From Saturday 22nd May Whippet service U will no longer serve the Biomedical Campus and Homerton College on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The southern terminus for the route on these days will be the Railway Station. This returns the service to its pre-pandemic operation (extending the route to the Biomedical Campus was introduced early in lockdown).

More information, including the new timetable, is available from the Whippet website.

The road closures around Papworth Everard have come to an end so Whippet is introducing a revised timetable on routes X2 and X3 (Huntingdon-Papworth Everard-Cambourne-Cambridge) with effect from Monday 25th April. Further afield, this also means changes to the X3 between Huntingdon and Corby.

Further information and timetables are available on the Whippet website.

Note, though, that the reduced frequency introduced when the road closure began, back in November, remains in place.

Stagecoach have announced a number of changes to services in and around Cambridge to take effect from Sunday 23rd January. They’re mostly cuts to services, sadly.

The following routes will operate with a reduction in the frequency of buses:

• Citi 1: reduced to every 15 mins – 4 buses per hour where previously there were 6
• Citi 2: every 20 mins – 3 per hour instead of 4 (and 6 per hour pre-pandemic)
• Citi 3: also every 20 mins – 3 per hour instead of 4 (and 6 per hour pre-pandemic)
• Citi 7: every 30 mins – 2 per hour instead of 3
• Newmarket Road Park & Ride: every 15 mins – 4 per hour instead of 5 (and 6 per hour as recently as mid-October)
• Busway A & B: each route along the main Busway corridor every 30 mins – in total 4 per hour instead of 6 (and 8 per hour pre-pandemic). And on the A, the additional New Square-Trumpington journeys will operate only every 30 mins – 2 per hour instead of 3

[The above relate to the main daytime frequencies, Monday-Saturday, of course.]

The Citi 5 will be routed via Oakington, and the Citi 6 – with the exception of the daily Dry Drayton/Madingley trip – cancelled. Whilst there is no change to the frequency (Oakington and Bar Hill continue to have 2 services per hour), this means there will be only 2 buses per hour between the city centre and Girton Corner instead of the current 4, with a similar 50% reduction to Sunday services. Bar Hill passengers should note that, as a result of the diversion via Oakington, trips to/from the city will take roughly 10 minutes longer than at present.

In an attempt to improve punctuality, minor changes to journey times are being introduced on the Citi 1, Citi 2, Citi 3 and Babraham Park & Ride services. There are route changes on the Citi 1 (no longer serving the Ida Darwin Hospital) and Newmarket Road Park & Ride (operating via Napier Street instead of the Grafton Centre on outbound journeys). The re-routing of the Citi 5 via Oakington (see above) means that the Crematorium will no longer be served by any bus service.

There are also minor changes to journey times on the Busway feeder services V3 and V5.

More information, and links to the revised timetables, are available on the Stagecoach website.

A note for users of the Citi 5 and 6: At the time of writing (6pm, 17th January – updated midday, 19th January) the version of the revised timetable available online suggests two things: (1) FIXED that only one of the two hourly outbound services (Mon-Sat) goes via Manor Farm Close and High Street in Oakington; (2) that the hourly journey to Swavesey doesn’t operate via the Bar Bill perimeter road, instead taking the direct route from Bar Hill Tesco to Longstanton. CABU believes both of these are unintentional errors in the preparation of the timetable for the Citi 5 (they are not supported by Stagecoach’s own Journey Planner, for example). We have asked Stagecoach to check as a matter of urgency – and to issue a corrected version if necessary. This post will be updated once the situation is clarified. [Corrected timetable now uploaded – 20 Jan]

Whippet have introduced – at extremely short notice – various changes to their X2 and X3 services (Huntingdon-Papworth Everard-Cambourne-Cambridge), most notably a reduced off-peak service. It’s not that long since the service was upgraded to run every half hour (Monday to Saturday), but it’s now back at the original hourly frequency. Sunday services are retained, though.

More information, and links to the revised timetable, are available from the Whippet website.

These changes have a knock-on effect on Whippet’s X3 service from Huntingdon to Thrapston and Corby. For further details follow the above link.

Roadworks at Papworth are affecting Whippet’s operations in that area. This is likely to continue until February 2022.

Stagecoach is far from unique in having staffing problems – and they’re not the only operator to have been cancelling services recently as a consequence. In order to (try to) provide a little more stability for passengers, they will be implementing a number of changes to Cambridge-area services from Sunday 24th October (not all changes relate to staffing issues, however).

The Stagecoach announcement is available from their website, whilst links to the revised timetables can be found here.

A summary – including some details not explicitly covered in Stagecoach’s announcement – follows here.

Histon Road: After 16 months of closure, southbound/ services along Histon Road will restart from this date. This benefits not just Histon Road passengers, but also those in Orchard Park. The temporary stop in Arbury Road will, naturally enough, be withdrawn. The reopening affects the Citi 8 and Busway A services. There are no other changes to the Citi 8 timetable, but see below for more information regarding Busway services more generally.

Park & Ride routes: There’s a significant reduction in services on the five Park & Ride routes. Monday-Saturday services on all routes except Trumpington, are reduced from 6 per hour to either 5 (Babraham and Madingley) or 4 (Milton and Newmarket). On Sundays all services will operate 4 services per hour, as against the existing 6. The are minor changes to the times of first and last buses on some routes, so check the new timetables if you use the early or late services (not that they’re very late…).

