Working for bus passengers in and around Cambridge
Stephensons are making some changes to Cambridge/Newmarket services 11 and 12 from 4th September.
There are route revisions within Newmarket to service 11 with minor changes to the timetable to accommodate the new route.
Service 12 has been amended to help with early morning and evening running times and connections at Newmarket with service 112 (Newmarket/Ely).
Revised timetables are available to download from the Stephensons website.
(Thanks to Suffolk County Council for this information.)
Stagecoach are making another round of changes to services in the Cambridge area, taking effect from Sunday 3rd September. As usual, they have posted a summary of the changes, but that summary doesn’t cover everything.
Citi 2. There are minor timetable changes, but the most significant difference is that services are again able to stop outside Cambridge North station, rather than being exiled to “Bay 3”.
Citi 5. Certain journeys on this service are being extended to/from St Ives, utilising the Busway between Longstanton and St Ives. There will be morning peak-hour departures from St Ives, and both morning and evening departures from Cambridge. These departures operate Monday-Saturday. On Sundays there are six departures in each direction that serve St Ives. Note, though, that services will begin or end at St Ives Park & Ride, and will not be serving the Bus Station. There are changes to the timetable throughout the day, not solely limited to the introduction of through services to/from St Ives.
8A (apparently not branded as a “Citi” service). In addition to timetable changes, this is being extended to/from Buchan Street. The implication of this extension is that outbound journeys will call on the opposite side of the roads through Orchard Park from the current route. Until more detailed timetable information is available, this is uncertain.
25. There are minor timetable changes.
Busway A. Short trips between Trumpington and the Biomedical Campus will operate without a break until 4.00 Monday to Friday. All but one of the Histon Road stops that were added to the timetable in recent years are being withdrawn – in future, the only stops served by service A will be at Akeman Street. (The other Histon Road stops will be served only by the Citi 8 and 8A.) And in St Ives, another reversion to previous practice – services will no longer serve Morrisons but operate to/from Marley Road.
F. Two early evening services are being added from St Ives Bus Station to Fenstanton, operating Monday to Saturday and departing St Ives at 6.25 and 6.40.
Links to the revised timetables are available from the Stagecoach website.
GCP’s contractors will be closing the A1307 between Haverhill and Fourwentways roundabout, from 6am on Saturday 15th July until 6am on Monday 17th July. They have also booked a contingency weekend for 22nd – 24th July for further possible overnight closure, but hope to complete the works in full during the first weekend.
In the evening of Wednesday 12th July Stagecoach East belatedly issued a service update for route 13 over the weekend 15th-17th July.
A PDF giving “full disruption information” is available by clicking on this link.
However, no mention was* made of arrangements for the 04:55 Haverhill Ann Suckling Road departure on on Monday 17th July. This is due at Linton High St 05:44; Abington School 05:53; Addenbrooke’s 06:08 and Cambridge Drummer Street Bus station 06:28.
This journey was* scheduled through the road closure ahead of the road’s scheduled re-opening.
Scroll down to see the update for Monday morning.
(* Tenses altered from ‘is’ to ‘was’ following the latest update from Stagecoach
Given the lack of passenger information, and the proximity of the date for the works, this was raised with GCP Board members Cllr Mike Davey (Cambridge city), Cllr Elisa Meschini (Cambs county) and Cllr Brian Milnes (South Cambridgeshire) Cc: Councillor Anna Smith (Cambridge city, and political lead on transport at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority).
I am concerned about bus service arrangements (route 13) for the A1307 road closure, 15-17 July 2023.
Given the lack of response to my email [to the GCP and Stagecoach, on 22 June 2023 at 12:00] I thought it wise to raise this as a urgent matter at the political level of the Greater Cambridge Partnership Board, with Councillor Anna Smith Cc-ed in her capacity as political lead on transport with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.
I received no reply [to that earlier email] from any recipient. Nor is there any information on the Stagecoach website about what changes there will be to route 13 from 6am on Saturday 15 July until 6am on Monday 17 July.
Cambridge Area Bus Users are now receiving queries about this service.
I would be grateful if this could be urgently investigated and publicity for intending passengers made available.
Secretary, Cambridge Area Bus Users email, Monday, July 10, 2023 16:09
Cambridge Area Bus Users would like to put on record thanks to Cambridge City Councillor Anna Smith, in her capacity as political lead on transport (and Deputy Mayor) at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, and the Combined Authority’s Public Transport Team for their active intervention.
(We don’t know. Do Stagecoach? Do the Greater Cambridge Partnership?)
