To the future of the Company
Above is one of the Volvo Ailsa's that will be replaced by new double deck buses this year
The 1985 Transport Act deregulated all bus services, except those in London, and obliged Local Authorities to establish private "arm's length" bus companies. Accordingly in October 1986 Cardiff County Council established its own company - Cardiff City Transport Services Limited (trading as Cardiff Bus).
Links with the County Council remain strong. The Council owns all the shares in Cardiff Bus and is represented on the board of directors. As a private company however Cardiff Bus is not permitted to receive subsidies and is expected to make a contribution to its shareholder (the County Council) to recognise the Council's investment in the Company. In order to do this and to compete with other providers of transport, Cardiff Bus has to be run along commercial lines and to be successful. The Transport Act has produced mixed results throughout the country and many long established bus operators have either disappeared or been taken over. At Cardiff Bus a key objective has been to offer stable bus services to the benefit of its passengers, shareholder and employees alike.
Growth in the network of services provided by Cardiff Bus has involved significant increases in the size of the fleet and the number of employees at the Company. There has been a large increase in the numbers of midibuses and single deck vehicles. The expansion of midibus operation in particular has enabled the Company to retain and, in a number of cases, increase service frequencies with improved service penetration. In 1992, following the closure of the National Welsh bus company, Cardiff Bus extended its network of services into Barry and the rural Vale and increased bus services in the Caerphilly area. In addition to the traditional network of City services and the long established routes to Penarth, Newport, Senghenydd, Blackwood and Tredegar, Cardiff Bus now provides comprehensive bus services to, from and within Barry, the rural Vale and Caerphilly. Each weekday around 80,000 passenger journeys are made with Cardiff Bus and regular dividend payments are made to the shareholder to the benefit of local Council Tax payers.
All new buses are now of the low floor concept which are designed to line up with special raised kerbs at bus stops. Bus shelters throughout the City and the Vale of Glamorgan are being replaced by the Councils concerned with stylish state of the art versions and in Cardiff electronic bus arrival displays are being installed area by area. This equipment is linked to new bus radio and location systems and the ticketing equipment – which not only keeps waiting passengers in touch with the running of their services, but also activates traffic lights to enable late running buses to gain precedence over other vehicles on the road. Travel Shops have been opened at Marks & Spencer in Queen Street and at King Square in Barry and the range of special tickets now includes the City Rider which allows unlimited travel on our buses in Cardiff and Penarth, and the Network Rider which covers the whole of South Wales in connection with other operators in the area. In May 2000 a new Telephone Call Centre was installed at Sloper Road and this provides remarkably detailed computer based timetable information for all bus and rail services throughout Wales.
So what of the future? Well at this moment we are covering our costs and meeting targets for passenger loadings. The move to a new depot next year will bring big changes and state of the art equipment. So just carry on catching a Cardiff Bus!