Saturday 7th September 2024
I left you in Thursday’s blog departing Machynlleth on the 08:52 Transport for Wales train up the Cambrian Coast line to Pwllheli on day 2 of a tour of the scenic rail lines in Wales.
The Cambrian coast timetable has eight return trains a day roughly every two hours between Machynlleth and Pwllheli with an extra early morning return as far as Barmouth. Most trains operate through from (or to) Birmingham International splitting (or joining) at Machynlleth for Aberystwyth or Pwllheli, but as I explained in Part 1, this doesn’t always happen, and in our case the Pwllheli portion commenced as a new train at Machynlleth with a reasonable number of passengers on board.
There are 26 stations along the line to Pwllheli of which 15 are by request. It’s a 58 mile, mostly single track, two hour 24 minute delight of a journey not least because for a large part the train hugs the coastline, sometimes with mountain/steep hills immediately behind the track and a drop down to the shore, particularly on the first section after leaving Dovey Junction photographed below in Arriva Trains Wales days.
Dovey Junction, as its name implies is where the line to Aberystwyth heads south while the line to Pwllheli prepares to head north passing along the north bank of the River Dovey.
The coastline then comes into view and you’re transfixed for the next couple of hours – and it’s absolutely essential to be sitting on the nearside of the train heading north – with great views of the trajectory ahead.
The line also connects with splendid examples of “The Great Little Trains of Wales” including at Tywyn where on a previous trip up the line I alighted to enjoy a ride on the Rheilffordd Talyllyn Railway.
The Wharf station in Tywyn where the line starts is a stone’s throw from the Cambrian Coastl line station making for a very convenient interchange.
… and the line really is spectacular all the way up the valley to the terminus at Nant Gwernol station. I strongly recommend including a ride on any itinerary of Wales.
A little further up the Cambrian Coast line is the delightful Fairbourne Railway.
Again, this is conveniently located right next to the ‘main line’ station at Fairbourne and takes you on a lovely ride…
… to the headland to the south of Barmouth Bay…
… where, from the terminus, you get a fantastic view of the wonderful Barmouth Bridge…
… and also from where you can catch the quirky ferry over to Barmouth itself and rejoin the Cambrian Coast line for your journey north towards Pwllheli.
Here’s a short video I took when using the ferry a few years ago.
After Barmouth and Harlech, the next larger town the Cambrian Coast line serves is Porthmadog, where you’ll find both the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways…
… both of which are ‘must rides’ with the most spectacular views you’ll see anywhere in Wales, particularly on the latter.
From Porthmadog it’s a 24 minute ride now heading west along the coast through Cricceth to Pwllheli where the train terminates at a rather uninspiring basic station comprising a set of buffers at the end of the line alongside one of those bargain type retail outlets and that’s about it. We arrived three minutes early at 11:12.
The rest of the town is more welcoming and we made our way to the three bay bus station…
… to catch the first of two connecting buses to take us over to Betws-y-Coed for a ride on the Conwy Valley line. First up would be the 11:40 route 12 to Caernarfon via Trefor operated by a long standing coach operator based in Trefor: Clynnog & Trefor.
The bus pulled on to Stand C at the scheduled departure time of 11:40 for the 12 passengers to board … and that’s when the problems started. When it came to our request for a 1Bws ticket giving us unlimited bus travel across all of North Wales at the newly increased prices of £7 for adults and £4.50 for those with English (and Scottish) concessionary passes, the driver was adamant my concessionary pass wasn’t valid. He was insistent things had changed and his boss had told him to no longer accept such passes. I stood my ground saying it wasn’t a case of “accepting the pass” but acknowledging it gives a discount ticket price on the 1Bws ticket. I think he detected I knew what I was talking about and while I sought to obtain evidence from the internet on my smartphone he gave his boss a ring who immediately confirmed the concessionary pass did entitle holders to the discounted rate.
Sadly that deliberation took five minutes so meant a late getaway from the bus station with a further delay caused by an articulated truck in Pwllheli’s narrow streets and then a set of temporary traffic lights with a long red phase where a new Aldi was being built and then at 11:55…
… we pulled off the A499 at Y Ffôr into an Esso petrol station…
… and, yes, you’ve guessed it…
… filled up with diesel. There was no explanation about the stop, no apology for the delay, which took seven minutes, including the driver paying for the fuel and doing a little bit of shopping in the shop for his lunch.
I know it’s a challenge to fuel rural buses based away from facilities but these things shouldn’t be done at the inconvenience of passengers, especially as we were now 16 minutes late, and the connecting time to our next bus in Caernarfon (the hourly S1 to Betws-y-Coed) was only 15 minutes.
