidised by the university by around £70,000. This year Arriva pulled out of the deal, and decided to charge £180 with no subsidy provided by the university (This is despite the university issuing a tender for a subsidy (Only Arriva applied) and they wanted to carry on with the agreement)
Before
£40x2500 (The number passes sold 2010/11)= £100,000 plus the £70,000 subsidy equals a total of £170,000
Current
£180x300 (The number of passes sold 2011/12 so far)= £54,000 (Plus £0 subsidy)

Mid Wales Travel operate their own bus pass which served a slightly smaller area, but a comparable service for just £65 which was new this year, because of Arrivas price hike. This has only exacerbated the problem as many have chosen Mid Wales Travel.

The situation currently in Aberystwyth is ridiculous, Arriva run a double decker to the university twice an hour and there are never more than 5 or 6 passengers. And just in case anyone didnt know arriva actually run more services this year despite the massive fall in passenger numbers. Even at peak times other buses are rarely more than half full, and can run around empty during the day.

Arriva have already pulled out of Penrhyncoch and reduced their service to Penparcau, both to the benefit of Mid Wales Travel. TrawsCymru routes are the only routes at the moment making money, from what I have heared.

Double-decker (AHA route 3) is now 3 times an hour I think, running right behind Arriva's own 1&2 routes sometimes. Sounds like Arriva really flamingoed up by refusing the subsidy if you are correct in saying they lost £116,000 in revenue from doing that.

I did read that the tempo's which Arriva used on the old service X50 have returned to Ceredigion County Council so perhaps some could go to Richards Brothers or perhaps to Stagecoach etc to work the Trawscymru services T4 and X63

Did Arriva ever run the X50? I thought it was always a Richards Bros service, with Arriva running 550 and X40 (with First having 3 X40 Tempos for a while, I wonder why they no longer have a share of the service since it now means Arriva will be running ECS mileage from Aberystwyth).

With the new double-deckers for 40 and 50 not coming for a while, will the council allow Arriva to continue using the Tempos? If not, do Arriva have enough vehicles to cover until the new double-deckers arrive?

 

[anthony263]

With the new double-deckers for 40 and 50 not coming for a while, will the council allow Arriva to continue using the Tempos? If not, do Arriva have enough vehicles to cover until the new double-deckers arrive?

Arriva will use the 2 coaches and a fleet of low floor Pulsar bodied Volvo's.

The new deckers are supposed to be due in august.

Slightly off topic but I just found this press release from Stagecoach:

http://www.stagecoach.com/media/news-releases/2012/02-22-2012-uk-bus-new-orders.aspx

Some wheelchair acessible coaches which dont require lifts- hmm fit them witha toilet and use them on the T4

 

[Rhydgaled]

Arriva will use the 2 coaches and a fleet of low floor Pulsar bodied Volvo's.

Saw one of the coaches in Aberystwyth depot earlier. There were also two or three Tempos there, plus a number of buses (I think Pulsars), some of which were branded for north Wales services (X5 if I remember rightly). I've seen what I think are Pulsars come down on X32 before, but this is the first time I've seen so many in Aberystwyth so looks like you're right, where do you get your information?

 

[anthony263]

Saw one of the coaches in Aberystwyth depot earlier. There were also two or three Tempos there, plus a number of buses (I think Pulsars), some of which were branded for north Wales services (X5 if I remember rightly). I've seen what I think are Pulsars come down on X32 before, but this is the first time I've seen so many in Aberystwyth so looks like you're right, where do you get your information?

Welsh bus news group and Shropshire bus group both on yahoo.

 

[Sun!]

Double-decker (AHA route 3) is now 3 times an hour I think, running right behind Arriva's own 1&2 routes sometimes. Sounds like Arriva really flamingoed up by refusing the subsidy if you are correct in saying they lost £116,000 in revenue from doing that.

These figures are correct to the best of knowledge and came from friends who work in senior positions for the university. I also confirmed the university did want to continue the subsidy but Arriva refused it saying they wanted to run a commercial service, seems this may have been a precursor TrawsCymru debacle.

Of course it is possible, even likely that single ticket sales have increased, but you cannot deny what I and others have seen with our own eyes that the buses run empty all day. They, this year, also operate evening buses after 6pm to 10pm which they didnt last year. I have seen many of these run empty all night, I wouldnt be suprised if some nights they have no passengers at all.

