Stagecoach South Wales

Optare Solo SR inPontypool in April 2024
Parent	Stagecoach Group
Founded	November 1993; 32 years ago (1993-11)
Headquarters	Cwmbran
Service area	Cardiff South East Wales
Service type	Bus
Destinations	South Wales,Hereford
Depots	6
Fleet	340 (2022)
Managing Director	Martin Gibbon
Website	Official website

Stagecoach South Wales is a bus operator providing services inSouth East Wales. It is a subsidiary of theStagecoach Group. It is the largest operator of bus services in Wales, in the United Kingdom.

In January 1991,Cheltenham-basedWestern Travel purchased the eastern division of formerNational Bus Company (NBC) subsidiaryNational Welsh Omnibus Services, which consisted of 180 buses based from depots inBrynmawr,Chepstow,Crosskeys,Cwmbran andRoss on Wye. The purchased division was renamed Red & White, with the area's services having been operated byRed & White Services until being merged intoWestern Welsh by the NBC in 1978.^[1]

In February 1992, a 10% shareholding inRhondda Buses, formed following the December 1991 collapse of National Welsh to purchase theCaerphilly andPorth depots fromadministrators, was acquired, quelling potential competition between Rhondda Buses and Red & White. Rhondda Buses was owned by a consortium of bus operators, which includedBritish Bus,Potteries Motor Traction,Stevensons of Uttoxeter andJulian Peddle.^[2] Red & White subsequently purchasedmunicipal bus company Cynon Valley Transport fromCynon Valley Council in August 1992 after the company had fallen intoreceivership, expanding operations into theAberdare andMerthyr Tydfil areas.^[3]

In November 1993, Red & White's parent Western Travel was sold toStagecoach Holdings,^[4] subsequently resulting in Red & White being rebranded as Stagecoach Red & White. Stagecoach later purchased the shares of the Rhondda Buses consortium members, which now consisted ofArriva,FirstBus and Julian Peddle, in December 1997, taking full ownership of Rhondda bus services.^[5] While the company was rebranded to Stagecoach Rhondda, the former operator's Caerphilly and Rhymney Valley services were incorporated into Stagecoach Red & White.^{[citation needed]}

In February 2000, all Stagecoach operations in the South Wales area were rebranded as Stagecoach in South Wales as part of the group's national rebrand; Ross on Wye depot's services were rebranded as Stagecoach in Wye & Dean and transferred to neighbouringStagecoach West. In September 2000, local independent Phil Anslow Travel's bus services were purchased, further expanding Stagecoach's presence in South East Wales.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2004, Stagecoach purchased the remaining operations of Phil Anslow Travel, consisting of six minibuses and 15 coaches.^[6] Phil Anslow Travel's bus services were integrated into Stagecoach in South Wales, whilst the coaching business became Red & White Coaches, which failed to remain profitable and ceased operations in April 2006. Phil Anslow has since resumed the operation of bus services.

In February 2006, Stagecoach purchased Eastern Valleys independent operator Crosskeys Coach Hire, who traded as Glyn Williams Travel, following the owner's retirement. Glyn Williams' operating area was within that of Stagecoach in South Wales' and many of their trunk services had been operated jointly with Stagecoach.^[7]

In January 2010,Caerphilly County Borough Council soldIslwyn Borough Transport, the smallest remaining municipal bus operator in the United Kingdom followingderegulation, to Stagecoach South Wales.^[8][9] The sale attracted some controversy after it was found the council had consulted only Stagecoach instead of putting the company's sale up topublic tender, with Caerphilly County Borough Council also accused of selling Islwyn Borough Transport in order to recoup £15 million lost when an Icelandic bank the council invested in collapsed during the2008 financial crisis.^[10]

Until the company's services began to be rebranded into the group's current 'Long Distance' livery in 2022, Stagecoach South Wales operated the mostGold specification vehicles in the Stagecoach Group.^{[citation needed]} Gold services were first introduced to South Wales in 2015 with the introduction of service X24 betweenBlaenavon andNewport viaPontypool and Cwmbran,^[11][12] operated by Gold specificationAlexander Dennis Enviro300s.

Gold services were introduced to theRhondda Valley in December 2016, with service 132Maerdy and Cardiff being upgraded with 24 Gold specificationAlexander Dennis Enviro200 MMCs,^[13][14] followed by a further 24 Gold Enviro200 MMCs introduced on services 120 and 130, operating fromBlaencwm andBlaenrhondda toCaerphilly, in December 2017;^[11][12] the Gold brand was withdrawn from services 120 and 130 due to a lack of demand in May 2019.

Services 26 and 151 fromBlackwood to Cardiff and Newport respectively were upgraded to Gold status in 2019,^[15] while Gold specificationOptare Solo SRs were also introduced on Cwmbran town services 1,2,5,6 and 7 in 2019.^[16] Three of these Gold buses were named after Cwmbran residents voted to be their 'local heroes' by members of the public.^[17][18]

Stagecoach South Wales operatesTransport for Wales-contractedTrawsCymru services T4 and T14, which start fromNewtown andHereford respectively and both finish at Cardiff, servingLlandrindod Wells,Builth Wells,Brecon,Hay-on-Wye (T14 only),Merthyr Tydfil andPontypridd. Service T4 was the first TrawsCymru route to be introduced on the network in July 2011, replacing the previousTrawsCambria 704 service between Newtown and Brecon,^[19] while the T14 service was introduced in September 2018.^[20] Both routes are operated by Stagecoach usingMCV Evora bodiedVolvo B8RLEs, introduced to replace olderOptare Tempos and Alexander Dennis Enviro300s on the services in July 2019.^[21][22]

Stagecoach South Wales commenced operations on Transport for Wales'Fflecsidemand responsive transport service inRhondda Cynon Taf in partnership with thecounty borough council in July 2020, operating pilot service 152, servingTonypandy and Hendreforgan viaPenygraig,Williamstown,Penrhiwfer,Tonyrefail andThomastown, replacing a equivalent of the service operated commercially by Stagecoach.^[23] Fflecsi services inBlaenau Gwent were later launched in June 2021, described as the most successful Fflecsi trial service in May 2022 with an average weekly ridership of 1,000 passengers,^[24] however the service was withdrawn in June 2023.^[25]

As of 2025, the Stagecoach South Wales fleet consisted of 340 buses based from five depots inAberdare,Taffs Well,Cwmbran,Merthyr Tydfil andPorth.^[26]

Depots formerly operated by Stagecoach South Wales includedBrynmawr depot, which closed on 21 July 2014 and was turned into an outstation, resulting in cuts in bus services in the area,^[27] andBlackwood depot, which closed on 5 February 2023, with buses and some staff moved to the Caerphilly and Cwmbran depots.^[28]

• Bus transport in Cardiff

• Media related toStagecoach in South Wales at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website

• Bus operators in Wales
• Bus transport in Cardiff
• Stagecoach Group
• Transport in Caerphilly County Borough
• Transport in Monmouthshire
• Transport in Newport, Wales
• Transport in Rhondda Cynon Taf
• Transport in Torfaen
• Organisations based in Newport, Wales

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from February 2015
• Use British English from February 2015
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
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• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2024
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