Having filled up, back on the A499 we continued northwards towards Caernarfon including diverting via the village of Trefor where the bus and coach company is based…
… and having to contend with two more sets of temporary traffic lights for roadworks and getting behind a slow moving tractor.
The upshot was we arrived into Caernarfon’s bus station at 12:41, one minute after the S1 had left. And I spotted on the bustimes tracker website it was a double decker. What an opportunity missed.
We accepted our fate and enjoyed an hour’s lunch break in Caernarfon, rather than the original plan of taking a break in Betws-y-Coed, and prepared to catch the next S1 at 13:40 which would have taken us on the truly wonderful route across Snowdonia’s finest including Llanberis and Pen-y-Pass with an arrival into Betws-y-Coed at 14:55, 11 minutes before the Conwy Valley line train for Llandudno departs at 15:06.
However, there was no sign of the S1 bus as 13:40 arrived and my brother and I eyed up the gathering queue of people waiting for it, thinking it would take a few minutes to get them all on board once the bus had arrived…
…and what’s to say there wouldn’t be more perturbations along the way so made an instant decision to abandon that plan – because if the 11 minute connection failed we had no Plan B for onward travel from Betws-y-Coed and needed to be back in Sussex on Tuesday evening.
Instead we jumped on an about-to-leave S3 to Bangor via Bethel and on arriving into Bangor enjoyed a short time in the town centre before wandering up to the station and catching the Avanti West Coast direct train to Euston at 15:15.
It was a lovely ride along the North Wales coast followed by a fairly quiet journey down the West Coast main line after Crewe and Stafford and then non-stop to Euston on an old faithful Voyager. The ticket to Haywards Heath/Hassocks cost £67.25 (off-peak single with Railcard).
It had been a very enjoyable couple of days and I’m looking forward to showing my brother what we missed on the S1 and Conwy Valley line another time.
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS.
Comments on today’s blog are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.
BusAndTrainUser 
The complications of ticket types and rules. For example as all the railways and Traws Cambria now under TFW control, why does the Explore Wales ticket not allow travel on the whole Traws network?
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There’s only the T4 and T14 that aren’t included in Explore Wales. the reason for that will be partly due to the fact some of the trips are actually commercially operated by Stagecoach.
The 43/X43 and 460 are TrawsCymru Connect and they get very messy contracts wise. Even local authorities can’t work out what comes under TrawsCymru connect. Powys say the X47/X75 are connect routes, TrawsCymru say they aren’t. As with everything in Welsh transport, too many chefs in the kitchen and no one actually has a clue.
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The X47/X75 are my pet peave. TfW refuses to include them in its TrawsCymru maps despite the fact that they plug a big gap in the network and they don’t compete with TfWs train services. The three-bus interchange at Llangurig where they all meet-up is a great peice of timetabling.
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Looks good on paper, but I have had to spend two hours in Llangurig on several occasions.
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Thanks for part 2 – sounds a lovely combination of rides.
It does seem crazy, in this age of improved communications, that it’s not possible for connections to be held when they are so close to being kept. But throughout my travelling-by-public-transport life, I have had this image of the operating bodies holding up a big sign saying ‘Don’t bother to try and make a journey involving a change – we won’t help you!’ What to do? well, management attitudes would have to change for one thing – stop focussing on cherry-picking the easy ‘one-seat’ journeys. Look seriously at passengers’ needs for varying types of travel, if you really want to increase your revenue, and not push them into car-buying. It’s actually really expensive and troublesome to buy, insure, tax, fuel, service, clean etc. a car; OK, some people see it as a status symbol, but please, bus and train managers, try looking at the issue as one where you are failing at present, and where you can improve things a lot, simply by making ‘changing buses/trains’ easier, more reliable, and more comfortable. It should be all part of the ‘Passenger comes first’ package.
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The connection is with different bus companies and to ask for connections to be held, the driver of the bus you are on, would have to ring up and ask, thus delaying the bus further.
The other issue is, companies get fed up of waiting for other companies. I know that was the stance on the TrawsCymru network as Corwen where some firms got fed up waiting for Lloyds (who would often be delayed with congestion in Wrexham or could easily get stuck behind a slow moving vehicle in the lanes) and so wouldn’t wait for the advertised connections.
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Exactly the situation the other Friday [31st August] at Corwen, i changed from T10 to T8 around 2pm both connect with the T3 Wrexham-Barmouth service, but the southbound T3 was running 30 minutes late, northbound T3 was running 10 late too, the drivers of the T8/T10 didn’t wait for the southbound T3 & left on time
SM
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If services should connect and all the buses have trackers surely the bus drivers can use bustimes.org.
