Working for bus passengers in and around Cambridge
Author: CBGbusUsers
Cambridge Area Bus Users
• seeks to represent – and campaign on behalf of – bus passengers in and around Cambridge;
• is independent of any political party.
We were disappointed to learn, earlier today, of this service suspension. We are particularly concerned that this is taking place with less than a week’s notice, and wonder how, when, and where intending users of the Milton P&R service will become aware of its withdrawal.
We suspect that most users will become aware only when they arrive at Milton P&R site, and will then drive into the city centre.
Due to government restrictions, we have to limit the number of people who can travel on each bus. Nationally, this has led to a shortage of resources as the lockdown restrictions are eased and more people use the buses to get to work and education. Following discussions between ourselves, the County Council and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, the decision has been made to temporarily suspend the Milton Park & Ride service from Monday 10th May 2021, in order to move the resources onto routes that are seeing a greater demand for services. This temporary suspension of service will allow for extra buses to be provided, initially on Route 13 and other routes that are experiencing capacity issues, where appropriate.
Passengers currently using the Milton Park and Ride service are advised to use Newmarket Road or Madingley Road Park and Ride as an alternative until the limit on passenger numbers is increased and we can resume normal operation.
We apologise for any inconvenience this decision may cause but hope that passengers will understand that the issue is one being experienced on a national scale and each local operation must do everything they can to ensure the resources they have are used to ensure essential local bus services are maintained.
Statement Issued by Stagecoach East‘s Marketing Officer, Tuesday 4th May 2021
The worry is that this will lead to more private vehicles entering Cambridge city centre, on congested roads, delaying bus services, and adding to the problem.
Not the best way to "bus back better" and encourage the public to travel to support local businesses and public transport operators . We have struggled with only 75% of our staff for the last few months and have still managed to operate all our services
— A2B TRAVEL GROUP LTD (@a2btravelgroup) May 4, 2021
Must say we find ourselves in agreement with A2B
And what about Milton residents who use the service on a Sunday, we don't have any other bus serve the village on Sundays!!!!
We have approached the three candidates for mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (the Transport Authority, with responsibility for bus services) for comment. They are:
James Palmer (Conservative) the incumbent mayor, elected in 2017
Whippet have announced that the frequency of their X3 service will be increased to half-hourly on weekdays only with effect from Tuesday 4th May. Route 478 will be replaced by the revised X3, and former X3 services will extend to/from Cambridge on weekdays.
Further information is available on the Whippet website. The revised timetable can be viewed and downloaded here.
Cambridge Area Bus Users have sent a set of questions about bus services to all candidates standing to be mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority
The three candidates, in alphabetical order of party name, are:
James Palmer (Conservative) the incumbent mayor, elected in 2017
Click on any name to visit that candidate’s campaign website.
The list of questions about bus services, has been drawn up with the help of Cambridge Area Bus Users members and drawing on suggestions and complaints, we have received about local bus services.
Click the image above to read/download in full resolution
The questions were emailed to all three candidates on Sunday 25th April 2021. As and when replies are received, the candidates’ responses will be interspersed with the questions. This post is also open for (polite) comments.
Read Labour’s Dr Nik Johnson responses here. We await responses from the other two candidates.
Incumbent: What can you point to as your achievements for bus passengers and how will you build upon these in the next term, if re-elected? Have you encountered unexpected difficulties? How do you plan to overcome these?
Other candidates: What can you point to as the incumbent’s achievements (or failures) for bus passengers and how will you build upon (or rectify) these in the next term, if elected? How do you plan to overcome any difficulties which you think the incumbent has encountered?
Incumbent: You are committed to the construction of the Cambridge Autonomous Metro. How do you plan to integrate this system with bus services and will you deliver bus priority measures for areas not served by the metro? Will you commit to allowing concessionary bus pass holders free travel on the metro?
Other candidates: Do you believe the Cambridge Autonomous Metro or a similar scheme is right for the area? If so, How do you plan to integrate this system with bus services and will you deliver bus priority measures for areas not served by the metro? Do you commit to allowing concessionary bus pass holders free travel on the metro? If you would not proceed with metro plans, What specific plans do you intend to implement to deliver reliable public transport?
