Barry Festival of Transport with open bus rides returns

The popular festival returned to Barry Island and surrounding areas – after being put on hold since 2019 – on Sunday, June 12.

Organised by heritage bus volunteers at the Cardiff Transport Preservation Group (CTPG) the day saw more than 300 classic and performance cars and vehicles on Barry Island.

People visiting the festival also enjoyed free trips on open top buses including an 85-seater bendy-bus, and a battery electric bus operated by Cardiff Bus.

Chairman of the heritage bus group at The Bus Depot in Barry, Mike Taylor, said:

“Visitor numbers seemed to be greater than we remembered from events prior to the pandemic.

“There was strong evidence of families – often with several generations – visiting together.

“Our free open top bus trips saw most timings operate with duplicates as four buses were used, showing it was very popular.”

The festival had support from:

• Cardiff Bus;
• Newport Bus;
• Stagecoach South Wales.

And on the heritage bus side of things the festival had support from:

• Swansea;
• The Midlands;
• Bristol;
• Swindon;
• Essex.

Mr Taylor added that he was grateful to volunteers, attendees, and the Vale of Glamorgan Council for making the day possible.

He continued: “I am also pleased that this year we saw many visitors to our restoration base, seeing what we do and viewing the progress on renovation work on two former Cardiff electric trolleybuses.”

“We are always looking for new members for restoration projects and to help run these events, anyone interested can contact us via our website or request a membership form by e-mailing info@ctpg.co.uk.”

Ahead of this year’s festival the heritage bus group restored a 27-year-old 1995 Cardiff Dennis Dart, one of the last buses with a step entrance new to the city fleet.

This bus operated the park and ride shuttle all day, while a 40-year-old 1982 Volvo Ailsa Cardiff “pick an orange” double decker was in operation again after mechanical modifications.