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While there are times when holding specific connections makes sense, especially if it just a matter of a minute or two and if it’s an obvious “main line to branch line” type connection which many people would be expected to be making, a policy of holding connections more broadly is fraught with unintended consequences. One person’s connection saved by delaying something by a few minutes can be another person’s connection missed further along the route due to that same delay of a few minutes. And of course on the railway it can also mean a path through a key bottleneck missed, with all the ballooning delays which that can cause both for the intentionally delayed service and for others.
It’s not realistic to expect front line staff to identify and weigh up these potential far-reaching repercussions every time they may wish to hold a connection for someone, and far more likely that, if given latitude to do so, they will act in the interests of the passenger they are face-to-face with at the time and be blissfully unaware of the chaos that might result further along the route. Given that reality, I think the policy of many operators of simply not holding connections full stop is understandable.
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Regarding connections between Traws Cymru services, TfW should have access to timetable compliance data, identify where services are regularly delayed and devise mitigations, which may need discussion and direction to highways authority.
In Switzerland bus routes are timed to connect, and route lengths are tailored to ensure buses complete their return journey in time for the next clock face connection. If the railway operates on a 30 minute frequency, connecting buses will also operate on the same frequency. Additional journeys can be added to the base service.
Back to Wales, perhaps connections between operators will be more possible once they are all TfW contractors.
Peter Brown
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It is a pity you do not “collect” castles as I did with mother in 1965 in addition to us doing the “little trains” too. Our castle and our overnight hotel stop in Harlech was quite adventurous. The first road mother tried in order to reach the hotel was too steep for the Ford Consul-375 with its three gears and a column change so we needed to find another way. Views from the castle were superb but the view inside the hotel’s Television Lounge changed the family’s viewing habits! In Harlech that night mother and I watched “The Man From UNCLE” for the first time as this happened to be on the screen. Back home we became firm fans of the show! That car, the Consul-375 was a heavy beast with a bench front seat, and I can almost hear its engine screaming as mother attempted to climb that awkward hill. Castles at Conwy and Caernarfon were on our itinerary too.
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The mid and North Wales timetables are full of these lovely looking 5 to 10 minute connections and I won’t trust them for a minute unless I was 99% sure that the bus I was connecting onto was likely to be later than the one I’m on. If you want a return trip to the area, Lloyd’s are taking delivery of five new Enviro 200s for their tendered routes and they should be a fun ride given that getting a Solo down some the roads is a squeeze.
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The irony being that if you hadn’t held your ground on the concessionary pass you might have achieved the connection with the S1. Sometimes these things don’t work out!
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the real irony is that had the driver not taken five minutes to sell a valid ticket….
Hardly Roger’s fault is it!
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Totally agree, some pensioners really are super tight wads lol, just pay the extra 3 or 4 quid and keep the bus on time for everyone else, sort it out later if you really have to!
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Poor ‘panic’ decision! The S1 bus departed at 1344 and arrived exactly on time at 1455.
Service 12 is notorious for late running – the timetable has not changed for years and takes no account of the reduction in speed limits last September or increased congestion.
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Looks as though the connection on your planned route Caernarfon-Betws would have worked! The S1 left Caernarfon +4, arrived BYC on time; the train left +2. Next time, eh?
RGB
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Trains and b uses are just to unreliable in my view to chance changing buses or trains on low frequency services as the chances of it being cancelled or running later are high
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Sad to note that the Driver “arguing about the acceptance of reduced fares for English and Scottish concessionary pass holders” shows just how few actually take advantage of the bonus.
Back in the day always relaxed at late running in Wales, and the then extremely fast timed services which the Welsh government have ensured are no more, because invariably the seemingly impossible connection at places like Dolgellau or Machynlleth were actually the bus you were on already!
Terence Uden
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I think the refusal to offer the discount is a symptom of the traditional Welsh welcome to the English.
Gareth Cheeseman
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Not necessarily as travelling with Berwyn on the same route 12 last year, a young lady who appeared to be a local was trying to pay with Apple Pay but the machine wasn’t having it and neither was the driver.
After a while an older lady walked from the back of the bus and paid the fare just so we could get going!
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Written Statement: Bus Network Grant
It seems to be confused it stated BNG will start in April 2024 yet further down it states 2025
Whether this funding is greater or lesser than the Covid support funding is not clear
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic we have provided the bus industry with over £200m funding support to maintain bus services across Wales.