All candidates: How will you improve interchange between different modes of public transport? Many areas of Cambridge and surrounding settlements lack direct buses to any rail station. Bus stops at Cambridge (city) station are a long way down a side street. How would you improve this? How will you ensure a better interchange with buses at the planned Cambridge South Station?
All candidates: What are your plans, and timescale, to reform ticketing? Do you agree with Cambridge Area Bus Users on the following?
Cross-operator ticketing ought to be the norm.
The current Multibus ticket is overpriced (other than for long multi-operator journeys), is poorly promoted, and not accepted by all operators.
‘Hopper’ fares should be offered, taking the financial pain out of changing buses.
Zonal ticketing needs reform to remove the steep rise in fare between (eg) Sawston and Stapleford.
Pre-paid tickets should be available at key sites, to speed boarding.
All candidates: As Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority takes on full transport authority responsibilities from Cambridgeshire County Council what arrangements will you ask officers to make to ensure that services on which concessionary bus passes can be used before 9.30am (Monday–Friday) are clearly communicated to residents?
Currently there is a statement on the Combined Authority’s website: “where the only bus serving a settlement departs prior to 9.30am, an exception may be made. Please check with the bus operator or the Combined Authority first.”
How would you improve communication? Or would you consider extending bus pas validity to cover all services, from the start of the day?All candidates: What do you consider the appropriate mix of timetabled bus services -v- demand-responsive transport (DRT)? To what extent should off-peak rural services operate only on demand and if booked ahead? Would you use DRT to improve access to public transport, or as a cost-saving exercise?
All candidates: Buses are frequently delayed by other (excessive) road traffic. how do you propose to ensure that bus services avoid delays and deliver faster, more reliable journeys? How will you reduce the reliance on cars, free road space for buses and speed bus services in the next five years?
All candidates: In the coming post-covid normal, what incentives do you plan for pre-pandemic passengers to return to public transport and encourage those who didn’t previously use public transport to switch? How soon can these be implemented? How will they be funded?
All candidates: There are some very large-scale developments taking shape, around the edges of Cambridge city, but also Alconbury and elsewhere. How will you limit pressure on the road network? How will you ensure an unobstructed bus service (possibly partially segregated) through each development, rather than on the edge?
All candidates: All of you have made statements committing to using the bus franchising powers under the Bus Services Act 2017. What specific steps will you take to meet the June 2021 deadline in the National Bus Strategy, by which Local Transport Authorities must embark on one path or another?
All candidates: Many road works, under the control of the highway authority –Cambridgeshire County Council – (eg Fendon Road roundabout works) have led to serious disruption to our bus services. How can similar disruption be avoided in the future?
All candidates: There have been numerous instances in the rural areas around Cambridge, of bus drivers unexpectedly finding their usual route impassable owing to roadworks. What systems will you commit to putting in place to ensure that operators’ control centres – particularly minor operators running supported services – are alerted to all roadworks, including emergency works, which may affect normal operations? What systems will you commit to putting in place to inform passengers?
All candidates: What should the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s role be in providing access to public transport information, eg lists of services, by both service number and location, authority-wide, all-operator bus maps, Real-Time Passenger Information (RTPI) at stops and on computer/tablet/mobile? Currently RTPI remains the responsibility of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Integrated Highways Management Centre and is plagued with errors. How will you improve this?
Do you agree with Cambridge Area Bus Users on the following?
Current, accurate route and timetable information should be displayed at all stops.
Information about key fares and payment methods should be provided, to avoid queries when passengers board the bus.
Prominent information boards detailing routes, service numbers, stop locations and fares should be installed at key sites (eg Addenbrooke’s, city centre, rail station).
Will you undertake to provide these? On what timescale?
All candidates: Do you agree that many of our bus stops are not fit for purpose?
