For anyone planning to drive into Cardiff centre this is a valuable service to make use of as…read moreCardiff's streets can get so busy at certain times of the day and parking is a huge nightmare. Especially with Cardiff Council's new responsibility to parking fines. Parking in Cardiff can be very costly if you do not adhere to road markings etc and even if you do, the car parks can charge quite a pretty penny depending when and where you are parking. For this reason, why not simply park here and ride the bus. It's only £3.00 to park at this facility which has ample spaces free throughout the day and then you can ride the bus into town for free. It doesn't really take that much longer and there is a bus every 15 minutes so you never have to wait too long before the next bus. The busses are all very new looking and this service is in operation 5 days a week. Monday to Friday the services start at 7:30am and the last services from the city centre is at 7:00pm except for match days when this changes to 5:30pm.

I thought that Aber Station (the next one up the line from Cardiff Central) was slow, but…read moreCaerphilly is almost as bad. Monday to Saturday, the train to/from Cardiff runs every 15 minutes or so. On Sundays, the train runs every two hours. Be prepared. There is a staffed ticket booth during some hours but the rest of the time there is just the automated ticket vending machine. There are no ticket barricades and there is step free access. There is a confectionery/soda vending machine. The bus station/depot is attached and there is a taxi stand just opposite.

Perfectly located station, just on the edge of the central part of town. Small station with exits…read moreon both sides (so you don't have to labour over an annoying footbridge).

If you're around the Lisvane or Thornhill area and in dire need of some kind of train operating…read moreservice, then you are in such luck! This is a two-track station, where the platform closest to the main car-park offers train services up towards Rhymney, and the platform closest to the bewilderingly large set of stairs offers services into the centre of Cardiff town and beyond to Penarth. This train station is very much no-frills. Although it does now have an electronic ticker to let you know the arrival time of the next train and where it's heading (just in case my instructions of which side is which weren't clear enough). Trains into the centre of Cardiff leave at 14 minutes past, 29 minutes past, 44 minutes past, and 59 minutes past the hour most of the time and you'll be in the centre within 15 minutes. There's no ticket barrier here, so you can hop on the train without paying, though it is probably best to catch eye-contact with the conductor at some point during the trip into town because there are barriers in both Cardiff Central and Cardiff Queen Street which you won't be able to get through without a ticket. The train conductor has a fancy box that produces the tickets that accepts cards nowadays so he's unlikely to accept any form of excuse for not being able to purchase one.

I like to do comedy routines on the platform here, I'm known as Cathays Clown…read more This station is only one mile north of Cardiff Central and it's a cute little Suburban Station in the middle of the North part of the city. For a long time you had to kind of fend for yourself here, but now at rush hour they actually have people helping out and employees and what not. It's literally right in the middle of a development of housing, and surrounded by businesses and whatnot which is pretty cool. In fact when you pull up here you will notice that a little shopping center is right next to it - although you have to kind of cross a bridge and walk back down to it. But it's good for your cheap shopping if you need it. They've also made some colourful admissions to some of the buildings here. I meant additions, but maybe they've admitted stuff to the buildings too?

Cathays Railway Station basically has no facilities except a ticket office (manned part time) and a…read moreself-service ticket machine, but the good thing about it is that it's in a safe, residential area where you won't feel threatened hanging around waiting for a train. It only gets busy on the platforms during peak travel times when people are using this line to get to and from the Valleys in one direction, and to and from the city centre in the other direction. It's very convenient for anyone working or studying at the University, which surrounds the station, or for those living in Cathays, as it offers a good alternative to a taxi if you want to get into town quickly without the walk - particularly if you have heavy bags to carry.