 

[anthony263]

It has been Confirmed tonight that the 2 outstations at New Quay & Pencader will be closing soon.

It does save Arriva some money because they will not need to rent the land seems the drivers have eithe gone to the main depot in Aberystwyth or to other operators.

Seems First, Stagecoach etc have spoken about some of the routes they will be cutting as a result of the reduction of BOSG by the WG and so have Cardiff council:

Some of the contracted routes in Cardiff dont carry any more than 1 or 2 passengers per trip anyway suich routes being cut in Cardiff are service 26B,37, 55 etc.

Safe to say we can see many more routes being cut soon.

City sightseing are to run a crosscity service from the National Wales Museum to St Fagans via Cardiff city centre although no idea on vehicles to be used.

An artists impression of the new plaxton coaches Stagecoach have ordered:

http://www.route-one.net/e-books/currentIssue/index.html#/1/

A shorter version of these would be great for service T4

 

[WestyAds]

Well, the 40 seemed to run fairly well on this, its first day, although the distinct lack of passengers could've helped. We managed Aberystwyth to Carmarthen in two hours and one minute on the 0900 service this morning and a right-on-the-button one hour 55 minutes on the ex Carmarthen at 1520, although I suspect we were greatly helped by not having too much of that pesky "stopping to pick up passengers" malarkey.

Things seem tightest, though, between Pencader and Carmarthen. On the way back, we managed to make that up by the time we'd reached Aber (no mean feat, considering that we were already six minutes behind schedule by the time we passed West Wales Hospital), but travelling to Carmarthen, having done very well as far as Lampeter, things started getting tight to the point of not really working too well at all. By the time we reached Carmarthen, the driver was already five minutes late starting the 1100 return service, bless 'im.

In short, I'd say you could divide the new 40 service into three parts, thus:
Aberystwyth to Aberaeron: should be enough slack to run on time even with more stops being made along the way;
Aberaeron to Pencader: very tight, but just about do-able;
Pencader to Carmarthen: no chance, to be blunt. We only stopped to pick up a couple of times and we still didn't manage it, so goodness knows how it'll go when there are actual passengers around.

So, a fairly successful first day, really, but the real test's going to come when the buses - and the roads - fill up during the week.

Our bus on the way down to Carmarthen, I noted, had had the "5/X5" stickers hastily removed from the window next to the door, betraying from whom it'd been pinched to plug the gap until our double deckers arrive, although on the way back our bus (both Pulsars, by the way) had a poster for somewhere in Knowsley on display, so clearly they've been gathered up from all over the place.

 

[anthony263]

Well, the 40 seemed to run fairly well on this, its first day, although the distinct lack of passengers could've helped. We managed Aberystwyth to Carmarthen in two hours and one minute on the 0900 service this morning and a right-on-the-button one hour 55 minutes on the ex Carmarthen at 1520, although I suspect we were greatly helped by not having too much of that pesky "stopping to pick up passengers" malarkey.

Things seem tightest, though, between Pencader and Carmarthen. On the way back, we managed to make that up by the time we'd reached Aber (no mean feat, considering that we were already six minutes behind schedule by the time we passed West Wales Hospital), but travelling to Carmarthen, having done very well as far as Lampeter, things started getting tight to the point of not really working too well at all. By the time we reached Carmarthen, the driver was already five minutes late starting the 1100 return service, bless 'im.

In short, I'd say you could divide the new 40 service into three parts, thus:
Aberystwyth to Aberaeron: should be enough slack to run on time even with more stops being made along the way;
Aberaeron to Pencader: very tight, but just about do-able;
Pencader to Carmarthen: no chance, to be blunt. We only stopped to pick up a couple of times and we still didn't manage it, so goodness knows how it'll go when there are actual passengers around.

So, a fairly successful first day, really, but the real test's going to come when the buses - and the roads - fill up during the week.

Our bus on the way down to Carmarthen, I noted, had had the "5/X5" stickers hastily removed from the window next to the door, betraying from whom it'd been pinched to plug the gap until our double deckers arrive, although on the way back our bus (both Pulsars, by the way) had a poster for somewhere in Knowsley on display, so clearly they've been gathered up from all over the place.