The following have been noted:
sited on sloping grassy verges
lacking hard-standing
lacking shelter
wheelchair inaccessible
lacking any timetable information
where a Real-Time Passenger Information (RTPI) electronic display is installed, it is too frequently incorrect
having a bus stop flag which shows only one operator’s service when also served by another (eg) supported service
in some cases lacking any bus stop pole-and-flag to indicate this is a stop.
Many of these problems affect rural bus stops, but there are examples in and around new developments, even in Cambridge.
Provision of bus stops, hardstanding, shelters, timetables, and RTPI is split between the County Council, District Councils, Parish Councils and bus operators.
Passengers might reasonably expect the Combined Authority mayor to bring together – ‘combine?’ – all of these disparate bodies to radically improve the state of our bus stops. What specific procedures, if elected/re-elected, will you institute to rectify this situation?
All candidates: Will you undertake a review of ‘floating’ bus stops (cycle-lane bus stop by-passes) to ensure that they are fit for purpose and fully accessible by all passengers with disabilities?
All candidates: Whilst all are agreed buses should become zero CO2 by 2050 at the latest, what actions will you take to ensure that all of our diesel bus fleet has the lowest PM10 PM2.5 and NOx emissions possible?
It is of note that one of our smallest local operators – A2B – has been voluntarily retrofitting its vehicles to Euro VI, whereas the emissions specifications of Cambridgeshire County Council contracted services were that any bus which does not come into Cambridge only has to meet Euro III emissions standards, whilst anything that enters Cambridge only has to meet Euro IV. Improving on that specification could give a ‘quick win’ for air quality.
Will you insist that all operators comply with the very latest Euro VI emissions standards? And on what timescale?
You and your organisation, Cambridgeshire Area Bus Users, absolutely deserve a response, if not for the work you already do but also because I see you as an important part of the collaborative process that a Combined Authority of Greater Cambridgeshire, with myself as the Mayor, would be working towards as a part of a fully franchised BUS network taken back into control in the same way that Andy Burnam has proposed and succeeded in Great Manchester and in the way Transport for London succeeds in our capital.
Throughout my campaign, when asked, I have always highlighted taking responsibility for the Bus network in our county as my number one transport priority with expected benefits of properly coordinated frequent services in rural areas and metropolitan areas, with innovative pricing strategies, using digital technology and green, no or low carbon modern technology in a new bus fleet.
I am not supporting the CAM metro proposals.
In summary, I believe much of what you have asked questions about and the concerns you have raised are shared by myself as a Mayoral candidate.
I am committed to see the BUS network in Greater Cambridgeshire getting the investment and the attention that it has been missing over decades.
In all of my campaigning literature, I have always highlighted the core values of the 3 Cs of compassion, co-operation and community at the heart of all policy. This pledge will be just as important in considering how to improve the bus network across our county .
Compassion in the form of listening and recognising the real challenges for those using bus services, no longer adequate for our day to day lives, co-operation by working with users, bus companies county and district councils to design the networks that will work for all in the building of the 3rd C – a real community – connected and more productive.
Thank you for your interest in my campaign and I hope I will get a chance to meet in person and work with you in the future.
There are changes to A2B’s Guilden Morden/Royston service (via Bassingbourn) from Tuesday 6th April. In Royston, the service is rerouted and will now serve Aldi, Tesco and M&S! There are revisions to the timetable as well – most notably, the final departure from Royston is at 17.10, as the 18.15 no longer operates.
This route will now run as service 17.
Timetable and fare information is available from the A2B website.
The rather clunky heading to this post pretty much says it all!
Stagecoach, in collaboration with the Combined Authority, is extended the V2 Busway feeder service to/from March from Monday 1 March. Off-peak (daytime) services are also being added to the service.
The new timetable has four March-St Ives services, plus the early morning Chatteris-St Ives run. In the opposite direction there will be five services to March, plus a 1910 departure from St Ives, terminating at Chatteris.
Disappointingly, this service operates only Monday to Friday. And continues to do so even after the other improvements.
Further information is available on the Stagecoach Busway web page. And the new timetable can be found here.
Changes to services arising from the latest lockdown (commonly referred to as “Lockdown 3”) will be posted here as we become aware of them. This includes the reintroduction of, or revision to services impacted by Lockdown 3.
