Traveline Cymru

What Traveline Cymru does

Traveline Cymru is a publicly funded, not-for-profit public transport information service for Wales, operating as part of Transport for Wales (Trafnidiaeth Cymru) under funding from the Welsh Government (Llywodraeth Cymru). Its core function is to provide impartial, aggregated journey-planning and timetable information covering all bus and train operators across Wales, plus walking, cycling, and limited cross-border services into England. The platform is built around a journey-planning engine that ingests operator timetable and real-time disruption data and exposes it through a multilingual (Welsh/English) website, iOS and Android mobile apps, an SMS short-code service (84268), a mobile-web product (nextbuses.mobi), and a freephone bilingual contact centre (0800 464 0000) staffed from Penrhyndeudraeth. The service is free to all private users at point of use and charges nothing for third-party data access requests.

The product surface includes core modules — Journey Planner, Timetables, Travel Map (incorporating bus stops, train stations, park & ride, and Nextbike stations), and Disruptions — augmented by a registered-user 'My Account' feature for saved favourites and personalised disruption alerts. Two vertical sub-portals (myunijourney.traveline.cymru covering 14 Welsh universities and myhealthjourney.traveline.cymru covering 60+ hospitals across all major Welsh health boards) extend the platform into specific use cases. The technology stack is built on standard third-party integrations for analytics, email delivery, video, and account preference storage, with no disclosed proprietary AI/ML components.

The business model is fully grant-funded through the Welsh Government via Transport for Wales; there is no commercial pricing, no advertising revenue, and no paid tiers. The go-to-market is entirely self-serve and digital-first, supplemented by the freephone contact centre and niche sub-sites. End users include the general Welsh public, university students, hospital patients and visitors, concessionary pass holders, commuters, and tourists; the only institutional counterparty is the Welsh Government as sole funder.

Name

Traveline Cymru

Legal name

Traveline Cymru

Website

https://traveline.cymru

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Traveline Cymru is the Welsh Government-funded, publicly operated public transport information service for Wales, providing free, bilingual journey planning across all bus and train operators via web, mobile app, SMS, and a Penrhyndeudraeth-based contact centre, now integrated into Transport for Wales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Transport Information Services

SIC

Local & Suburban Transit & Interurban Hwy Passenger Trans (4100), Transportation Services (4700)

akta.pro primary industry

Multimodal Trip Planning, Routing & Journey Orchestration Platforms (THADALAA)

Keywords

• Public transport information
• Journey planning services
• Bus and train timetables
• Real-time disruption alerts
• Bilingual travel info

Headquarters

HQ city

Cardiff

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Welsh Government Funding: Traveline Cymru is a public transport information service funded by the Welsh Government (Llywodraeth Cymru). The service is provided free of charge to private users. Revenue is not generated commercially; the organisation operates as a publicly funded body.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Traveline Cymru provides impartial public transport information covering buses, trains, walking, cycling and flights across Wales, aggregating timetable and real-time disruption data from all operators into a single integrated journey planning platform. The service is delivered free of charge to users via a website, bilingual mobile app, SMS service, mobile web and a freephone contact centre, with dedicated sub-sites for university students and hospital patients. It operates as part of Transport for Wales and is funded by the Welsh Government.

Product overview

Traveline Cymru is a comprehensive public transport information service for Wales, operated as part of Transport for Wales and funded by the Welsh Government. The core offering consists of a journey planning platform combining multiple integrated services: the Journey Planner (for route planning across bus, train, walk, cycle and flight modes), Timetables (searchable service schedules), Travel Map (interactive display of transport infrastructure including bus stops, train stations, park and ride, and Nextbike stations), and Disruptions (real-time service alerts). These are accessible through the main website at traveline.cymru, a bilingual iPhone/Android mobile app, the Traveline.txt SMS service (texting bus stop codes to 84268), and the NextBuses mobile web service. Registered users can personalise their experience through My Account to save favourite journeys and receive tailored disruption notifications. The service also operates a bi-lingual contact centre (0800 464 0000) and maintains dedicated niche portals for university students and hospital visitors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• My Uni Journey (myndibobmanfelmyfyriwr.traveline.cymru): A dedicated portal for university students to find public transport information for their area, helping them plan journeys, locate bus stops, and access transport news.
• My Health Journey (myhealthjourney.traveline.cymru / fynhaithiechyd.traveline.cymru)