Sounds interesting at least Arriva have enough buses unlike a certain other bus operator in south wales who seem to be really struggling lately

 

[WestyAds]

They do, although the New "Cymru Express" logo isn't a patch on Traws Cambria's.

 

[Sun!]

Sounds like it will be very difficult to run, as we knew before the route started. I excpect Arriva will have to redo the schedule in the next few months.

I was in Aber today and saw the coach going to Cardiff, looked ok from the outside, though obviously its a fresh paintjob- not to sure on the massive Cymru Express logos over the coach though.

Also have the fares changed at all, or are they the same as the Trawcambria fares?

 

[Rhydgaled]

Aberystwyth to Aberaeron: should be enough slack to run on time even with more stops being made along the way;

Both ways? Southbound I think it is still timed at 37 minutes, but northbound they've cut the allowance down to 33 minutes, the 07:20 from Carmarthen (arrive Aber-Y at 09:15) was retimed to leave earlier due to the complaints that there was no bus into Aberystwyth before 9:00, but there's no way it'll make it's new 08:50 arrival time (even the normal 37 minutes cannot be managed at that time of the morning, except in school/colege holidays when the traffic jam disapears).

Pencader to Carmarthen: no chance, to be blunt. We only stopped to pick up a couple of times and we still didn't manage it, so goodness knows how it'll go when there are actual passengers around.

And Carmarthen bus station - Carmarthen train station, surley no chance of doing it in 2 minutes even if there are no passengers at all (unless there is a complete absence of other traffic).

Our bus on the way down to Carmarthen, I noted, had had the "5/X5" stickers hastily removed from the window next to the door, betraying from whom it'd been pinched to plug the gap until our double deckers arrive, although on the way back our bus (both Pulsars, by the way) had a poster for somewhere in Knowsley on display, so clearly they've been gathered up from all over the place.

Has the 5/X5 recived some of the previous batch of new double-deckers to release the Pulsars then?

 

[anthony263]

Anyone got any photos of the new coaches in action today?

I think the fares are remaining the same for now although Arriva are supposed to reviewing this in due course
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Both ways? Southbound I think it is still timed at 37 minutes, but northbound they've cut the allowance down to 33 minutes, the 07:20 from Carmarthen (arrive Aber-Y at 09:15) was retimed to leave earlier due to the complaints that there was no bus into Aberystwyth before 9:00, but there's no way it'll make it's new 08:50 arrival time (even the normal 37 minutes cannot be managed at that time of the morning, except in school/colege holidays when the traffic jam disapears).

And Carmarthen bus station - Carmarthen train station, surley no chance of doing it in 2 minutes even if there are no passengers at all (unless there is a complete absence of other traffic).

Has the 5/X5 recived some of the previous batch of new double-deckers to release the Pulsars then?

There was talk of some MPD darts being used to free up the Pulsars although I havent heard anything more on this.

 

[WestyAds]

I can't really comment on most of the fares, I'm afraid, as I'm nearly always travelling on either a West Wales Rover or an Arriva Day ticket, neither of which has changed price with the new routes. I'd have said, though, that they haven't changed at this time as it's not very long since Arriva last raised all of its prices (Autumn in the case of singles and returns, I think, then January for daily, weekly, monthly etc.).

 

[Rhydgaled]

I was in Aber today and saw the coach going to Cardiff, looked ok from the outside, though obviously its a fresh paintjob- not to sure on the massive Cymru Express logos over the coach though.

Didn't see the logo on the coaches in the depot last week (no side views available due to everything else parked there), though I did see the logo on the back of some of the Pulsars. It might not be as good as the TrawsCambria logo, but it is miles better than the new TrawsCymru livery&logo, what were they thinking?

Also have the fares changed at all, or are they the same as the Trawcambria fares?

I don't know about that, but they have stopped accepting the Ceredigion X Weekly ticket and Arriva and Richards Bros will be refusing to accept ordinary return tickets issued by the other sometime soon (single tickets will I think remain valid).

Are the Tempos stored in Arriva's depot, or have the council moved them? If so, where? Are there any plans for the Tempos yet and is it only half the fleet that have been taken out of service (are the X40-branded vehicles Carmarthenshire's and the 550 ones Ceredigion's?)

