Stagecoach have announced changes to a number of services, taking effect from Sunday 16th April. They have published a summary of these changes, but this omits what could be important information, depending on your use of these services.
Citi 5. The timetable amendments are more significant than Stagecoach’s announcement might suggest. From 17th April Monday-Saturday services will commence earlier than at present – from Longstanton they will start up at 0510, and from Cambridge at 0615. Saturday evening services, which were withdrawn last October, have been reinstated. The last bus to Longstanton, Monday-Saturday, will leave at 2250, which is a significant improvement on the current time of 2210, although from Longstanton the last bus, excluding Sundays, will be at 2155, slightly earlier than at present. Times have changed throughout the day, Monday to Saturday. Unfortunately, the new daytime departure times from Cambridge – at 20 and 50 mins past the hour – means the Citi 5 mostly duplicates the Citi 6 between Emmanuel St and Girton Corner, as the latter already leaves at XX20 and (peak hours only) XX50. Sunday services are unchanged. The revised timetable mostly offers poor connectivity with the Citi 5 at Longstanton Park & Ride.
Citi 7, 9, 13 and 904: Minor timetable changes are being made (resulting, in most cases, in extended journey times overall). The additional 1815 departure on service 13 to Haverhill and Little Wratting referred to in the Stagecoach announcement operates only Monday-Friday. All departures from Peterborough on service 904 will operate 5 minutes later than at present.
Busway A: There are a number of potentially significant changes in addition to those outlined by Stagecoach. Overall journey times from St Ives are generally extended by 13 minutes (but there’s no change to journeys from Trumpington). Services from St Ives will now start at 0441 (Monday-Saturday). However, evening services will be operating to a revised pattern, one consequence of which is that the last bus to St Ives will be at 2300 (2200 Sundays), some 25 minutes earlier than at present. The last bus into Cambridge will leave St Ives at 2101 (2001 Sundays), which is a full 49 minutes earlier than on the current timetable. The afternoon Trumpington-Biomedical Campus peak-hour “shuttle” has been withdrawn, presumably to allow the operation of the increased frequency along the whole route that Stagecoach mention in their announcement.
Busway B: Overall journey times are generally extended by 12 or 13 minutes in both directions. As with service A, last buses will be departing earlier. On southbound journeys the last bus departs almost an hour earlier than at present, leaving Hinchingbrooke at 2055 (1955 on Sundays) rather than at 2151 (2051 on Sundays). The last bus from Cambridge will be 20 minutes earlier than is currently the case – at 2305 (2205 on Sundays). As the Stagecoach announcement makes clear, there are additional daytime services on Sundays between St Ives Bus Station and Drummer St.
Busway C: This is reduced from 4 services a day (Monday-Friday) to the 2 mentioned by Stagecoach. And no longer serves the Railway Station.
New timetables are available from the Stagecoach website. (except for the Busway, for which a revised version is expected after Easter).
Cambridge Area Bus Users 