For anyone planning to drive into Cardiff this is a valuable service to make use of. Cardiff's…read morestreets can get so busy at certain times of the day and parking is a huge nightmare. Especially with Cardiff Council's new responsibility to parking fines. Parking in Cardiff can be very costly if you do not adhere to road markings etc and even if you do, the car parks can charge quite a pretty penny depending when and where you are parking. For this reason, why not simply park here and ride the bus. It's only £3.00 to park at this facility which has ample spaces free throughout the day and then you can ride the bus into town for free. It doesn't really take that much longer and there is a bus every 15 minutes so you never have to wait too long before the next bus. The busses are all very new looking and this service is in operation 7 days a week. Monday to Friday the services start at 7am and on weekends the first bus is at 9am. The last services from the city centre are at 8:30am Monday to Friday, 7pm on Saturdays and 5:30pm on Sundays. If this ties in with your plans to visit Cardiff then it really makes more sense to use the park and ride as you would probably spend more than £3.00 in petrol whilst sitting in traffic and if you consider that, along with the parking fees, it makes it excellent value for money for the sake of a 20 minute bus ride.

Well - what a refreshing change! Went to watch the rugby in Cardiff and parked at the park and…read moreride. Coming home after the match, the sensible people laid on 2 buses to transport the huge crowd back to Pentwyn and then instead of there being a massive queue at the exit barriers they manually took the tickets off everyone, speeding up the exit. WELL DONE to the thoughtful management team.

Like Barbi's outfits, which are "Barry there", this is a great station in South Wales, but I have…read moreissues with it. This is the largest of three stations in the Vale of Glamorgan that serves the large city of Barry, not to be confused with Barrie Ontario. Barry is actually a town even though a lot of people think of it as a city. There is a separate branch of rail that goes from Cardiff down to Barry Island, and it's one of the stations along that, so it's not really on any of the main lines. Not too many trains then. It's a typical windswept station with a decent-sized station house and a nice bridge over the track. The whole town set on the lovely hills is right next door, but the station is fairly unremarkable in general and the Barry Island station is nicer.

For a medium-sized town, Barry does well for railway stations, with no fewer than four: Cadoxton,…read moreBarry Docks, Barry and Barry Island. Barry is the town's main station, used mostly by commuters and shoppers, although it is a fair walk to the main shopping area. It handles just under half a million passengers a year. Opened as the terminus of the Barry Railway from Trehafod in 1884, (principally as a freight line transporting coal), additional lines were opened to Cardiff via Cogan in 1888, to Barry Island in 1896 and to Bridgend in 1897. Today, the main service is on the direct line from Cardiff to Barry Island. The line to Bridgend, closed to passengers in 1964, reopened in 2005. There are four trains an hour to Cardiff, most of which continue onwards to the Cardiff valleys, three an hour to Barry Island and one an hour via Rhoose (for Cardiff Airport) and Llantwit Major to Bridgend. Facilities have been much reduced over the years, although it still retains a small building with ticket office (open mornings only), cafeteria and toilets, a large car park, and a slightly dodgy looking platform canopy, supported by what must have been temporary scaffolding at one time, but now seems to be a permanent fixture. Most recently (in 2014) a new platform face was opened (actually re-opened) on the island platform, exclusively for Barry Island trains, now numbered platform 3. Bridgend trains still use platform 2. The platform also has a modern waiting shelter. There is step free access to the Cardiff-bound platform, but not to the Bridgend and Barry Island platforms (which means wheelchair users can go to Cardiff but not come back!). Buses run from the nearby Barry Hotel into the main shopping area and other parts of Barry.

Living in Cwmbran, I regularly have to use the Cwmbran Bus Station for trips all around South Wales…read morethat require a bit more specification beyond train stations and overall, I'm pretty happy about the services I get from Cwmbran. Ever since Cwmbran became such a shopping centre hotspot with loads of patronage, there's now loads of public transportation that go to and from the location. NOTES: ~ Since it's just right at Cwmbran shopping centre, it really makes it convenient. ~ The bus station itself isn't too big. Just a manageable size and easy to navigate with multiple "stands" that cater to different buses. ~ Multiple services stop here, ranging from Stagecoach, Newport Bus, and more. I'm pretty happy with Cwmbran Bus Station. Great location with a huge variety of services you can almost get to anywhere in South Wales via this major stop. Also great for a day's out!