 

[WestyAds]

Both ways? Southbound I think it is still timed at 37 minutes, but northbound they've cut the allowance down to 33 minutes, the 07:20 from Carmarthen (arrive Aber-Y at 09:15) was retimed to leave earlier due to the complaints that there was no bus into Aberystwyth before 9:00, but there's no way it'll make it's new 08:50 arrival time (even the normal 37 minutes cannot be managed at that time of the morning, except in school/colege holidays when the traffic jam disapears).

Agreed it's going to be a bit more of a struggle when the roads are a bit more clogged, but on today's return journey, having left Aberaeron a minute late, we ended up sitting at a stop in Llanfarian for three minutes as we'd made up a bit too much time.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

And Carmarthen bus station - Carmarthen train station, surley no chance of doing it in 2 minutes even if there are no passengers at all (unless there is a complete absence of other traffic).

Well, we just about managed it this afternoon, but only by dint of the absence of traffic on the turning out of the station and the traffic lights being with us - and even then, it clocked in at about two and a half minutes.

Has the 5/X5 recived some of the previous batch of new double-deckers to release the Pulsars then?

I did wonder, as we seem to have buses from all over the place making up this new temporary Cymru Express fleet, if they'd just nicked the spares from any depot that wasn't looking. As I happen to be heading up north later in the week, though, I'll be sure to look out for any signs of a double-decker, although to be honest, after years of sometimes spotting a double-decker in Aber during the tourist season, now that we've had two of them running around for a while the novelty's starting to wear off and I barely register when one appears.

 

[Derlwyn]

Disappointing experience on the first day of the new 'Cymru express'. The timetable is much improved but the quality of the vehicles is a lot lower than the Trawscambria services were using. Bench style seating with no headrests, whole interior quite dirty and bus quite noisy. Not very inviting for a 2hr journey between Aber and Carmarthen

Seems to me the real challenge for buses is to make them attractive as an alternative to driving, not just a safety net option for people who don't have access to a car. The Trawscambria was starting to do that. Let's hope Arriva bring on some better buses soon

 

[anthony263]

Disappointing experience on the first day of the new 'Cymru express'. The timetable is much improved but the quality of the vehicles is a lot lower than the Trawscambria services were using. Bench style seating with no headrests, whole interior quite dirty and bus quite noisy. Not very inviting for a 2hr journey between Aber and Carmarthen

Seems to me the real challenge for buses is to make them attractive as an alternative to driving, not just a safety net option for people who don't have access to a car. The Trawscambria was starting to do that. Let's hope Arriva bring on some better buses soon

Arriva have ordered new double deckers due to arrive in late July which are fitted with dual purpose leather seats together with 2 coaches for the services which extend beyond Carmarthen to Cardiff (Both coaches are currently already in use)

 

[WestyAds]

Arriva have ordered new double deckers due to arrive in late July which are fitted with dual purpose leather seats together with 2 coaches for the services which extend beyond Carmarthen to Cardiff (Both coaches are currently already in use)

Yes, the "new" Pulsars are nothing to write home about, but they're comfortable enough and a perfectly serviceable stop-gap until the new double-deckers arrive.

I do have to ask, though: what's a "dual-purpose" seat? I'm aware of what I assumed was their only function: a place to put our bums during the journey... but what's the other use?

 

[anthony263]

Yes, the "new" Pulsars are nothing to write home about, but they're comfortable enough and a perfectly serviceable stop-gap until the new double-deckers arrive.

I do have to ask, though: what's a "dual-purpose" seat? I'm aware of what I assumed was their only function: a place to put our bums during the journey... but what's the other use?

They are basically coach seats

 

[Rhydgaled]

I've just seen the following Arriva Optare Tempos (some with a faint outline of the Arriva logo at the rear where the sticker has gone) in the Aberystwyth depot:

• YJ06YRZ (A Cardiff X40)
• YJ06YRO (The other Cardiff X40)
• YJ06YRY
• YJ55BKN
• YJ55BKG
• YJ55BKL
• YJ55BKK
• YJ55BKU
• YJ55BKV
• YJ55BJE

Either BKU or BKV was inside the depot building, the rest outside (some blocking others, though BJE (which doesn't carry TrawsCambria livery these days) was slightly away from the rest. There were several yellow-jacket-clad men about, I wonder if they were thinking what a waste it is to leave this fleet sitting there.