Busway: There are significant reductions in the frequency of evening services (Monday-Saturday) and Sunday services (all day) on both Busway routes, effectively halving the number of trips. And note that the definition of “evening” may depend on the day of the week and/or the direction of travel. Every day except Sunday on route B the last departures in both directions run 15 minutes earlier. But there’s some good news as well: the first bus(es) on Sunday – on both routes – are somewhat earlier than at present, and on Sunday evenings A services continue to/from Trumpington right through the evening. So, whilst the last B towards Huntingdon on a Sunday leaves Cambridge at 2225 (20 minutes earlier than at present), passengers for most destinations as far as St Ives will benefit from a later A service (leaving Trumpington at 2225 and New Square at 2255).

Other changes: The Haverhill 13 reverts to its pre-pandemic timetable, the most significant impact of which is that the 0540 ex-Cambridge departure will no longer operate. And on the V5, evening services will run 15 minutes earlier than at present.

Urgent action needed to address the UK’s deepening crisis in bus driver shortages

In a letter to Grant Shapps MP, Bus Users UK call for urgent action to tackle the current critical shortage in bus drivers.

With passenger numbers below pre-Covid levels, some operators are reducing journeys on higher frequency routes in order to minimise the number of drivers required. This runs counter to the ethos of the Bus Recovery Grant and to the needs of passengers. In marginal and rural areas where services were already basic, the impact is particularly severe with people now struggling to access work, education, apprenticeships and healthcare.

Letter to The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, Secretary of State for Transport, from Bus Users UK

Read the full letter on the Bus Users UK website, here.

FlixBus – an operator quite new to the UK – has launched a Cambridge-London coach service. It operates 7 days a week and serves Cambridge Parkside, Trumpington Park & Ride, Finchley Road, and Victoria Coach Station. The number of services operated is between 1 and 3, depending on the day of the week and the direction of travel. Fares seem to start at £4.99 one way.

This service is operated by Whippet on behalf of FlixBus.

For more information, consult the FlixBus website.

Stagecoach are introducing a further batch of changes to services from Sunday 29th August. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up! In summary:

Withdrawn: The 8H is being withdrawn. Until Histon Road reopens, the inbound Citi 8 will also call at a temporary stop on Arbury Road (just south of the junction with St Catharine’s Road).

Reintroduced: School/college journeys on the following routes are being reintroduced: X13, 18, 604, 606, 607, 613 and Busway C. The Busway C will also operate Monday-Friday during college holidays, but terminating at Cambridge Railway Station.

Other changes:

• On the Citi 1 there will be an additional earlier journey from Arbury to Fulbourn.
• All Monday-Saturday journeys on the Citi 2 will serve both Addenbrooke’s and Coldhams Lane Sainsbury’s, operating every 15 minutes during the day, and every 30 minutes in the evening.
• On the 12, the first two morning journeys from Ely will have additional running time, in an attempt to improve service reliability, whilst off-peak trips from Ely will in future leave 5 minutes later than at present (i.e. at XX51, between 0851 and 1651).
• Earlier morning journeys have been added to the Busway B timetable, and minor changes made elsewhere in the timetable.
• Morning journeys on routes V1 and V3 will divert via St Ives Morrisons and continue through to Cambridge as Busway A services (so a change of vehicle is no longer required!).
• Finally, the 904 will in future operate only in a clockwise direction through Houghton Village, regardless of final destination. Make sure you board the intended bus…

Further information, and links to the new/revised timetables, are available from the Stagecoach website.

A number of changes to bus services supported by the Combined Authority (which has taken over responsibility for public transport from the County Council) come into operation from Monday 16th August. Unfortunately, what follows remains incomplete. Every effort has been made to provide only information that has been verified. Last checked: 11 August, 8.45 a.m. [Updated 13 Aug to revise reference to service C2; 22 Aug to add service 9 details; 26 August to revise reference to service 22]

1A – new operator: A2B (timetable)
8 – new operator: Myall (timetable)

9 – now operated commercially (new route and timetable)

15 (Over/St Ives) – new operator: A2B
15 (Haslingfield/Royston) – new operator: A2B
22 – [service has been listed for cancellation, but no more information available] The 22 continues to operate
31 – most buses will operate to/from the City Centre as service 114 from/to Addenbrooke’s (no need to change vehicle)
46 – new operator: A2B
110 – new operator: Mil-Ken
114 – incorporates the former 117 and has new timetable (timetable); ; most buses will operate to/from Fowlmere as service 31 (no need to change vehicle)
117 – service incorporated into revised 114 (see above)
203 – new operator: Mil-Ken
400 – new operator: Dew’s
401 – new operator: Dew’s
C2 – [service has been listed for cancellation, but no more information available] The C2 continues to operate

Stagecoach are introducing more frequent and later services on Park & Ride services from Sunday 8th August (NB: the improvements only apply Monday-Saturday). Services will now operate every 20 minutes after 18.30, and will run later into the evening on some routes (but beware – the last departure to Madingley Road will be 20 minutes earlier than at present).

Timetables are available from the Stagecoach website.