The early years, 1902 to 1930
Below will be a history of Cardiff Bus. I have taken it from the Cardiff Bus site here Cardiff Bus history and this will be published with the full permission of the company.
The Council introduced the first electric trams in Cardiff on 1 May 1902 running between our Newport Road (Roath) Depot and the town centre, having, in that January, taken over the tracks and vehicles from the private Cardiff Tramway Company which had run horse trams and buses since 1870, although other operators had been running horse buses since at least 1845.
Cardiff Corporation Tramways extended the electric tramway system in the first three decades of the century and by 1927 the fleet of single deck and double deck electric trams had reached 141, operating over 18 route miles in an area bounded by Victoria Park, Cathedral Road, Whitchurch Road, Roath Park, Newport Road, Splott, Pier Head and Grangetown. Motorbuses were introduced on Christmas Eve 1920, running between Saint John's Square and Monthermer Road, although Cardiff's first motorbus route was operated by the Cardiff Tramway Company between Cardiff and Whitchurch from April 1907. These early motorbus journeys would have been rather uncomfortable as pneumatic tyres were not fitted to these vehicles until 1924 and the top decks remained open to the weather until roofs were first provided in 1925! A successful Parcels Delivery Service was introduced in 1911 based on the Parcels Office in The Hayes, Cardiff - now the home of the well known Hayes Island Snack Bar.
The Council expanded its motorbus services throughout the twenties and thirties with, for example, new routes introduced to Llanishen in 1923, Newport in 1924, Lisvane, Rhiwbina and Penarth in 1925, Capel Llanilterne, Creigiau and Cefn Mably Hospital in 1926, Barry Island, Pontypridd and Pentyrch in 1928, Caerphilly in 1929, Merthyr Tydfil in 1930 and Tredegar in 1948. The first diesel engined motorbuses appeared in 1932.