Final update: 16th June
FROM MONDAY 17th MAY ALL FORWARD-FACING SEATS ON BUSES CAN BE USED (EXCEPT THOSE BEHIND THE DRIVER). Social distancing must still be observed otherwise.
Stagecoach: The Milton Road Park & Ride service is re-introduced from Sunday 20th June.
Stagecoach: The City Sightseeing Tour is due to recommence on Saturday 29th May.
Stagecoach: From Sunday 16th May the Trumpington Road Park & Ride service will see an additional outbound service at 18.00 (Mon-Sat) and a corresponding additional service from Trumpington at 18.20. There are also minor changes to the Citi 4, 13, 18 and 915 services. See the Stagecoach website for more detailed information.
Stagecoach: From Monday 10th May the Milton Road Park & Ride service will be suspended. This is to free up buses for routes on which there is a greater demand (initially on the 13 and some other routes).
Stagecoach: There are a number of changes to services taking effect from 11th April. Most notable is the reintroduction of all of the Park & Ride services – but see above regarding a change from 10th May. But there are many – mostly minor – changes to a variety of services (some of these changes themselves resulting from the reintroduction of P&R routes). Some of these involve route changes. Services affected are: Busway A/B/C, Citi 4, Citi 5, Citi 6, Citi 7, Citi 8, 11, 12, 13/13A/13B/X13, 18, 22, 39, 66, 915.
Stagecoach: On the following Sunday 18th April, Stagecoach are making changes to services 904 and 905.
** For full details of the April 11th and 18th changes see Stagecoach documentation. And timetables can be found here. **
Stagecoach: The reopening of schools means that further changes are being introduced from 7th March. These affect services 16A, 19, 604, 606, 607 and 613.
And below is a summary of changes that were introduced in January:
A revised 905 timetable.
Park & Ride services are suspended (with the exception of the Stetchworth runs). Rural routes will divert to serve Babraham Road, Madingley Road and Newmarket Road sites. Milton Park & Ride will not have any bus services. The Trumpington site continues to be served by other routes (but see below regarding Busway changes).
On the Busway, route C is suspended, and there will changes to the frequency of services on routes A & B.
Other routes: A reduced frequency will operate on the 18 and 66, essentially resulting in a two-hourly service, whilst the 905 will operate only hourly. There are also minor changes to times of the 915 and V5 services. Duplicate school services on route 904 are withdrawn.
For full information and revised timetables go to the Stagecoach website.
Whippet:
From Monday 7th June, the U will revert to a slightly reduced frequency during the morning and evening peak, with buses operating every 15 minutes. The new timetable can be viewed here.
From Monday 12th April, the U will operate with buses every 12 minutes in the morning and evening peak. The new timetable can be found here.
From Monday 8th March, Whippet services X2, X3 and 478 are returning to the timetables and routes operating prior to the 25th January changes. More information can be found on the Whippet website. Or, if you just want the timetables, follow this link.
On the U, a reduced frequency was introduced from Monday 11th January. The announcement can be found here. And here’s the revised timetable. (This operates only until Sunday 11th April.)
From Monday 25th January (but only until Sunday 7th March), there are significant changes to the X2 and X3 service, and the 478 is withdrawn. See the Whippet website for the announcement outlining these changes. And here’s the new X2/X3 timetable.
A2B and other local operators: No changes notified.
Express services: National Express routes serving Cambridge are due to restart on Monday 21 June. Megabus services in this area remain suspended.
Stagecoach have announced changes to services taking effect in January – but on different dates, as the services in question are operated by different parts of the Stagecoach empire!
On 3rd January, there will be changes to Busway services. These involve a number of route C journeys beginning/terminating at Huntingdon rather than St Ives. But this only applies to some route C journeys, so please check the new timetable carefully! This will provide additional capacity during peak travel times. Check the Stagecoach website for further details and to view the new timetable.
On 10th January, a revised timetable will be introduced on the 905 (Cambridge/Bedford via Cambourne and St Neots). This is in an attempt to improve reliability. Follow this link to view the revised timetable.