I really like catching Veolia buses; I find the staff are usually very down to earth friendly. They…read moreare usually on time and the prices are very reasonable, I would go as far as to say the prices are dirt cheap when compared to some of the competition that run services in the same area. The buses I usually catch appear to have seen a bit of service so I'm unsure of how new their vehicles are but they do have a selection of different vehicles which run different services. The smaller the service, the older the bus appears to be the way they organise things but you will not hear me complain about this as they get you where you want to be and usually on time, and cheap. Cheap, cheap, cheap, a few times I have boarded and the ticket machine hasn't worked. I've been asked if I know the price to which I respond that I don't and have been allowed to board for free. The only let down is that they don't accept all tickets from all operators but you can't have everything can you.

What I don't understand is, why does it take the same amount of time for the bus to drive to the…read morestation as it does for me to walk? Also, why do empty buses rattle past my window all day (when in service) but they never drive past the bus stop when I'm waiting for one? No joke, I just looked out my window again and there was yet another, with not a sole on board!! A city like this needs a good public transport system, what with the hilliness making it harder to walk and cycle and the traffic diabolical due to tiny windy roads. We need a solution and fast!

Today, 9th of september, i've waited for the bus for over a whole hour. Never thought it was…read morepossible to skip exacly 10 busses in a row (6x for number 76 and 4x for number 2). I've been at the bus stop from 13:48 and finaly caught a number 2 bus at 15:04. When I told the driver I've been waiting for the bus for a whole hour he just shrugged and said "it is very busy in town". I get that its not his fault, and I'm used to 2 or even 3 busses not arriving, its beyond me as to what has to happen to skip 10 busses in a row. I was also suppossed to start my shift at 3pm. In seriously reconsidering my decision to get around by bus. (Might as well had walked to city center today). Sincerely, Vito.

Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees. But at least you can see the Trefforest, the…read morerailway station that is. This is a little station in a little village which is 18 miles to the northwest of the city center of Cardiff. It's close to the campus of University of South Wales, so it is very much a student station, and is little and useful and definitely efficient. They adapted the spelling to change it to the Welsh spelling in 1980, which makes total sense and I agree with it. It has bilingual signage which is pretty awesome. All in all, it's a good one, I've been to about 100 stations across Wales in recent years and this is one of the better ones.

Not a huge fan of this train station to be honest. It does the job and isn't downright horrible,…read morebut without a doubt dated and in need of a good scrub. ~ Location: Treforest in general is a really beautiful and scenic location with plenty of lovely greenery, which the train station is surrounded by. Unfortunately, there's not much nearby besides the university and a few local pubs. ~ Atmosphere: Where Trefforest Railway Station falls short, for me. Like I mentioned, it's very dated. The station itself is extremely tiny with a small ticketing office and that's pretty much it. It's very dirty as well seeing as how it's constantly filled with university students coming and going, but very little maintenance to keep up with cleanliness or appearances. There are 2 platforms at this station, with a walkway going over the tracks to connect the 2. ~ Customer Service: Because there's about 1 staff member at this station (at the ticketing booth), if the booth is closed I really hope you know how to manage which train to catch. Personally though, I've never actually gone to the ticketing booth to comment on the helpfulness of the staff. ~ Service Frequency: From what I can tell, trains coming to and from Trefforest Railway Station isn't too rare. However, one thing that I dislike are that the trains on this route are always the crappy, tiny old ones. I guess you have to use dated trains to match the dated railway station. Also, the tracks are a bit too close for comfort as with every passing train, it's absolutely terrifying loud (more than normal on most routes) and you feel like you've just been barely grazed. When a freight train came around, I'm ashamed to say that I jumped a bit. --- Overall, Trefforest Railway Station definitely does its job in providing service to and from Trefforest. There's enough trains coming through that you shouldn't have to wait too long before your next one but it's really truly in dire need of some TLC.