Stagecoach are making changes to the majority of its Cambridge area services with effect from next Sunday, 4th June. Most of these changes are designed to address punctuality issues arising from congestion around the city, resulting in longer journey times.
A summary of changes for each affected route is available from the Stagecoach website. And all of the revised timetables are available here.
Citi 1: Peak hour frequency is reduced to 5 services per hour. This means that Fulbourn departures will operate every 24 minutes – more buses than at present, but perhaps less easy to remember their departure times.
Citi 2: In addition to punctuality changes there are a few additional trips between Milton Tesco and Cambridge North operating every evening.
Citi 3: In addition to punctuality changes the Sunday evening journeys to Waterbeach are being withdrawn. (You’d be forgiven for not knowing there were any late-evening Sunday services to Fen Ditton, Horningsea and Waterbeach as they didn’t feature in the October 2022 published timetable.)
Citi 4: One additional Monday-Friday service has been added to the timetable, operating between Cambourne and CRC, via the northern bypass, then onwards to Drummer Street. It will carry the service number 4A.
Citi 6: All Monday-Saturday services will operate 5 minutes later than at present. Sunday services remain unchanged.
Citi 8: In addition to punctuality changes, Rampton will be served by one bus per day Monday-Friday (going into Cambridge in the morning, and home again in the late afternoon).
13: The route around Haverhill will be changing and The Fox no longer served.
X13: An additional Monday-Friday service will operate on this route from Addenbrooke’s at 06.15.
16A: The afternoon departure will leave from Emmanuel Street rather than Drummer Street, and on weekdays will operate 2 minutes later throughout.
131: The route around Haverhill will be changing and The Fox no longer served.
905: In addition to punctuality changes, Saturday morning services will operate only hourly from Cambridge until 11.15 (until 10.05 from St Neots into Cambridge).
PR2 (Newmarket Road Park & Ride): One additional departure from the city centre will operate at 18.00, Monday-Saturday.
PR3 (Trumpington Park & Ride): Changes to address punctuality and congestion issues (omitted from the Stagecoach summary).
PR4 (Babraham Road Park & Ride): Changes to address punctuality and congestion issues.
And three new services are being introduced:
Citi 8A: This new Monday-Saturday service follows the route of the 8 from Drummer Street to the Kings Hedges Road junction, and then continues into Orchard Park. It will operate half-hourly until early evening. There have been reports of a number of Busway A services in the area showing “Bus Full”, and this new service will provide additional capacity.
F: This is a new early-morning service operating a handful of trips from Fenstanton to St Ives (and only in that direction), Monday-Saturday.
X9: Two Monday-Saturday trips are offered in each direction between Cambridge North and Littleport, but bypassing Ely. Northbound it operates early morning, southbound mid-evening. (Do NOT confuse this with an earlier version of the X9 that Stagecoach used to operate, and which did serve Ely!)
Cambridge Area Bus Users 
Still no plans for 905 bus to go via the Science park? A journey(From St. Neots to Scence park) that took me 43 minutes prior to last November now takes up to one and half hours as I have to take two buses costing four pounds. Any improvements to this service on the horizon?
LikeLike
Sooner the better
LikeLike
Service 18 cannot be ‘given back’ to Stagecoach as it was never taken away from the company. It was previously operated commercially by Stagecoach, under 1980s legislation. The operator decided to withdraw the route, ending in October 2022. They registered this withdrawal, within the statutory notice period, with the East Area Traffic Commissioner. They needed no-one’s permission to do this.
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority then asked for tenders to run route 18 as a subsidised service. Whippet are (currently) the contractor, having submitted the winning tender. When tenders are up for renewal, they may not be the winning bidder.
LikeLike
I think the 18 should be given back to stagecoach now they were so much more reliable
LikeLike