Cardiff Bus has painted ‘Cheers Drive’ on depot road to thank drivers

Cardiff Bus has revealed how it has painted ‘Cheers Drive’ on the road leading out of their depot to thank drivers for their efforts during lockdown.

Taking to Twitter the bus operator posted a picture of the road adorned with the much loved phrase.

It comes after a weekend where calls have been made that a road leading to the new Cardiff bus station should be named ‘Cheers Drive.

It’s a new addition! We painted this on the road leading out of the depot during the first lockdown to thank our drivers pic.twitter.com/APS9uDV7Px

— Cardiff bus (@Cardiffbus) August 16, 2021

The suggestion has received an unanimous thumbs up from Cardiff Council leader Huw Thomas.

The well known saying synonymous with Cardiff Bus passengers wanting to express their thanks to the driver for the journey is now part of the fabric of the city, so much so that it has been immortalised on t-shirts by well known local brand I Loves The ‘Diff.

It was I Loves The ‘Diff that started the ‘Cheers Drive’ ball rolling, or should that be, engine running.

Posting on Twitter he said: “If @cardiffcouncil doesn’t create a small road leading to the new #Cardiff bus station called Cheers Drive it’ll have really missed a trick”

If @cardiffcouncil doesn’t create a small road leading to the new #Cardiff bus station called Cheers Drive it’ll have really missed a trick. pic.twitter.com/T25fSuAUzx

— I Loves The ‘Diff (@ILovesTheDiff) August 12, 2021

The post had hundreds of positive responses, including one by local councillor Jayne Cowan who then launched a petition calling on Cardiff Council to name a small road leading to the new Cardiff Bus Station as ‘Cheers Drive’.

The petition has so far had more than 2400 signatures.

Let’s do it!

However, so quickly had the suggestion caught people’s imaginations that it had barely got out of first gear before Cardiff Council leader Huw Thomas took to Twitter responding positively to the I Loves The ‘Diff tweet, while hinting at additional naming plans for the new bus station, due to be completed by the end of 2022.

He wrote: “Great idea. Let’s do it! I also noticed the other day that one of the old Temperance Town roads was called Eisteddfod St. That would be nice to acknowledge too. Watch this space!”

I Loves The ‘Diff said: “I was just packing a Cheers Drive T-shirt for a customer and it struck me that sometimes the humour of Wales and Cardiff doesn’t always come through when we’re modernising our cities, so this might be a novel way to celebrate ‘Kairdiff’ humour and show that we don’t take ourselves too seriously (despite wanting to be taken seriously as a European capital!)

“At first I thought it could be just a suburban road but then I thought it might be better near to the bus station, in the heart of the city.”