Arriva's Cymru "Coachliner" Takes to the Road

The North Wales coast has always been postcard pretty but frustratingly tricky to get along when summer traffic does its slow shuffle on the A55. Arriva Buses Wales thinks it has found a remedy.

Arriva Buses Wales

From the 22nd of June to the 25th of August, the operator is rolling out an hourly express coach called the Cymru Coastliner CC12 linking Rhyl and Llandudno in just under an hour. There will be no sand in your footwell, no stress over parking and certainly no need for that forgettable playlist you put together for the drive.

What exactly is the CC12

Picture an intercity-style coach but doing the job of a local bus. Three Mercedes-Benz Tourismo vehicles recently liberated from Arriva’s Greenline route between Luton Airport and London have made the journey to Rhyl. They keep their business class spec, so passengers get air con reclining seats and luggage racks that can cope with a fortnight of beach paraphernalia.

For anyone wondering why the vehicle choice matters, a coach has better ride quality than a double-deck bus, yet still offers a luggage hold and more comfortable seating. On express work, they also tend to sip less diesel, which does the operator’s fuel bill and the planet a small favour.

Route in a nutshell

Starting outside Rhyl railway station, the CC12 scoots through Kinmel Bay, Towyn, Abergele, Colwyn Bay and Rhos on Sea before swinging into Llandudno’s imposing promenade. It is the same geography served by Arriva’s bread and butter service 12, which runs every twelve minutes. The coach, however, skips the more fiddly bits and uses longer dwell times at major stops, so end-to-end is quicker by about twenty minutes.

Tom Harrison (Bus Ambassador)

There is an unspoken plan here. By giving tourists and day trippers a premium ride, Arriva frees up capacity on service 12 for local shoppers and commuters who may be less keen on a slightly higher fare. Spread the load, keep everyone happy.

Timetable and leg room

Buses and coaches have a reputation for getting caught up in their own complexity, so Arriva has gone for simplicity. One journey an hour, seven days a week, first trip out of Rhyl at 08:00, last out of Llandudno at 19:00. Turn up at roughly the same minute past the hour and you will not go far wrong.

For those clutching the timetable and looking puzzled, a quick primer. Coach running times are shown in minutes past the hour with an x in front. So 10x means 10 minutes past every hour. Industry types call that a clock face pattern. Passengers call it easy to remember.

Here's the CC12 Cymru Coastliner timetable for those wondering.

Tickets please

Here is where things get a tad intricate. Standard multi-journey Arriva day tickets and the regional 1Bws rover are not valid, although drivers will sell a £1 adult top-up single if you already hold a multi-journey ticket. Children pay a 70p top-up, and a family can travel for £2 top-up each way.

Arriva Buses Wales

For those who don't already hold an Arriva multi-journey ticket, a separate £8 adult day ticket is on sale, aimed at visitors hopping on and off all day. Welsh concessionary passes ride free, while English and Scottish passes attract the child fare. The arrangement avoids the need to retrofit tap-on tap-off readers that would not earn their keep on a two-month niche route.

For the industry, the interesting bit is the opt-in nature. Arriva has chosen not to embrace the 1Bws multi-operator framework, which covers 27 operators and 200 across North Wales. That decision will raise eyebrows among integration evangelists, but remember the coach is seasonal and positioned as a visitor product. A closed ticketing loop means the revenue analysts can see every penny and make a quick call on viability for next year.

Why bother?

Arriva’s Head of Commercial, Adam Marshall, says the coach will provide a genuine alternative to the car and support sustainable travel choices in North Wales. Cynics might say he would say that, but there is logic in the claim. Conwy County Council has to cope with summer queues that rival a supermarket on Christmas Eve, and parking in Llandudno gets pricklier each season. Moving even a modest chunk of tourists from steering wheels to coach seats eases local air quality and helps the seaside towns hit their decarbonisation targets without breaking the bank.

Adam Marshall, head of commercial for Arriva Cymru, said:

“This is a fantastic addition to our network for the summer, connecting communities and attractions across the North Wales coast.

