Parking at Cardiff Central

[WoodHillsian]

I need to catch an early train from Cardiff this Friday (11 August 2023) so I want to park at the station - I was concerned that the car park might be closed in preparation for the next day's Rugby International, so I checked the GWR website and saw this:

"Car parking at Cardiff Central update

There is no parking available to the public at the Riverside car park (Wood Street) to allow for operational staff car parking only. However, the public will still be able to drop off / pick up customers and accessible parking bays will also still be available.
The Central Quay development on the old Brains Brewery site behind the station has started. A section of the Penarth Road car park ( 55 parking spaces) is in the process of being removed to facilitate the works ."

Is there a chance of parking the car there this Friday, or would I be better off heading for a City Centre car park instead?

 

[CardiffKid]

Can’t guarantee but you should be fine at the back(south) car park, a bit of which is closed due to the development at the old Brains site, but I’ve not seen it full for ages.

 

[Envoy]

You live in the south Wales valleys - so why don’t you just use a local train to get to Cardiff Central? (That’s the whole reason for ’The Metro’ - to stop people driving into congested central Cardiff).

As an alternative, why not drive down to Radyr station - which has plenty of free parking and then catch a train to Central? The trains from Radyr are every few minutes with the ones on the City Line being less busy but at lower frequency. (City Lane trains back to Radyr usually depart Central P8 whilst the others go from P6).

Obviously check first for any line closures. Note that it is usually cheaper to pay for the local hop separately from the mainline journey.

 

[WoodHillsian]

You live in the south Wales valleys - so why don’t you just use a local train to get to Cardiff Central? (That’s the whole reason for ’The Metro’ - to stop people driving into congested central Cardiff).

As an alternative, why not drive down to Radyr station - which has plenty of free parking and then catch a train to Central? The trains from Radyr are every few minutes with the ones on the City Line being less busy but at lower frequency. (City Lane trains back to Radyr usually depart Central P8 whilst the others go from P6).

Obviously check first for any line closures. Note that it is usually cheaper to pay for the local hop separately from the mainline journey.

I would prefer to go by train all the way - however if I need to be in London by 9 am the journey planner suggests that I get the 23;21 from Abercynon the night before.

No buses to my village before 8 am and after 6pm either, so I have to drive to a station - with all the work going on for the Metro and the late cancellations and replacement buses, if I have an early business meeting in London, driving to Cardiff is the simplest way for me. But thanks for the Radyr suggestion - I'll give that a try.

I've even tried driving to Bristol Parkway a couple of times, but that risks the M4 tunnels.

 

[Envoy]

I would prefer to go by train all the way - however if I need to be in London by 9 am the journey planner suggests that I get the 23;21 from Abercynon the night before.

No buses to my village before 8 am and after 6pm either, so I have to drive to a station - with all the work going on for the Metro and the late cancellations and replacement buses, if I have an early business meeting in London, driving to Cardiff is the simplest way for me. But thanks for the Radyr suggestion - I'll give that a try.

I've even tried driving to Bristol Parkway a couple of times, but that risks the M4 tunnels.

Ah - I see your problem. Maybe the Radyr solution will help?

It might be useful to do a test drive on a day when you don’t have to go to London and try to get from Abercynon to Newport via the cross valley route and check out the parking? That saves the 15 minutes it takes to get from Cardiff to Newport by train in anycase as well as the time it takes to drive to Cardiff city centre - though I don’t think the cross valley drive will be swift.