First Cymru

Bus operator in Swansea and South Wales

First Cymru is an operator of bus services in South West Wales. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup with its headquarters in Swansea.

In 1987, South Wales Transport was sold during the privatisation of the National Bus Company in a management buy out. In February 1990, along with Brewers Motor Services and United Welsh Coaches, South Wales Transport was sold to Badgerline. All initially retained their trading names but following Badgerline merging with GRT Group in April 1995 to form FirstBus, all Welsh operations were rebranded as First Cymru.

The company operates 98 bus services in the South West Wales area, in and between Haverfordwest, Pembroke, Tenby, Carmarthen, Ammanford, Llanelli, Swansea, Pontardawe, Neath, Port Talbot, Maesteg, Bridgend and Cardiff. Their network used to be larger and included destinations such as Brecon, Llandovery and Cardigan. In addition to internal South Wales work, First Cymru also operate the TrawsCymru T1 service between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth under contract to the Welsh Government using Yutong electric vehicles owned by them. First Cymru branding was previously used across the network. However, local 'Swansea and the Bay', 'Western Welsh', 'Neath Port Talbot' and 'Bridgend and County' branding is gradually being applied to services in its sub areas.

First Cymru has provided bespoke services for students of Swansea University for a number of years. The original service, known as 'Bright Orange Bus' linked Hendrefoilan Student Village to Singleton Campus and the City Centre. The service was expanded to the Bay Campus when it opened in 2015 and renamed 'Campus to Campus'. A new route was also introduced between the two campuses via Sketty, Uplands and Swansea railway station. The network was redesigned and rebranded 'Unibws' following the closure of Hendrefoilan Student Village in the summer of 2023. Newly numbered services 90 94 link the two campuses with the city centre, Sketty, Uplands and new student accommodation in the Parc Tawe, railway station and Morfa Road areas, with service 91 operating 24 hours a day during term time.

First Cymru operates park & ride sites, which are located at Fabian Way and Landore in Swansea.

In 2014, First Cymru introduced the Cymru Clipper network of longer distance routes, spanning from Carmarthen & Ammanford to Cardiff. Services X1, X2, X3, X5, X6, X7, X11, X13, are encompassed into this network. Dedicated vehicles in blue livery operate these services, with the majority of them offering WiFi and leather seats as standard.

First Cymru operate a bus rapid transport route between Singleton Hospital, Swansea University, Swansea City Centre and Morriston Hospital as Swansea Metro. On 28 August 2015 the fleet of Wright StreetCar articulated buses that operated the service were replaced by Wright StreetLite buses and were rebranded to red metro branding.

First Cymru have held the contract for the T1 service between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth since 2014, when Arriva Buses Wales pulled out of Mid Wales. In 2023, First began operating Welsh Government owned Yutong electric vehicles on this service from a bespoke depot in Carmarthen.

First Cymru used to have its own coaching division and operated school services, National Express contracts and interurban services. Special services were also operated to Abergavenny market and Oakwood Theme Park and Tenby in the summer.

First Cymru operated an hourly shuttle service between Cardiff, Bridgend Designer Outlet and Swansea, which was known as the 'Shuttle100'. From 2010 15, this service was part of the Greyhound UK network. Following the demise of Greyhound this service was renumbered X10. The service was suspended during the COVID 19 pandemic and has not since been reinstated, marking the end of First Cymru's coaching operations.

In 2010, the Swansea Cardiff shuttle service became part of the Greyhound UK network and was operated by coaches with leather seats and additional legroom, which could be booked online for the first time. In 2013, the service was extended to Newport, Bristol and Bristol Airport. In March 2015, the Cardiff to Bristol Airport leg of the route was withdrawn and in December 2015 the Greyhound UK brand was dropped. This was the last Greyhound service to operate in the UK. National Express launched its 216 service between Cardiff and Bristol Airport immediately after the withdrawal of the Greyhound service.

As of April 2024, the First Cymru fleet consisted of 208 buses based from depots in Bridgend, Haverfordwest, Port Talbot, Tycroes, Carmarthen and Swansea. Depots were previously located in Llanelli, Pontardawe, Maesteg and Cardiff.