“We’re really proud of what we’ve created for our customers with the Cymru Coastliner and we’re looking forward to welcoming them on board.

“It’s just one example of how we’re looking to grow the network – offering people a genuine alternative to the car, which will help ease congestion and support sustainable travel choices in North Wales.

“We’ve done all we can to make it as easy as possible for our customers to choose public transport, whether they’re planning a beach day, organising a family trip or visiting some great seaside towns.”

The Welsh Government is on board too. Cabinet Secretary for Transport Ken Skates offered the customary supportive quote, but the interesting policy backdrop is the Bus Reform White Paper published in March that leans heavily toward franchising and mass ticket integration. Pilot projects that test demand-responsive patterns and branding get noticed in Cardiff Bay.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates, said:

“It’s great to see this new service running along this popular route during the summer months. It is sure to benefit both residents and visitors alike.”

A name with a backstory

Transport historians may experience déjà vu. The Cymru Coastliner badge first appeared in the nineteen sixties on a Crosville express between Chester and Caernarfon and has popped up periodically ever since. 

Bob J B

Dusting it off for twenty twenty five is a nod to heritage, but also a wink to those who enjoy a bit of retro chic. Expect the marketing team to sprinkle old photographs on social media faster than you can say Beeching.

Competing quietly with the private car

The coach does the 20-mile run in fifty-five minutes. In school holiday traffic, a private car will struggle to beat that, once you factor in the hunt for a parking space and the walk back to the pier. Throw in two quid for a family of four and the value proposition starts to look cheekily strong. Factor in rising parking charges, and the CC12 almost becomes a public service for drivers who would rather not spend thirty minutes thermometer watching the golden retriever.

What could possibly go wrong?

Seasonal routes live and die by load factors. A couple of wet weeks and the trial could look queasy. Arriva will be watching the numbers the way an air traffic controller watches blips. If the Coastliner shifts decent volumes, you can bet the idea will pop up elsewhere in the network, maybe with electric coaches once the charging kit is less eye-wateringly priced. If it tanks, it may join the long list of seaside experiments recalled by enthusiasts and nobody else.

Then there’s the ticketing, which might cause a few raised eyebrows. It’s no doubt a welcome boost for summer travel, offering comfort and speed, but notably, standard multi-journey tickets like 1Bws and Arriva Wales Day, Weekly and 4-Weekly tickets won’t be accepted. For a route slicing through a multi-operator area, that raises questions about integration. Passengers used to seamless travel may find the need to carry a separate ticket for the Coastliner a bit of a faff. It’s an understandable trade-off given the seasonal and visitor-focused nature of the route, but it’s a reminder that ticketing complexity can be the thorn in the side of even the best-laid plans.

The bigger picture

Coach on bus work blurs regulatory lines. These are public service vehicles under the same licensing regime, but the passenger expectation is closer to rail. A reserved seat and a guaranteed journey time will be discussed at the Confederation of Passenger Transport summer conference, where operators swap notes on premiumisation.

Meanwhile, Transport for Wales is chewing over an express Bangor to Carmarthen coach that would lop ninety minutes off today’s options. The Coastliner, therefore, offers a handy real-world testbed for pricing and dwell time assumptions.

Takeaway for operators

If you run buses rather than read about them, here are the questions. Can you redeploy existing coaches to create pop-up routes without annihilating reliability elsewhere? Will passengers pay a bit extra for air conditioning and luggage space even on trips of under an hour? How do you brand a seasonal service so that it does not cannibalise the core route 12, yet still pulls its own weight?

Arriva has answered yes to all three and put money on the table. By late August, we will know whether the gamble paid off or whether the coaches are bound back to the Home Counties with only seagull footprints as a souvenir.

Final thought

There are few certainties in life beyond death, tax, and at least one day of drizzle during the Welsh summer. The Cymru Coastliner cannot fix the first two, but it might keep your shoes dry while the heavens open. For a quid as an add-on to an existing ticket or £8 for a Cymru Coastliner day ticket, that feels like a bargain.