Cardiff’s new bus interchange welcomes 9,000 passengers a day
New figures show that since opening its doors in June, Cardiff Bus Interchange is now welcoming up to 9,000 passengers a day.
Following the addition of a further fourteen services in September bus numbers using the interchange have increased from 1,830 to 3,476.
The Welsh Government new services have doubled the number of destinations helping to provide passengers with connections across Cardiff as well as nearby Newport.
Ambition
The First Cymru Bus service will also launch from 5 January 2025.
It will see services to the Vale of Glamorgan and Porthcawl operating from the new bus interchange.
This will take the total number of services to thirty-one.
The interchange forms part of the Welsh Government’s wider ambition to improve integrated public transport infrastructure across the southeast Metro region.
‘Delighted’
Speaking on a visit to the interchange, Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates said: “I am delighted that the new bus interchange is helping to deliver a better bus network across southeast Wales, connecting communities across the capital city and providing people with a real sustainable travel alternative.
“We know that buses are a lifeline for many people to get to work, visit friends and family and gain access to services and that is why we are taking radical action to improve local bus services across Wales.
“Early next year we will be introducing a bill that will allow us to design a network that will deliver a more customer-focused, integrated network of services.”
Tactile
As well as ambassadors on hand to help passengers where needed, the interchange also has a tactile flooring to assist blind and partially sighted customers and an accessibility map for information on where to locate bays and facilities.
Dr Robert Gravelle, TfW Multi Modal Access & Inclusion Manager said: “We were pleased to undertake a tour of the Cardiff Bus Interchange with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates.
“It was encouraging to see how the early involvement of the Panel has helped to make the Interchange an accessible and welcoming environment for disabled people.
“We also held a roundtable discussion on the barriers faced by disabled travellers using Public Transport, and, with the leadership and support of TfW’s Access and Inclusion team, we will continue to work for accessible and integrated transport for all our communities.”
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and there is a seat for 9 of them!
The old bus station in Cardiff was for sure pretty grotty and it always looked to me as if it was 1950s-vintage – or even possibly 1930s. But you don’t really expect a bus station to major on comfort and it was at least conveniently close when you arrived off the train. And if your bus didn’t actually depart from the bus station itself, it’d almost certainly go from a stop close by, on Wood Street or St Mary Street. It’s a good many years now since I lived anywhere close to Cardiff – I’m up in Sir Ddinbych now… Read more »
The only issue with the Bus interchange is that most buses don’t operate from it. Many local routes as well as long distance couches like National Express, which are a mile away in dense woodland in Sophia Gardens. This is a disgrace for a capital city catch the train into Cardiff and then lug your suitcase along an unlit path beside banks of the river Taff !