Two steps forward; one step back?
There is much to welcome in the September changes to bus services in and around Cambridge announced by Stagecoach and Whippet – Stagecoach changes from Sunday 1st September, New Whippet service 18a from 2nd September – with increasing funding from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.
However…
Some services are being ‘rationalised’ (Stagecoach’s citi1 in Fulbourn) others have longer journey times (citi7) or reduced frequency (citi6) whilst others have, currently, no prospect of returning to pre-Covid frequency levels (citi2 every 20 mins, 10 mins pre-Covid).
And the elephant in the room (or on the streets)? Traffic congestion
Cambridge Area Bus Users recognise that commercial bus companies cannot run services at a loss. Adding extra buses to maintain frequencies adds costs, without any certainty of increased farebox revenue. Unless our plethora of overlapping local governance bodies (see graphic, below) take radical action to tackle traffic congestion bus services will be in a spiral of decline: reduced speeds ➞ increased costs ➞ lower ridership ➞ reduced income ➞ service reductions ➞ lower ridership ➞ reduced income ➞ further service reductions.
Tackling traffic congestion: the need for bold action
In February 2024 sister organisation Cambridgeshire Sustainable Travel Alliance issued a press release – We will all lose out if the Greater Cambridge Partnership abandons large-scale projects to reduce congestion.
The current high motor traffic levels are hinted at as the reason for abandoning the road reclassification project. The Eastern Access project, Hills Road and Madingley Road schemes are also being watered down due to the need to accommodate large numbers of cars. It is highly inequitable that projects to encourage people to use sustainable transport and reduce car usage cannot go ahead or are compromised because there are currently too many people driving. Many people who drive would like to travel by sustainable means, but cannot. When GCP officers assessed the threats and opportunities of not proceeding with the Sustainable Travel Zone road charge last September, they did not mention that abandoning road charging would leave them unable to deliver other GCP projects. In hindsight, this is a significant omission.
CSTA press release as above
Silviya Barrett from national transport charity Campaign for Better Transport (a member organisation of the Cambridgeshire Sustaianble Travel Alliance) said:
“The only way to tackle congestion is to reduce the number of cars on the roads. Traffic reduction measures, coupled with public transport improvements have been proven to cut congestion, reduce air pollution and make places more pleasant to work and live.”
Cambridge Area Bus Users has received multiple complaints about unreliable bus services; one member reported walking from the city centre to the Catholic Church faster than five buses crawling along in road congestion. The group cannot envisage significant improvements in bus reliability until congestion is tackled by reallocating road space away from private cars to buses and active travel.
And the bus operators’ view?
We contacted David Boden, Business Development Director of Stagecoach East, Chair of the recently-formed Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Bus Alliance, who was kind enough to provide the following statement.
As people who run local buses, we tend to talk about two connected but different concepts: ‘reliability’ and ‘punctuality’. We are very willing to be held accountable for the aspects of reliability we can control – that is to say, providing a bus and a driver when we say we will. But, once the bus leaves the station or depot, its punctuality is overwhelmingly dictated by issues like congestion, parking enforcement and roadworks, none of which are in our power to change.
All this slows the bus down, increases journey times and the cost of service provision, and makes it really difficult to rebalance using the bus over car. There is no secret formula to all this, put simply, if you want a world-class bus network, you need a world-class road network and bus infrastructure.
Our local authorities work very hard to try to mitigate the negative effects of roadworks where they can, but there are sadly limits to their powers. Now is the time for everyone, including the utility companies, Highways and other key stakeholders, to engage with bus operators directly in a meaningful and productive way.
Buses are a key lifeline for our region, and with a genuine desire from everyone to go that extra mile in minimising disruption to bus services, we can offer the residents of Cambridgeshire the excellent service that we all want them to have.
It is a burning issue. Bus services are not going to get any better – and will continue to get worse – until we have those conversations, and elected officials then are willing to make bold and difficult decisions. [Our emphasis]
I will say that, in recent times, we have seen some elements of progress. We recently praised the communication from UK Power Networks for their Mill Road works, for example. They gave us proper notice and this led to high-level discussions between the two companies, with potential ways to keep disruption to a minimum, floated.
We hope that this will set a template for all such interactions in the future, so it becomes ‘business as usual’ that utility companies talk with the major bus operators so we can all work together as best we can.
David Boden, Business Development Director of Stagecoach East, Chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Bus Alliance
Ian Lockwood, a recognized national leader in sustainable transportation policy (USA) and urban design (and witty cartoonist) sums up the situation, neatly.
We recognise that funding for comprehensive, fast, frequent bus services cannot rely on farebox revenue alone. Support from the public purse is also essential. That public purse is not inexhaustible; plans for radical improvements to bus services envisaged by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (our Transport Authority) could founder unless Cambridgeshire County Council (our Highway Authority) and the Greater Cambridge Partnership (holder of the ‘City Deal’ purse strings) “are willing to make bold and difficult decisions“.
Cambridge Area Bus Users 