One consequence of the new timetable is that off-peak daytime journeys from St Neots that, back in mid-March (when the service ran as the X5), were scheduled to take 45 minutes to Cambridge Parkside, are now booked to take 55 minutes on the 905.
The changes planned for 15th November have been postponed!
Stagecoach are revising this summer’s new service 905 (Cambridge-Cambourne-St Neots-Bedford) with effect from Sunday 15th November, principally arising from the need to provide a more reliable service. The changes to departure times are fairly minor on Bedford-bound journeys, but they’re much more substantial on journeys coming into Cambridge. In addition, the first Cambridge-bound service, Monday-Friday – now retimed to 0416 – will no longer serve CRC and the Science Park.
The new timetable results in there being one additional journey a day in both directions compared to the current service.
The new timetable can be viewed and downloaded here.
Stagecoach are making a considerable number of changes to services in Cambridge and the surrounding area from 1st November. Full details (including links to revised timetables) are available on the Stagecoach website, and there’s also a booklet available for downloading.
The Busway changes are essentially being introduced to:
provide more capacity (additional services);
provide additional travel options on the feeder routes;
improve service reliability (retimings).
Service B is being extended to serve the Railway Station and the Biomedical Campus. As a result, this service will usually be operated by single-decker vehicles. An additional double-decker, peak-time service (Monday to Friday) – service C – will be introduced between St Ives Park & Ride and Cambridge City Centre. Some of these journeys will serve the Railway Station and (during college terms) Long Road Sixth Form College.
Service A will start earlier in the morning (every day) and continue to late evening (Mon-Sat) or early evening (Sun), operate to an increased frequency for much of the time, and extend to/from Trumpington Park & Ride on Sundays.
Service B will operate to/from Trumpington Park & Ride, via the Railway Station and Biomedical Campus, start earlier in the morning (every day) and continue to early evening (Sun), operate to an increased frequency for much of the time, and provide additional evening services between Trumpington and St Ives (Mon-Sat). These services will be operated by single-decker vehicles.
Service C is a new service operating only during morning and afternoon peak times (Mon-Fri). All buses will operate between St Ives Park & Ride and Cambridge City Centre, with some journeys running to/from Cambridge Railway Station and a smaller number to/from Long Road Sixth Form College (via Hills Road, not the Busway) during college terms. This service will usually be operated by a double-decker vehicle.
We have received a query about stopping stopping points in Cambridge.
These have been promptly clarified for us by Stagecoach. (See the comments section, below.)
Secretary, Cambridge Area Bus Users
What this means in terms of overall frequency is that there is a bus between St Ives and Trumpington every 10 minutes, Monday to Saturday daytime, and every 15 minutes on Sundays. Peak hour Monday to Friday services are, of course, more frequent than this. Monday to Saturday evening services now run every 20 minutes between Trumpington and St Ives, and every half-hour in the other direction.
Changes to the feeder services include additional journeys on services 915, V1 and V3 and minor timetable changes on the V3 and V5.
It’s impossible to capture all of the changes in a brief blog post, so would-be passengers are encouraged to read the much longer explanation provided by Stagecoach and to consult the new timetables. The relevant links are provided at the top of this post.
Stagecoach are making a considerable number of changes to services in Cambridge and the surrounding area from 1st November. Full details (including links to revised timetables) are available on the Stagecoach website, and there’s also a booklet available for downloading.
The non-Busway changes are essentially being introduced to:
provide more capacity (additional services);
compensate for increasing congestion on the roads (additional services and retimings);
improve service reliability (retimings).
In addition, commuter services withdrawn in late-March are being reintroduced on a couple of routes, and the southbound Citi 1 will relocate to Emmanuel Street stop E1. Brampton passengers should note that the last departure from Huntingdon is being brought forward by 30 minutes and the first morning departure to Huntingdon by 5 minutes (please don’t miss your bus!).
Here’s a full list of services whose timetables will be changing on 1st November:
Cambridge Area Bus Users 