While I was out and about travelling around North Wales with Transport for Wales using Tap & Go, I decided to spend around an hour at Rhyl Bus Station. I took the opportunity to document some of the buses using the interchange, while also capturing some interesting shots of the bus shelters and the surrounding area. Rhyl is quite an interesting town and, in some ways, it reminded me of places closer to home such as Birkenhead and Ellesmere Port, particularly with its paved streets and shops around the town centre. Although I could have spent longer exploring Rhyl itself, for this visit I wanted to keep the focus on the bus interchange and the activity taking place around it.

The interchange is conveniently situated directly outside Rhyl Railway Station, making it particularly easy to change between rail and bus services. Passengers arriving by train can simply step outside the station and continue their journey by bus without having to walk very far. It also means you can plan your journey around your train arrival and, with a little luck, only have a short wait for your connecting bus. I always enjoy seeing how different forms of public transport connect with one another, and Rhyl is a good example of a straightforward interchange between the railway and local bus network. During my short visit, I had enough time to look around, take plenty of photographs and watch the buses coming and going before continuing with the rest of my North Wales adventure.

It was great to see one of the brand-new Wright Ultralow buses at Rhyl Interchange, carrying the TrawsCymru livery and operated by Arriva on behalf of Transport for Wales. I find this arrangement particularly interesting, as it allows Transport for Wales to have greater control over the routes while bringing together different operators and vehicles under a more unified network, giving passengers a more consistent experience. It reminded me of some of the changes we’re beginning to see closer to home in Merseyside with franchising, where services are increasingly being brought together as part of the wider Bee Network-style approach. I also had the chance to see Arriva’s newer Ultralow buses operating on the Coastliner services, which was another interesting addition to the visit and made my short time at Rhyl Interchange even more worthwhile.

Another operator I came across during my visit, and one I wasn’t previously familiar with in this area, was M&H Coaches. They operate some of the less frequently used services around North Wales, in a similar way to P&O Lloyd, and I had actually travelled with them before when I made the journey by bus from Chester to Llandudno. It was nice to see them again during this visit, and it has also made me want to take on another bus challenge somewhere in North Wales in the future, giving me another reason to explore some of the less familiar routes and operators.

One thing I did find rather frustrating about Rhyl Bus Station, however, was the condition of some of the passenger information. The dot-matrix displays showing upcoming buses and other information weren’t working during my visit, while several of the timetable boards around the shelters were also missing timetables. It was disappointing to see, as these are important facilities for passengers, particularly those who may not have access to journey-planning apps. Hopefully, the information displays and timetable boards can be maintained better in the future, as the interchange itself has plenty of potential.

I’m really enjoying this series and the opportunity to visit a growing number of bus stations around the country, and this trip has been particularly interesting as it’s my first time properly delving into North Wales and getting to see the variety of bus services operating across the region. Transport for Wales operates a number of services provided by Arriva North Wales, using the Txx numbering system to help distinguish these routes from other services and operators in the area. Many of these are more express-style services, connecting towns and cities across longer distances and providing links to places such as Aberystwyth, Holyhead, Rhyl and Llandudno, along with many other destinations. I’ve found it really interesting seeing how these services fit into the wider transport network, and if you’d like to see me do a dedicated write-up and adventure reviewing some of the Transport for Wales bus services, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments and potentially make that a future trip!

I do really like bus stations that are directly connected to railway stations, as it makes changing between different forms of public transport so much easier for passengers. Rhyl’s interchange is slightly larger than the one I visited in Ilkley when I was up in Leeds earlier in September, although despite its size, there are only a handful of different services operating from here and many of them run on relatively infrequent timetables. I spent around an hour at Rhyl, and during that time I only saw around three or four Wright StreetDecks, while a much larger number of Optare Solos and Solo SRs passed through the interchange.

Arriva North Wales has operated a number of these smaller buses, with some dating back to around 2012, and it was interesting to see them still playing an important role on local services. It certainly gave me a good opportunity to see a different mix of vehicles compared with the larger buses I’m more familiar with back home in Merseyside.

I do rather like Optare buses, although we don’t really have very many of them around Merseyside these days, with operators such as A2B Travel and HTL only having a small number in their fleets around Liverpool. That’s why it’s always nice to come across them during my travels and, even better, occasionally get the chance to ride on one. There’s just something about the smaller Optare Solos that I really like; they’re rather cute buses and, given the choice, I’d happily choose an Optare Solo over a StreetLite any day of the week! With that, this brings my visit to Rhyl Interchange and Railway Station to an end. I hope you’ve enjoyed joining me as I delve further into the local transport network around Rhyl and continue my journey of visiting bus stations across the country as part of my ongoing Bus Stations series here on the blog.