From 1 April this year we are introducing the Bus Network Grant (BNG). In addition to the £25m Bus Services Support Grant (BSSG), BNG will provide local authorities across Wales with £39m to secure bus services that they deem socially necessary that the commercial market will not provide when BTF comes to an end. The new scheme will include specific conditions that will encourage improved regional co-ordination of bus services; network ticketing and the need to ensure accurate and up to date information about the bus services provided.
BNG will be a twelve month scheme. From 1 April 2025 we aim to introduce one scheme that will replace BNG and BSSG.
https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-bus-network-grant
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As has occurred before, you were able to return home as necessary because of your extensive knowledge of the bus & train network and the ways in which it can be monitored. For most people this is simply not possible and it is experiences such as yours in Caernarfon that lead people to conclude that buses and trains are unreliable. And who can blame them for taking that view?
John
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I dimly recall a bus in service on a Greek island pulling into a petrol station to refuel. Unfortunately I can’t remember which island!
Ian McNeil
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In the days when First ran the X9 from Bude to Exeter, it was quite a regular occurrence for the coach (as they were then) to pull into Bude outstation to refuel or change drivers. This gave a welcome time to examine the row of withdrawn Bristol VRs and ex Aberdeen Leyland Atlanteans that were there at one time.
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Blimey that brings back memories. When my late parents retired to Torbay the X9 was an excellent ride and marked as the Atlantic Coast Express or something like it. On a Sunday you get a Dartmoor Sunday Rover & we did many runs getting the First 82 from Torquay to Exeter to change onto the X9. Have a couple of hours in Bude then set home on X9/82
Incidentally ex Grampian Open Top Atleantans used to be regulars on short X80s from Torquay to Totnes & the 393 from Dartmouth to Kingsbridge.
Mind you they were notorious for breaking down The joys of the long closed First Totnes garage.
This even operated a local First Torquay 64/65/66 service past my parents home in Wellswood that could quite literally have anything on it from a Vario to a Dart to even Olympians in the era of the bizarre First A to B tickets.
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They were great times Richard. The last run back from Exeter was the best with a B10M at full pelt. 9.30pm from Exeter, due to arrive in Bude at 11.30. Usually back by 11.10!
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I recall a rural taxi-driver in Portugal turning off the route and going to his home to drop off some groceries (we had agreed the price in advance, it wasn’t on the meter!)
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The thing about a network where connections are reliable is it introduces so much more flexibility for both passengers and bus companies themselves. Suppose you run a bus from A to B. But you are always lobbied to extend to either C or D. Which do you pick, and do you end up with convoluted routes? But if yourself, or someone else, can provide a connecting shuttle B to C and B to D, everything suddenly becomes much easier. And then when there is a genuine delay on one part, it doesn’t affect everything else.
Maybe buses need to think much more like the London Underground. Changing is expected, a habit and it generally works well. So to achieve that, either frequencies need to go up – or, for more rural areas, much more effort to hold connections if it doesn’t cause massive delays further on.
Back to Oxford (which always gets a mention!) Everything is high frequency to the centre, and people are always changing there. To the extent that the Oxford Bus company seems to be considering showing real-time connections on in-bus screens on the approach to the centre.
CH, Oxford
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A great blog but unfortunately Roger you are completely wrong. The Sherpa services were designed by Transport for Wales and are therefore perfect at all times. All buses connect with each other and the trains and it’s like a utopia world.
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The Sherpa’r Wyddfa buses are provided by Gwynedd Council who designed the new network – funding comes from Conwy and Gwynedd councils, Transport for Wales and the Snowdon Park Authority. As a Gwynedd resident, I use the Sherpa’r buses several times a week and find them to be reliable and punctual, unlike many other buses in this area, particularly Arriva.
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Perhaps the Traffic Commissioners reliability expectations of not more than one minute early or five minutes late, with financial penalties for non compliance, need to be rigorously enforced across the UK to deter bus operators and local transport authorities from sloppy or unrealistic timetabling. Early and late running, wholly within the operators control, is a regular feature of present day bus service operation, particularly in relation to my local ‘award winning bus operator of the year’!
Western Greyhound buses in service frequently used to stop for fuel.
Back in the days of Express Motors operating the Traws Cambria service from Bangor to Aberystwyth, I caught an afternoon peak southbound departure from Caernarfon, which was driven with gusto, with three young ladies stood on the front platform talking to the driver, as far as the depot. An older driver took over from there and I expected a more sedate journey to Porthmadog but again we hurtled along the lanes. A well driven fast bus can be quite enjoyable but there comes a point where it becomes an unpleasant white knuckle ride, which seems quite common in North Wales. On another occasion, the same operators Optare Solo was being driven by a very young driver, with his girlfriend stood at the front, in what could only be described as ‘boy racer’ style, presumably to impress his young lady, but with passengers on board.
