In this blog I am finally writing about the time I spent in Cardiff back in August earlier this Summer. I spent sometime photographing buses coming in and out of Cardiff Bus Stations, I was rather intrigued by the buses and the amount of different colours used for the livery on the Buses from Orange, Green, Red or even Blue! They have a mixture of vehicles from Citaros, Yutongs, Enviro 200s and many more.

I noticed that there were a couple of bus spotters spotting in the same location that I was, I found it rather enjoyable as there were loads of different vehicles to photograph. It’s cool to see such a modern Bus Interchange a lot of Bus Stations still retain its 60s Art Deco like that of Preston Bus Station in Preston. I am very much looking forward to my next visit to Cardiff hopefully next year.

The main operator in Cardiff is Cardiff Bus operated by Transport for Wales, the operator is I believe Publicly owned and ran by the council similar to that of the old Halton Transport who went out of business back in the early 2010s. There are many routes coming into the Bus Stations so many I can’t name them all!

I rather like the layout of Cardiff Bus Station as it’s rather basic with around 15 Stands in one straight line it’s easy to find where your bus is going from, I was recently in Bolton at the Interchange there however I found it quite confusing trying to find the Bus I Was planning to catch towards Wigan on the 607, I was told it was Stand T but it actually was going from Stand H. Having Numbers rather than Letters in my opinion is better.

I also noticed that First Group offers several services around Cardiff to various other locations that I am currently unaware of while writing this blog. It was pleasant to see some First Buses in Cardiff, as back home we only have Arriva, Stagecoach, and the occasional small independent operators like HTL and A2B. As far as I know, there are only two operators in the Cardiff area: Cardiff Bus and First.

I am not a big fan of Wright Streetlites. I find them poorly built, and compared to the Wright Puslar 2 or the regular Puslar, they just don’t have the same feel as a Streetlite. In my experience, they are rather shaky, especially the NK64 Reg ones we have in Birkenhead, operated by Arriva North West.

I quite like the bus stops here in the town centre; the grassy roofs add a touch of fun to them. They don’t really have these types of shelters up in Merseyside, but I have seen them in Manchester. They are designed to help with pollution in the city centre by drawing in carbon from the fumes of older buses. I really hope you’re enjoying this series where I visit various bus stations.

I have accumulated numerous photos from various bus stations I’ve visited but haven’t yet shared in a blog post. Let me know which bus stations you’d like me to visit and document. I would love to hear your suggestions; feel free to leave a comment below. I hope you enjoy this deep dive into Cardiff Bus Station and the services and buses that operate there.