Coach service launched to transform north-south Wales travel
Nation.Cymru staff
The Welsh Government has introduced a new daily long-distance coach service connecting the north and south of Wales.
TaithCymru will run daily between Bangor and Carmarthen calling at Caernarfon, Porthmadog, Dolgellau, Machynlleth, Aberystwyth and Aberaeron, cutting journey times by more than an hour and improving access to jobs, education, healthcare, and leisure for communities along the route.
Tickets can be purchased from Tuesday 6 October via an online booking system which is being developed and run by Transport for Wales. Fares are being finalised and will be made available once the system is live.
TaithCymru is one of the Welsh Government’s 100-day commitments and forms part of its wider ambition to build a more integrated, multimodal public transport network across Wales.
It will connect key regional centres, working alongside existing services including TrawsCymru, local bus services and Fflecsi, helping to encourage a shift away from car travel and supporting the Welsh Government’s sustainable tourism and decarbonisation goals.
Announcing the name of the coach, Deputy Minister for Transport, Mark Hooper said; “I am delighted that we have delivered on our 100-day commitment to prepare to launch a new coach service linking the north and the south of Wales.
“Transport for Wales has worked at pace to deliver this scheme which I am pleased to announce will launch on 25 October.
“TaithCymru plays a vitally important role in connecting towns and communities, making it a quicker, easier and more reliable way to travel to access work, education, and leisure.”
Lee Robinson, Executive Director for Regional Transport and Integration at Transport for Wales, said:”TaithCymru represents a major step forward in improving connectivity between north and south Wales.
“This new service will provide faster, more convenient and more sustainable journeys, helping people access employment, education, healthcare and leisure opportunities while supporting our wider ambition of creating a truly integrated public transport network for Wales.
“TaithCymru is a great example of what can be achieved when we come together with a shared vision to improve transport for communities across the country. The commitment, collaboration and determination shown by teams across Transport for Wales to bring this service to life has been outstanding.”
As well as improving connectivity the service will also open-up sustainable tourism to destinations including Eryri National Park, the Llŷn Peninsula and Cardigan Bay, and supports Wales’ transition to a greener economy by providing a low-carbon alternative to the car.
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The crucial thing is how often the service runs daily. hope it is also cheap to use
Although it’s good to have a service between north and south Wales — and credit to Plaid Cymru for acting on its manifesto promise of an express link — the problem is far greater, it’s the lack of a motorway, something no UK Government has ever been willing to fund, choosing instead to terraform England, as seen with the half-baked £100 billion HS2 white elephant. No country should be forced to travel outside its own borders in order to travel from south to north. This is because our infrastructure was deliberately designed to divide and conquer by Westminster. And never… Read more »
Might be cheaper to annex the M5 and M6 if you don’t mind Wolverhampton.
I thought the frequency was going to be every 2 hours, but now its only once a day. Why not extend the southern part of the journey to Swansea, allowing passengers to connect onto the National Express network at the Quadrant?
Unless you’ve different information I assume “daily” here means it’ll run every day not one service per day. And it should connect to the railway stations not bypass the railway. A ten minute connection at Carmarthen should get you into Swansea far quicker.
As someone from Bangor, there has been different forms of a north-south link for the best part of 50 years in one form or another.
The improvements are sensible – faster, more comfortable, so good to know.
But stopping at camarthen feels a big mistake – be interesting to know the justification for it (my guess is cost/driver hours). Another 2 hours on a train to Cardiff (plus wait at the station) after a long bus ride doesn’t sound fun.
More fun than being stuck on a coach outside Port Talbot for hours because someone didn’t bother to keep their eyes on the road.