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Last year, having arrived by train, we took the bus from Beddgelert to Caernarfon. It was a fast journey along narrow lanes – yet we only just kept to schedule!
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I covered much of Roger’s itinerary a couple of weeks ago but mad more use of bus services. The G21 and G23 follow much of the Cambrian Coast railway line and should be included in any list of the most scenic bus services in UK. I was let down by the trains – the train I intended to catch from Bow Street didn’t turn up despite continuing to show as ‘on time’ on the station ‘real time’ display. Not good with a 2 hourly frequency! With good marketing, the public transport network in North Wales could be a major part of the tourism offer but if it is to do so, the promotion, quality and reliability of services (bus and train) has to improve.
David
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If you use bus or train its unwise these days to rely on tight connections without a ‘Plan B’. On our travels we try to leave fairly long connection times (say 20/30 min or longer), but it does involve lots of tea or coffee breaks on such places as Euston or Birmingham New Street. Thank goodness for Wetherspoons pubs on or near stations.
Brian Willson
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If you are in rural areas with services every 2 to 4 hours that’s not really an option
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Some of issues with reliability in North Wales is the holiday traffic as well, it can be a nightmare keeping buses on time in summer, i was lucky the other week most buses were on time, & that was on a Friday in the summer holidays, [although it was the last Friday of the summer holidays in England & Wales], even made a tight 5 minute connection at Rhyl from the 11M to the 12, rather than having to wait 10 minutes for the next 12.
Yep when using public transport in places like North Wales, because of tight connections on some routes you have to make alternative plans if plan A goes belly up, particularly on services with hourly & longer frequencies.
SM
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Boarding the ferry from Fairbourne to Barmouth can be tricky. As your photo shows, the beach is very pebbly, and my 70-year-old husband took a tumble trying to get to the ferry.
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I read earlier today that you are a contributor to a new 30 minute video about buses but I can’t find the contact so if you have any advice as to how to find this I would be both pleased and grateful.
Your reports are great but how you find the time to do all the travelling and file your comments is great and to fund them is our pleasure.
many thanks
Peter Davis
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Two comments:
On a long-gone Nat Ex service from Edinburgh to Wrexham (I was going just to Manchester) via the scenic route, the coach had lain over in the city overnight. Despite this, rather than going from Dalkeith to Eskbank then the A7 to Gala, we went along the A68 to a place called Fordel with an Esso garage for a long complete refuel, then over to the A7 40 minutes down. No explanation or even comment from the driver.
Enjoying a short time in the centre of Bangor is not possible, unless the key word is short. Ugly, grotty, run down …
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we were in Bangor recently, arriving by train for a bus to Caernarfon.
30 minute frequency but 2 didn’t turn up. Complained to Arriva via Twitter, no response!
Used 2 different bus companies on access to walks and found drivers friendly and helpful on fares
Not found the unfriendly welsh syndrome on many visits to Wales over decades
Ray Wilkes
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It might be worth noting that another peculiarity of the of the number 12 Caernarfon to Pwllheli bus service is they won’t convey passengers with dogs. Or at least not those who aren’t accompanied by Guide or Assistance Dogs. Presumably because they’d invoke the wrath of the Disability Discrimination Act if they tried that tack.
Found this out the hard way on a journey up from Devon a few years back when our peaceable and well meaning dog was refused entry to a bus at Caernarfon Bus Station late one evening. Sadly at that time of night there were no alternative and more dog friendly services operating so, for one of us, it was ‘legging it’ for the last few miles complete with dog and accompanying luggage. The dog enjoyed the walk but I’m not sure I did at that end of a long day.
No real useful reason for this given by the driver except he would get the sack if he breached the rules. Also an odd way to behave in a tourist area where people might wish to walk with their dogs and use a bus to and fro as well.
So this bus company is quirky in other ways and is not entirely passenger friendly.
Managed to get back to Bangor and the train home incidentally by the rather more dog friendly TrawsCymru T2 service.
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Late to this thread but when Connexions were challenging Transdev on the Harrogate-Kanresborough corridor I saw a Connexions bus take the custom from the stop outside Transdevs depot only then to turn into an Esso to fill up whilst at least one Transdev bus passed – no doubgt the passengers were less than amused.
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