Thursday, 26 April 2012
Changes to bus routes A and B in July
Stagecoach has announced its proposal for reorganising bus routes A and B in St Ives as from July, following introduction of some new vehicles. In order to provide a quicker journey to/from Huntingdon, the service B will be re-routed to miss out the top end of Ramsay Road and Hill Rise. Service A will be extended to Hill Rise, but will do a one-way loop by turning left at the Seven Wives, then right into Hill Rise then back into St Ives down Ramsey Road. This will mean that residents of the Hill Rise area won't have a direct bus to Huntingdon. Instead they will have to walk down to the Seven Wives, or catch the A to Seven Wives and change onto the B. (Hunts Post, 25 April, page 15)
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This change will upset a great many local folk in St Ives who have had a decent bus service from Ramsey Road and Hill Rise in to Huntingdon for decades - even back to pre-deregulation. A surprising commercial move by Stagecoach. First the non-acceptance of the multibus ticket, and now this. Do they expect lots of newer folk from Huntingdon to be getting on the now faster buses? Whippet's alternative non-busway 1A/1B services are going to get a whole lot more popular.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. The Ramsey Road/Hill Rise route generates large numbers of passengers in both directions. It would make more sense if the A had been extended as a fast bus to Huntingdon and the B left as it was.
ReplyDeleteDo you mean A and B routes both going to Huntingdon Andrew? I suspect from timetabling and indeed bus stocks, that might not be viable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with "Anonymous" that this will almost certainly benefit Whippet. I am always surprised at just how busy the Ramsey Road/ Hill Rise to Huntingdon passenger volume is.
Yes, I meant both A and B going to Huntingdon. It strikes me there is scope for both fast and slow services on that section. A fast service between Huntingdon and Cambridge is definitely needed.But so is a slower service calling at the Oxmoor and Hill Rise.
ReplyDeleteThere surely has got to be more to this than Stagecoach are currently letting on. If Service B is increasing to 4 per hour, and they are running direct to Huntingdon, that means Stagecoach pulling out of Huntingdonshire's two highest populated non-guided bus route pick up areas - Ramsey Road/Hill Rise and The Oxmoor. These places have always had frequent buses, and surely always will. If they are not even planning "slow B" and "fast B" alternating every 30 mins, they must have the launch of another local bus planned to start in July, perhaps just running from St Ives to Huntingdon, or at the very least a local Oxmoor circular in Huntingdon. Perhaps an hourly 45 will be reborn with an added Oxmoor loop. Stagecoach didn't get where they are today by totally abandoning profitable routes. Reducing frequency maybe, but abandoning, no. Something is afoot...
ReplyDeleteFour letters on this topic in this week's Hunts Post (2 May, pages 7 and 32) - one from a resident of the north end of St Ives who thinks he might have to revert to driving into Cambridge if the route is diverted, another from Peter Lee of Whippet affirming that they will continue to serve Hill Rise and might increase frequencies on the route. The other letters focus on reduction in choice of bus services and the predicament of disabled travellers for whom walking a distance to catch the re-routed buses is not an option.
ReplyDeleteThis is lunacy. Surely someone at Stagecoach is sitting there thinking "But won't this cut a lot of our custom?"
ReplyDeleteWhat troubles me more is the fact that there isn't a sign at any of the affected stops!
If it hadn't have been for word of mouth I would've been standing at my normal stop one day wondering were the hell the bus is.
Let's face it a lot of people around my age don't read the Hunts Post except to see what jobs are going or maybe housing.
If I have to get up earlier to catch the bus anyway I might aswell save some money and catch the Whippet instead. I'd rather have to walk from the bus station in Huntingdon to the hospital than put up with this nonsense.
As I live in Huntingdon and work in Cambridge this seems like good news to me. People who live in St Ives have always had a better deal than us, same as the Fenstanton people, and they should think themselves lucky that they don't live in other areas of the county where there is hardly any bus service to speak of.
ReplyDeleteThey have got used to having the bus stop outside their doors for too long - a bit of a walk would do them good.
Thanks for your latest comment. I agree it is good news for Huntingdon as your buses will be speeded up by a few minutes and you will have a better frequency. I'm guessing you intended this comment to be attached to today's posting about the changes to buses starting on 23 July, somehow it's ended up attached to an old posting form 26 April.
ReplyDeleteI have just started a course at CRC and previously got the B bus to Huntingdon when i attended CAW. Since Stagecoach has changed the routes up to Hill Rise, I now have to wait even longer for the bus and it was over an hour late yesterday!
ReplyDeleteI live on Hill Rise and never before has a bus ever been that late. I'm furious to see how many people had to stand and wait for it let alone how full up the bus gets and how the driver still allows more people on,
I am concerned about the safety of the passengers! I'd say get more buses and leave the routes as they were. Having the B was so much easier than having to trek to the nearest electronic bus timetable.
There are supposed to be 2 buses an hour from Hill Rise to CRC, which would be fine if they were on time. But recently the punctuality of the buises has got worse, especially at peak times. One thing that is making punctuality worse for the A route is road works in Hills Road, Cambridge.
ReplyDeleteI would advise complaining to Stagecoach. the more people who complain, the more Stagecoach will pay attention (we hope).