Capital City Red
Template:Infobox Cardiff Bus route Capital City Red is the branding of bus services 17 and 18 in Cardiff. The route runs from the city centre to the west of the city, serving the Canton, Ely and Caerau districts.
The service forms part of the wider Cardiff Bus network and is one of three services to have a unique branding, along with Baycar and Capital City Green.
The service was introduced in 2006 to improve infrastructure on the route, and with the aim to make the corridor the first Statutory Quality Bus Partnership in Wales.[1]
History
In 1955, the furthest and final extension of Cardiff's trolleybus network came to Ely, where city trams had never run. In 1959, the Cardiff Corporation Transport trolleybus routes that were operating in Ely and Caeray were the 10 A/B (Ely - Canton - City Centre) and the 39(A) (Ely Bridge, City Centre - Rhiwbina).[2]
The transition to motorbuses began in Cardiff began in 1962 and was completed by 1970 and the city has been served by motor buses ever since.[3]
Vehicles
The Scania Omnicity articulated vehicles have their own red and green livery, are equipped with seats with leather headrests, air-conditioning, reserved spaces for buggies and wheelchairs, CCTV, on-bus screens with local travel information and BBC News 24 bulletins, hearing induction loop and next stop information. Cardiff Bus has 19 of such vehicles in their fleet valued at £235,000 each.[1]
In the past, the vehicles have become stuck on the route due to heavy snow.[4]
Before the 17 and 18 routes became branded as Capital City Red, Cardiff Bus operated its double decker orange Volvo Ailsa vehicles on the route.
Route
The 9.4 mile long route stops outside Cardiff Central bus station and Westgate Street in the city centre before heading westbound towards the suburbs. It follows Cowbridge Road East through Canton, Cardiff into Ely and Caerau. The services diverge at Ely Library with the 17 following a clockwise route and the 18 following an anticlockwise route before the two routes meet again and return to the city centre via Canton.
Amongst the place served (from east to west) are:
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- Canton Library
- Canton Police Station
- Chapter Arts Centre
- Victoria Park
- Ely Bridge
- Ely Library
- Western Leisure Centre
- Glamorgan Wanderers
Police operations
South Wales Police have used vehicles on this route as a decoy in an attempt to catch people who throw stones at the buses, after an increase in such attacks had made Cardiff Bus think about ceasing operations on the route. Six undercover officers posed as ordinary passengers on the bus, and since the operation began two youths have taken into custody and 17 have been referred for anti-social behaviour orders.[5]
Other services
Launched in 2009, St David's Travel operates the 18A service on a very similar route in order to compete with Cardiff Bus. Its vehicles have a black livery with a yellow St. David's Cross.
In Canton, other Cardiff Bus services that operate are the 60, 61, 62 that diverge from the 17/18 route at Ely Bridge heading towards Fairwater and Pentrebane. The 12 and 13 services from Tremorfa serve the south of Canton and also the north of Ely. The 96 service follows a similar route to the 17/18, but heads to Culverhouse Cross, Wenvoe and Barry, Vale of Glamorgan instead of circling Ely and Caerau.[6]
See also
- Baycar
- Bus transport in Cardiff
- List of bus routes in Cardiff
- Transport in Cardiff
- Articulated buses in the United Kingdom
References
- ^ a b Busandcoach.com: Trendy bendies - artics in the UK
- ^ Davies, Roger (2006). Streets of Cardiff. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0 7110 3098 7.
- ^ Lockwood, Stephen (2005). Cardiff Trolleybuses. Midhurst, West Sussex: Middleton Press. ISBN 1 904474 64 0.
- ^ Wales Online: Snow chaos hits South Wales hard
- ^ Wales Online: Police use bendy bus as decoy to trap stone-throwing yobs
- ^ Cardiff Bus Overground
External Links
- Capital City Red route map and timetable
- Cardiff Bus website
- Real Time 17/18 departures from Westgate Street
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| Proposed transport network |  South Wales Metro
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