Tag: University of Cambridge

University/Whippet Universal Launch

We posted earlier about the Revised University/Whippet U service from Monday 2nd October.

Here are some details from the launch event at West Hub, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0US, on Friday 29th September 2023.

photo as caption Registration mark UN14BUS
One of the nine Mellor Sigma 12 buses serving the U1/U2 routes
This is one of two with personalised registration marks
Note the cameras which replace traditional exterior mirrors

We don’t intend to duplicate reports from elsewhere, but add a few details about the vehicles and the attention to detail which has gone into the new vehicles and the re-imagined routes.

Reports from the University and the news media, give the overview and key details of the new U1/U2 7-day/week service from Girton Corner to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. (Yes, the Biomedical Campus is served on Sundays, and Newnham gains a Sunday bus service to the rail station and the Biomedical Campus.)

From the new Whippet Bus website:

Some details of the newly-agreed eight-year contract:

High specification buses

The nine Mellor Sigma 12 buses – designed, engineered and fitted out in the UK – have two wheelchair/buggy bays (each with three tip-up seats for when not fully occupied by wheelchairs or child buggies) and ten highly-accessible, fixed, high-back seats on the low-floor section, forward of the raised area to the rear, under which some of the batteries are housed.

photo as caption
Interior of one of the Mellor Sigma 12 vehicles showing ten highly-accessible, fixed, high-back seats on the low-floor section, forward of the raised area

Above the front wheel arches are three slightly-wider single seats designed to accommodate a parent with a small child.

photo as caption
One of the three slightly-wider single seats designed to accommodate a parent with a small child

Smartphone getting low on its charge? The University, Whippet and Mellor have the solution…

photo as caption
You can charge up wirelessly, or with your USB-A or USB-C cable
Note, also, the STOP button on the seat-back and the button for the reading lamp

Passengers benefit from clear audio-visual announcements for the direction of travel (eg ‘Towards Girton Corner’) and the next stop, comfortable high-backed seats (ten of which are accessible on the low-floor section), two wheelchair/buggy bays, multi-way phone charging, a STOP button on every seat-back, and even a reading-lamp to help decipher those all-important marginalia.

Drivers have the benefits of external cameras at the front (replacing traditional mirrors) and at the rear, an AI-assisted hazard detection system, fully adjustable driving-seat, steering wheel and a dashboard which adjusts with the wheel.

Mellor Bus

Find out more about Rochdale-based Mellor here. The Mellor Sigma (∑) range can be browsed here. View/download the ∑ brochure here.

An integrated passenger experience

The enhanced audio-visual announcements mentioned above are only part of the mission to remove anxiety from bus travel. The installation of seat-back STOP buttons in addition to more traditionally-located buttons help those with hidden disabilities. But these features are only part of the integrated mission.

Photo of West Hub bus stop, showing features listed in following paragraph
West Hub bus stop, towards Cambridge Biomedical Campus

All stops have been updated with a printed timetable in a weatherproof case, and a bus stop flag which shows the direction of travel. Wherever possible, bus stops have many more passenger-friendly features.

The West Hub bus stop shown in the foregoing photograph, has a shelter with integrated seating, good hard-standing, a printed timetable in a weatherproof case, e-paper real-time passenger information, and gives easy access to the bus for wheelchair users. The bus stop flag reads ‘towards city centre, rail station & Biomedical Campus’.

This stop fulfils all of the criteria for quality Bus stop infrastructure in our joint briefing paper with Living Streets, Cambridge.

A feature to give a smile

photo as caption Registration mark UN14CAM
The other of the two vehicles with personalised registration marks

Recently, Roger French OBE DL MA, BusAndTrainUser, visited Whippet as part of his fortnightly A to Z of bus and train companies. Read the blogpost here: W is for Whippet.

More on the Universal contract…
Cambridge Universal service shows bus collaboration possibilities By Tim Deakin, RouteOne October 16, 2023

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Revised University/Whippet U service from Monday 2nd October

Significant changes to the University’s “Universal” (or “U”) service are taking place on Monday 2nd October.

Two distinct services are being created, to be known as “U1” and “U2”.

U1 is essentially the same as the extended version of the current service – the one that calls at Girton Corner (but only a very few times a day at present). Throughout most of the day alternate services will extend to/from Girton Corner, but otherwise follow the existing route (except that journeys towards Girton Corner call adjacent to Eddington Sainsbury’s and not across the road).

U2 takes a different route between Grange Road and Queen’s College, serving the whole of Grange Road and Barton and Newnham Roads between Grange Road and Silver Street. Omitting, therefore, West Road. Some U2 journeys extend to/from Girton Corner.

One other significant change is that weekend services will again serve the Biomedical Campus (as happened during the Covid pandemic).

Overall frequency remains unchanged. Services from the Biomedical Campus continue to serve Homerton College (and Hills Road more generally) whilst the northbound lane of the southern section of the Busway remains closed to buses.

The service is operated by Whippet on behalf of the University of Cambridge.

The new timetable – and a handy route map for those unfamiliar with the area – is available from the Whippet website.