Case study · Transport for Wales

Live WiFi and tracking on the TaithCymru coaches

Transport for Wales' TaithCymru coaches run between Bangor and Carmarthen, through Eryri and along the Cardigan Bay coast. Dragon WiFi provides the free onboard WiFi, logs every journey, and runs the live portal that shows where each coach is and how its connection is doing.

See the live coach portal About TaithCymru on tfw.wales
A black TaithCymru coach in front of the mountains of Eryri, with the route's stops from Bangor to Carmarthen along its side
A TaithCymru coach in Eryri. Every coach on the route carries our Starlink and 5G WiFi.

The route

TaithCymru connects North and South West Wales directly, with journeys up to 60 minutes quicker than other public transport. It's operated by Edwards Coaches working with Llew Jones, and Transport for Wales lists free WiFi among its onboard features.

  • 9return journeys every day
  • Bangor – Carmarthenwith a late-night run to Holyhead
  • Starlink + 5Gon every coach
  • Livetracking and route logging

“Even out here in the Welsh countryside it stayed fast and quick.” Travelly Man, on the TaithCymru WiFi

The challenge

The route crosses some of the most rural country in Wales: the mountains of Eryri, the Dyfi valley and the coast road through Ceredigion. Mobile signal comes and goes, and a WiFi system that relies on one network drops out exactly where passengers have nothing else to do.

Transport for Wales also needed to see the service, not just run it: where each coach is, whether it's on time, what's happening on the roads ahead, and whether the WiFi is actually working.

Stops on the route

  1. Holyhead railway station and Port (one late-night journey)
  2. Bangor railway station
  3. Caernarfon
  4. Porthmadog
  5. Dolgellau
  6. Machynlleth
  7. Aberystwyth University and bus station
  8. Aberaeron
  9. Carmarthen railway station

Route from Transport for Wales.

What we built

Satellite and 5G on every coach

Each coach combines Starlink satellite with 5G standalone and 4G mobile. When trees, cuttings or a mobile not-spot block one link, the other carries the connection, so passengers stay online between towns.

One network for the whole coach

The same connection can carry the coach's own equipment as well as passenger WiFi: ticket machines, CCTV, destination displays such as Hanover signs, and other onboard systems, all managed and monitored together.

Route logging

Every journey is logged: where each coach went, when, and how well each connection performed along the way. That shows exactly where coverage is weak and gives Transport for Wales a record of the service.

A live tracking portal

The fleet portal maps every coach live, with its next stops and arrival times, whether it's running early or late, roadworks and closures ahead, satellite and mobile signal, and how many passengers are online.

Open the live portal

See it on board

Travel YouTuber Travelly Man rode the whole route, five hours from north to south, on one of the new TaithCymru coaches. Here's what he said about the WiFi:

“It was excellent, it was quick, pages loaded almost instantly, and even out here in the Welsh countryside it stayed fast and quick. For a five-hour journey it makes a big difference.”
“The WiFi worked really well throughout the journey and I was impressed by that, to be fair.”Travelly Man, 5 Hours North To South On Wales' Brand New Coach Service

Built on StarBws

TaithCymru builds on Project StarBws, our work with Peplink and WaveMobile that delivered the UK's first Starlink-powered bus. The same bonded satellite-and-mobile approach goes into SARcom, our secure, portable connectivity for remote sites, field teams and anyone who can't rely on one network.

See all our work for operators on our transport connectivity page.

And on fflecsi

We also provide connectivity for Transport for Wales' fflecsi buses. fflecsi has no fixed timetable: passengers book a pickup in the app or by phone, and each bus is routed live around the bookings, so it has to stay connected wherever it goes.

It's the same problem as TaithCymru on a smaller vehicle: rural roads, patchy signal, and a service that stops working when the connection does.

A Dragon WiFi engineer's van parked next to a red and silver fflecsi minibus at a bus depot
Our engineers at the depot with a fflecsi bus.

Run a fleet? Let's talk.

Bus, coach, rail replacement or a fleet of service vans: we can put reliable WiFi and live tracking on it, wherever it travels.

Call us on:
Wales - 01437 76 33 33
South West - 01579 68 60 01
hello@dragonwifi.co.uk

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