GCP’s contractors will be closing the A1307 between Haverhill and Fourwentways roundabout, from 6am on Saturday 15 July until 6am on Monday 17 July. They have also booked a contingency weekend for 22 – 24 July for further possible overnight closure, but hope to complete the works in full the previous weekend.
The Linton Greenway works from Hildersham to Dale Head Foods has been substantially completed, and the pathway and road are fully open.
Our original intention was to complete the planned carriageway surfacing by closing the A1307 between Haverhill and Fourwentways roundabout weekdays overnight, and diverting traffic on National Highways roads.
However, we have now been advised that it is only possible to use this diversion at weekends.
Greater Cambridge Partnership email, 21 Jun 2023, at 10:50
Our secretary promptly raised this with the GCP and senior management at Stagecoach East.
I note that there will be a road closure of the A1307 between Haverhill and Fourwentways roundabout (save for local access) from 6am on Saturday 15 July until 6am on Monday 17 July 2023, for re-surfacing.
This will impact upon Stagecoach East’s route 13 Cambridge – Haverhill which operates 7 days/week providing important links to Addenbrooke’s and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Has the Greater Cambridge Partnership, prior to this announcement, liaised with Stagecoach East to agree suitable diversionary routing for this key bus service throughout the resurfacing work?
Secretary, Cambridge Area Bus Users email, 22 June 2023 at 12:00
At the time of posting, we have received no response from Stagecoach nor from the GCP.
Stagecoach’s Service Updates (East) page has no mention of changes to route 13 on these dates.
Given the lack of passenger information, and the proximity of the date for the works, this was raised with GCP Board members Cllr Mike Davey (Cambridge city), Cllr Elisa Meschini (Cambs county) and Cllr Brian Milnes (South Cambridgeshire) Cc: Councillor Anna Smith (Cambridge city, and political lead on transport at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority).
I am concerned about bus service arrangements (route 13) for the A1307 road closure, 15-17 July 2023.
Given the lack of response to my email [to the GCP and Stagecoach] I thought it wise to raise this as a urgent matter at the political level of the Greater Cambridge Partnership Board, with Councillor Anna Smith Cc-ed in her capacity as political lead on transport with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.
I received no reply [to that earlier email] from any recipient. Nor is there any information on the Stagecoach website about what changes there will be to route 13 from 6am on Saturday 15 July until 6am on Monday 17 July.
Cambridge Area Bus Users are now receiving queries about this service.
I would be grateful if this could be urgently investigated and publicity for intending passengers made available.
Secretary, Cambridge Area Bus Users email, Monday, July 10, 2023 16:09
A brief, but prompt and helpful, response was forthcoming from Cllr Anna Smith…
Thanks,
I’ve forwarded this to officers and ask that we leverage this with Stagecoach.
Anna
Cllr Anna Smith (Cambridge City – Coleridge) email, 10 Jul 2023, at 16:40,
Cambridge Area Bus Users would like to help intending passengers with a service update.
However, we are awaiting information.
Myall’s, the current operator on service 8 (Cambridge-Coton-Madingley-Dry Drayton-Bar Hill and villages to Papworth) are giving up the route at the end of this week. The good news is that there is already a new operator in place and ready to take over – that’s A2B, who run a number of other (mostly rural) services. They will be starting on Monday 26th June and will operate to the existing timetable. But passengers need to be aware that different buses will on the route. And a different team of drivers, of course.
For those who don’t already know, the Anglia & Thames Valley Bus Forum has been, and continues to be, a useful source of information about changes to bus services, praise and (more often) complaints about services, new vehicles coming to the area, and more.
Members of the Forum range through enthusiasts, drivers, ex-drivers and other bus staff, through to senior bus professionals (some members in more than one category).
Until now the running costs of the site (and parallel sites in other areas of the UK) have been met by one founder member of the Forum, Suzy Scott. This is, however, no longer sustainable. If you are in a position to help, please consider donating through her Ko-fi funding link.
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!)
A2B are now providing a Saturday service on the St Ives/Bar Hill route, the first time such a service has operated for many years. (The same operator already runs the weekday equivalent.) There are six trips in each direction running to an hourly frequency (with a break for the driver’s lunch).
Unlike the weekday service on this route this one operates as V4 (A2B were already operating the Saturday V4 from St Ives to Fenstanton).
The timetable is available here.
The new service commenced on May 6th – apologies for the lateness of this post.
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).
(Spoiler alert – it’s unlikely.)
From Saturday (1 April) tourists will have to pay a £1 tax to stay in Manchester – the first city in the UK to impose a tourist tax on visitors.
Overnight guests in city centre hotels or holiday apartments will be charged £1 a night, per room, as part of a new scheme which officials hope will raise £3m a year.