I think that's all the 550/X40 Optare Tempos except:

• YJ55BJK (was an X40 vehicle, now with Richards Bros)
• YJ55BJF (which I think must have been the burnt-out one)
• YJ55BKO (anyone have any idea why it isn't there?)

 

[anthony263]

Here we go some photos of the interiors of the new tempo's which have free wi-fi & power sockets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10561189@N07/

Some of the old Tempo's from the X40 etc have gone back to the council.

 

[WestyAds]

With all these Tempos now going spare - and presumably off back to the Welsh Government or whichever council has responsibility for them - I do hope some thought is given to using them elsewhere on the now-greatly-diminished TrawsCymru network. Travelling from Dolgellau to Wrexham and back today on the X94 gave me a lesson in being thankful for the relative comfort we normally get, as two hours each way on a Dart SLF was not the most comfortable of experiences, especially when I reached Dol on the return and found myself swapping one Dart for another back to Aber - three and a half hours of rattly discomfort. Having said that, the one TrawCambria-branded bus we passed, on the return journey, had broken down, so perhaps I got off light after all.

The severe lack of the Wrightbus Commanders usually used on the X32 and X94 services today got me thinking, though: is this just a case of a lot of buses being out of service for some reason or other, or is Arriva favouring the use of its own buses - and are they considering running these services commercially as well? I've not heard anything, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility, as that seems to be the way Arriva's going these days. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[anthony263]

No diea's about the X3.

I know the WG want to run a Carmarthen - Llandovery - Brecon - Abergavenny by merging all the existing routes along that corridor.

There are also plans to merge the X63 Swansea - Brecon with the 39 Brecon - Hereford services to form a through route both of which would b every good idea's.

The plan with the X63 does look like it will be going ahead particulary if Stagecoach gian the contract from Veolia/crossgates coaches this September

 

[Rhydgaled]

Here we go some photos of the interiors of the new tempo's which have free wi-fi & power sockets. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10561189@N07/

Thanks for the link, interior looks visually stunning (which the exterior livery, except maybe the back, doesn't (a real shame because the Tempo is a very nice design in itself)). I notice it has the connecting Wales sign on it like the first few refubished 158s did. Sadly it looks like they have made the same mistake as they did with all but two of the TrawsCambria fleet of not providing enough legroom (actually, it's more like the two X40 Cardiff Tempos which have legroom available, but only at a very small number of seats (4 in the case of the Cardiff X40s).) Obviously it's hard to judge legroom just by looking though, so I could be wrong.

Some of the old Tempo's from the X40 etc have gone back to the council.

As I said earlier, nearly all the 550 and X40 vehicles were sitting in the Arriva depot out of use today (council probablly have declined Arriva permission to use them, but not actually removed them).

With all these Tempos now going spare - and presumably off back to the Welsh Government or whichever council has responsibility for them - I do hope some thought is given to using them elsewhere on the now-greatly-diminished TrawsCymru network. Travelling from Dolgellau to Wrexham and back today on the X94 gave me a lesson in being thankful for the relative comfort we normally get, as two hours each way on a Dart SLF was not the most comfortable of experiences, especially when I reached Dol on the return and found myself swapping one Dart for another back to Aber - three and a half hours of rattly discomfort. Having said that, the one TrawCambria-branded bus we passed, on the return journey, had broken down, so perhaps I got off light after all.

The severe lack of the Wrightbus Commanders usually used on the X32 and X94 services today got me thinking, though: is this just a case of a lot of buses being out of service for some reason or other, or is Arriva favouring the use of its own buses - and are they considering running these services commercially as well? I've not heard anything, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility, as that seems to be the way Arriva's going these days. Anyone got any ideas?

I don't think WAG thought to provide spares, certainly there's only two X50 Tempos and both are needed for the service at times (in fact, with the two remaining full length 550 journeys as well Richards can't actually provide an X50 vehicle for all 6 journeys they run right through to/from Aberystywth, so the 6:15pm from Aberystwyth is normally RB02DAF). If one of the Richards Bros' Tempos disapears one of the awful Enviro 200s is likely to appear on an X50 diagram, and Arriva seemed to be putting at least one double-decker or dart (solos before that) on 550/X40 quite often.