Products and services

• Journey Planner Interactive online tool allowing users to plan public transport journeys across Wales by entering start/end points, date, time, and preferences including transport modes (bus, train, walk, cycle, flight) and walking speed. Available to all members of the public free of charge.
• Timetables Searchable database of bus and train timetables by service number, with PDF download capability and integrated real-time disruption information, covering all operators across Wales.
• Travel Map Interactive map displaying bus stops, train stations, park and ride sites, and Nextbike stations across searched locations in Wales, enabling visual exploration of transport infrastructure.
• Disruptions Service Real-time and planned disruption information for bus and train services across Wales, searchable by service number, operator, and date. Used to alert passengers to service changes, planned engineering works and last-minute cancellations.
• Traveline Cymru Mobile App Free bilingual mobile application for iPhone and Android devices allowing journey planning, bus stop location via map, timetable search, disruption viewing, favourite stop saving, and access to the Traveline Cymru Twitter feed.
• Traveline.txt SMS Service SMS service where users send a 7-character bus stop code to 84268 and receive up to three next bus arrival times, service numbers and destinations within 30 seconds. Free within Wales; £0.25 for stops outside Wales.
• NextBuses Mobile Web Mobile-optimised web service at nextbuses.mobi for finding bus times by stop name, postcode, street name, or using a location-aware nearby stops feature on mobile devices.
• University Travel Portal Dedicated portal for university students providing public transport information for 14 Welsh universities, including journey planning, bus stop location, timetables, disruptions and student-relevant travel news.
• Hospital Travel Portal Dedicated travel information portal helping patients and visitors plan public transport journeys to 60+ hospitals and healthcare facilities across all major Welsh health boards.
• Traveline Cymru Contact Centre Bilingual (Welsh/English) freephone contact centre (0800 464 0000) staffed by agents in Penrhyndeudraeth, North Wales, open 7am-8pm daily, providing journey planning assistance and public transport enquiries.

Quantifiable outcome

• Covers all local bus services across Wales plus all major train operators (Transport for Wales, Great Western Railway, CrossCountry Trains)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Transport for Wales (TfW)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTraveline Cymru is now part of Transport for Wales, fully integrating into TfW's broader transformation programme to build a better public transport network in Wales. All Traveline Cymru services continue under the TfW umbrella, with the same knowledge, service, and expertise now benefiting from a more joined-up approach to public transport planning.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Moovit: Global public-transit journey planning app serving 3,500+ cities with real-time data, disruption alerts, and multimodal routing. Direct functional peer with broader geographic reach and commercial business model including Mobility-as-a-Service partnerships with transit authorities.
• National Rail Enquiries: UK-wide rail journey planning service providing timetable, fare, and disruption information across all rail operators. Directly comparable journey planning functionality for the rail subset that Traveline Cymru also covers.
• Transit App: Multi-city public transit journey planning app with real-time arrivals, trip planning, and multimodal options. Closest commercial peer in feature set, focused on consumer transit users in North America and select European cities.
• Citymapper: Commercial multimodal journey planning app combining bus, rail, tube, walking, cycling, and ride-hail with real-time disruptions. Comparable core functionality to Traveline Cymru's journey planner but as a private, venture-backed global app competing for the same end users.
• Traveline Scotland: Scottish equivalent of Traveline Cymru providing journey planning across bus, rail, and other modes in Scotland. Operates the same Traveline brand, model, and technology approach across a different UK devolved nation.
• Traveline (England): The sister Traveline service for England providing identical multimodal journey planning across bus, rail, and other modes. Operates the same Traveline brand and data-sharing model across a much larger geographic footprint, making it the most directly comparable peer.

Emerging players

• Rome2Rio: Global multimodal journey planning platform covering bus, rail, ferry, flight, and driving across 160+ countries including the UK. Comparable in multimodal breadth but commercially positioned for international and door-to-door travel use cases.

Others

• Bus Open Data Service (BODS): UK Department for Transport service providing open access to bus timetable, location, and fares data across England. Indirect peer / data-source relationship as the upstream data infrastructure that powers commercial and public-sector journey planners including potential Traveline inputs.

Broad incumbents

• Transport for London (TfL) Journey Planner: Provides a unified journey planning, timetable, and disruption service across London's bus, Tube, rail, and river network. Directly comparable multimodal journey planning product, but operated as part of a much larger integrated transport authority rather than a devolved information-only service.
• Google Maps: Default smartphone journey planning surface globally with transit routing for bus, rail, and walking across Wales. The principal competitive threat as a broad incumbent with vastly superior funding, data, and user acquisition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/travelinecymru
• Facebookfacebook.com/TravelineCymru

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Traveline Cymru