Manchester’s £1-a-night tourist tax comes into force | Nazia Parveen | The Guardian | Fri 31 Mar 2023
Manchester has become the first UK city to launch a “tourist tax” for visitors.
The City Visitor Charge will mean people face an extra £1 per room, per night, for their accommodation cost.
The money will be used to help to run large events, conferences, festivals, marketing campaigns and for street cleanliness.
Manchester City Council Chief Executive Joanne Roney said the “innovative initiative” would raise £3m a year to “enhance” visitors’ experience.
It would create “new events and activities for them to enjoy”, she said, adding that the money would be “invested directly into these activities, supporting Manchester’s accommodation sector to protect and create jobs and benefiting the city’s economy as a whole”.
Manchester becomes first UK city to impose ‘tourist tax’ | BBC News England Manchester | Sat 1 Apr 2023
Councillor Sam Davies (@Sam_in_Cam) Tweeted a link to the Guardian article (above) on 31 March 2023.
Replies included:
“Our overly tangled web of local authorities”? This 👇🏾
In response, Wendy Blythe, Chair of Federation of Cambridge Residents’ Associations (@greenarteries) on 1 April 2023, tweeted a link to the Video report by ITV News Anglia’s Claire McGlasson, from January 2019.
After over a decade of austerity, local governments have seen their budgets shrink considerably but have very few fiscal tools to improve them. The main tool they have is council tax, and even the scope to increase this is limited by central government. Given this, is introducing a tourist tax a way to close some of the shortfall?
In Centre for Cities’ recent event in Manchester, Metro Mayor Andy Burnham raised the possibility of introducing a “tourist tax” in the city region.
The problem with this though, is that cities across the UK cannot introduce such a scheme without primary legislation, as local governments currently do not have the power of fiscal devolution to enact their own such taxes.
What could a tourism tax do for city budgets? | Olivia Vera | Centre for Cities | 30 May 2022
[A]ccommodation providers voted to set up the Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID).
Some 73 hotels and serviced apartments signed up to the levy scheme which has been introduced ahead of a planned expansion of the hotel and holiday let sector in the city.
Manchester becomes first UK city to impose ‘tourist tax’ | BBC News England Manchester | Sat 1 Apr 2023
Branded the City Visitor Charge, the fee is the first to be introduced in the UK and will help to fund the new Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID), which aims to “improve the visitor experience” and “support future growth of the visitor economy” over the next five years.
Manchester’s £1-a-night tourist tax comes into force | Nazia Parveen | The Guardian | Fri 31 Mar 2023
The Manchester Accommodation BID is a ground-breaking new initiative led by the city’s hotel and serviced apartment providers to help create new events and additional activities that will attract more people to visit and stay in Manchester and Salford. It will also contribute to the enhancement of overall guest experience and help to expand the city’s visitor economy by:
- amplifying marketing campaigns that drive overnight stays;
- securing large-scale events, conferences, and festivals in low-season months;
- improving guest welcome and street cleanliness.
The above activities will be funded by the City Visitor Charge; a supplementary £1 Charge per room/unit per night for guests, added to the final accommodation bill. The statutory Charge will be collected from all paid accommodation establishments that fall into the Manchester Accommodation BID zone and will be applicable to all bookings from 1 April 2023.
Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District website [Current, Accessed 2 April 2023]
Accommodation establishments across Manchester city centre and part of Salford have given resounding support for the establishment of a new Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID), following a vote held last month.
The vote marks a significant moment for the city’s accommodation sector and will pave the way to create much-needed additional funding that will be used to improve the visitor experience and support the growth of the visitor economy across the city over the next five years.
Led by the Manchester Hoteliers’ Association in collaboration and partnership with Marketing Manchester, CityCo and both Manchester and Salford City Councils, the Manchester Accommodation BID is a direct response to significant challenges currently facing the accommodation sector in Manchester, including recovery from the pandemic and the impact that Brexit has had on the hospitality sector.
Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District website [8 Dec 2022, Accessed 2 April 2023]
It is important to recognise that the Manchester Accommodation Business Improvement District was established by, and for the benefit of, paid accommodation establishments in Manchester and Salford, albeit with the support of the local authorities. Moreover, what has been branded a ‘Tourist Tax’ is nothing of the sort; it is a City Visitor Charge. The money is collected by and is under the control of Manchester ABID.
In and around Cambridge, what would hoteliers, serviced apartment providers and the ‘Air BnB’ sector want the money spent on?
Probably not Cambridge’s new large concert hall so longed for by The Cambridge Town Owl (aka Antony Carpen).
Potholes? Cheaper buses? Also unlikely.
Events which could attract staying tourists (not day trippers) such as…?
Cambridge Area Bus Users 