I do think the Tempos that have been stood down from X40/550 should be put back onto TrawsCambria work (either a new route, extending/strenthening existing ones or upgrading the X32 and/or X94 to Tempos), but maybe it'd be better to wait and see if Arriva can keep their CymruExpress going in case the Tempos are needed back on 550/X40 (BSOG is apparently going to be slashed later this year).

I know the WG want to run a Carmarthen - Llandovery - Brecon - Abergavenny by merging all the existing routes along that corridor.

Personally I think there should be a new Traws route (whether that be Cambria or Cymru depends on whether they use current Tempos or new ones) from Aberaeron or New Quay to Abergavenny (combining the Lampter/Llanybydder - Llandovery, Llandovery - Brecon and Brecon - Abergavenny services, much as you suggested but coming from the coast rather than Carmarthen (doing it my way gives the X50/550 a different connection to Lampeter than the unreliable (due to Arriva's constant and flawed timetable changes) X40/40)).

There are also plans to merge the X63 Swansea - Brecon with the 39 Brecon - Hereford services to form a through route both of which would b every good idea's.

The plan with the X63 does look like it will be going ahead particulary if Stagecoach gian the contract from Veolia/crossgates coaches this September

Since you say that would be with coaches rather than Tempos, would that not be a Traws service?

If any more Traws routes are created/extended/improved, would Optare take an order for the longer X1260 Tempos with the old bodywork (I don't like the SR (or whatever the letters were), and it keeps the fleet looking the same)?

 

[anthony263]

Thanks for the link, interior looks visually stunning (which the exterior livery, except maybe the back, doesn't (a real shame because the Tempo is a very nice design in itself)). I notice it has the connecting Wales sign on it like the first few refubished 158s did. Sadly it looks like they have made the same mistake as they did with all but two of the TrawsCambria fleet of not providing enough legroom (actually, it's more like the two X40 Cardiff Tempos which have legroom available, but only at a very small number of seats (4 in the case of the Cardiff X40s).) Obviously it's hard to judge legroom just by looking though, so I could be wrong.

As I said earlier, nearly all the 550 and X40 vehicles were sitting in the Arriva depot out of use today (council probablly have declined Arriva permission to use them, but not actually removed them).



I don't think WAG thought to provide spares, certainly there's only two X50 Tempos and both are needed for the service at times (in fact, with the two remaining full length 550 journeys as well Richards can't actually provide an X50 vehicle for all 6 journeys they run right through to/from Aberystywth, so the 6:15pm from Aberystwyth is normally RB02DAF). If one of the Richards Bros' Tempos disapears one of the awful Enviro 200s is likely to appear on an X50 diagram, and Arriva seemed to be putting at least one double-decker or dart (solos before that) on 550/X40 quite often.

I do think the Tempos that have been stood down from X40/550 should be put back onto TrawsCambria work (either a new route, extending/strenthening existing ones or upgrading the X32 and/or X94 to Tempos), but maybe it'd be better to wait and see if Arriva can keep their CymruExpress going in case the Tempos are needed back on 550/X40 (BSOG is apparently going to be slashed later this year).

Personally I think there should be a new Traws route (whether that be Cambria or Cymru depends on whether they use current Tempos or new ones) from Aberaeron or New Quay to Abergavenny (combining the Lampter/Llanybydder - Llandovery, Llandovery - Brecon and Brecon - Abergavenny services, much as you suggested but coming from the coast rather than Carmarthen (doing it my way gives the X50/550 a different connection to Lampeter than the unreliable (due to Arriva's constant and flawed timetable changes) X40/40)).

Since you say that would be with coaches rather than Tempos, would that not be a Traws service?

If any more Traws routes are created/extended/improved, would Optare take an order for the longer X1260 Tempos with the old bodywork (I don't like the SR (or whatever the letters were), and it keeps the fleet looking the same)?

The X63 is presently operated using plaxton Centro's which are horrible or the occasional solo & coach.

Optare Tempo's will be lovely for the X63. I dod like you idea of running a service from Lampeter although is the route between Lapter and LLandovery suitable for an optare tempo?