Whippet changes from 19 October

Whippet, in conjunction with the University of Cambridge, have announced changes to the timetable for the U (Universal) service, which uses the southern section of Busway as part of its route between Eddington and the Biomedical Campus. The changes take effect on Monday 19 October.

Peak-hour services will operate Monday-Friday every 12 minutes. The frequency of services at other times of day and at the weekend are unchanged. Journey times are being extended to reduce late running. Weekend operation to/from the Biomedical Campus, introduced in late March, is retained.

The new timetable can be downloaded from the Whippet website.

Services have already returned to operating via Addenbrookes Outpatients, although this may not be stable, depending on future infection rates and Hospital needs.

According to the University's Travel Newsletter:

The University will be increasing funding for the Universal Bus service over the next four months which, combined with funding from the Government COVID-19 Bus Service Support Grant (CBSSG) Restart package will enable the route to run every 12 minutes throughout the morning and evening peak periods, while maintaining the weekend services to CBC that we began running during the national lockdown in March. The additional funding will allow the level of service provided by the Universal to be maintained as the roads get busier again and the number of passengers carried on each service is reduced due to social distancing requirements on board.

Whippet - temporary changes from 30 March

Whippet operate the Universal (U) service, whose route includes the Busway section between the main railway station and the Biomedical Campus. From today, 30 March, there are (temporarily) minor changes to the weekday timetable, to take account of the much emptier roads (which means taking the slack out of the timetable).

At weekends, the U will serve the Biomedical Campus on both Saturdays and Sundays - this will be the first time that any of the southern Busway has had regular Sunday services. In addition, weekend services will start earlier and end later.

Full information, including a link to the temporary timetable, is on the Whippet website.

Whippet leave the Busway (again)

It's been reported on the Anglia & Thames Valley Bus Forum that Whippet will be withdrawing their P service from 23 August. Apparently, it was only on "trial", and hasn't attracted enough custom to justify the three buses and drivers that it took to operate.

Bank Holiday services return to southern Busway

Yes, I know that Good Friday and Easter Monday have been and gone, so apologies in advance for this retrospective posting.

One (less-than-desirable?) feature of Sundays and Bank Holidays is that there are no services on the southern portion of the Busway, between Cambridge Railway Station and the Biomedical Campus. As I've commented elsewhere, it seems that operators (and one particularly large operator locally) are keen to lock as many buses as possible away in their depots. Bank Holidays are supposed to be like Sundays (tell that to the 30-35 passengers on a "U" service at 1925 on Good Friday evening)!

Well, Whippet broke with that shabby "tradition" this Easter, and ran a full "P" service on both Friday and Monday. Which means that there were Bank Holiday services on that southern stretch for the first time since... well, I think it's the first time ever, but stand open to correction from someone with a better memory than mine.

Unfortunately - and didn't you know there was going to be a "but" to this good news - it helps if people know those services are running. According to Traveline there were no services on this route on either day. The Whippet website, and the print "P" timetable (plus its online equivalent) made no mention of Bank Holiday services. All I could eventually track down was a single tweet from Whippet HQ informing its followers what was happening over the holiday weekend. It's possible they also showed up in apps offering real-time operating data (e.g. the UK Bus Checker, or Traveline's own).

So 10/10 for daring to offer the service. But a rather lower score for making sure people know that the buses are out on the road, waiting to be used.

Whippet return to Busway

Whippet are returning to the Busway! With effect from 18 February the Swavesey-based operator will be running a new Monday-Friday service, "P", which provides 3 morning rush-hour journeys from Swavesey Busway stop to the Biomedical Campus - with corresponding return journeys in the evening - supplemented by a (generally) 4-per-hour "shuttle" between Drummer Street and the Biomedical Campus via the southern portion of the Busway. The shuttle operates to a slightly less frequent (and more irregular) schedule around the edges of the rush hour (rather like the "U" timetable), to take account of likely traffic conditions (in so far as traffic in Cambridge is ever predictable).

Elswhere there's been speculation that this is tied to the imminent opening of the new Royal Papworth hospital (hence the service "number"), but I've been unable to confirm that.

The route around the Biomedical Campus is the same as that taken by other Busway services - currently that's in an anti-clockwise loop. (That route is likely to change in the spring, I guess, when the new road in front of the Papworth hospital is open and there are new bus stops to serve.)