Monday, 23 July 2012
New timetable - Monday
My intention was to catch the 0737 service A from St Ives to Cambridge this morning. The 0730 B left the new Station Road bus stop on time, but the 0737 did not show. I boarded the 0745 B, which left more or less on time and reached Cambridge 7 minutes late. Live bus times were not showing for the A at the intermediate stops, so I have no idea whether the bus was cancelled or just running late. Under the previous timetable, the service A towards Cambridge could usually be relied on for keeping good time. It remains to be seen whether the new timetable will offer this level of reliability. Still no sign of new timetable information at St Ives bus station.
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Don't expect the B services from Peterborough to ever make it to St Ives on-schedule. I was on the first bus out of Peterborough (sadly no ribbons or champagne) and, despite no traffic and very few stops, we were still 10 minutes late into Huntingdon. The driver commented that there was no chance of keeping to timetable once there was any traffic on the roads.
ReplyDeleteAs for my journey back - worthy of a separate rant. In summary: Left the Science Park at 4.30pm, arrived in Peterborough at 8.15pm. One bus disappeared altogether, none of the Peterborough services listed on the electronic signs, none of the drivers knew what had happened. Also I had to give the driver directions for the last few miles. I'll be letting the service bed-in before I use it again (that's if I ever do).
Thanks for your comment. Are you really saying it took you 3h 45m to reach Peterborough? That is unbeliveably awful. I also experienced the lack of desinations beyond St Ives. I caught what was supposed to be the Chatteris bus. It said 'St Ives' on the front of the bus, and the driver seemed unaware that the bus was going to Chatteris. One passenger asked him if he stopped at Fenton Road in Warboys, but the driver had no idea. At St Ives P&R, there was some confusion from passengers wanting to go to Ramsey Road, but a change of drivers took place and the new driver knew he was heading for Chatteris, and was able to giocve assurance to the Ramnsey Road passengers. Make sure you complain top Stagecaoch, and also write to the local papers.
DeleteYes the return was a bit of a nightmare. At Histon there should've been a 1732 B service to Peterborough, but by 1810 it still hadn't shown up and wasn't on the electronic signs either (which meant it wasn't going to show before 1900). So I jumped on a B service to Hinchingbrooke and got off at Huntingdon bus station, where I had to wait for the 1916 Huntingdon to Peterborough service to show up - which thankfully it did, otherwise I'd have been on a train.
DeleteI'm waiting to see if the papers muster any coverage at all today, I'm surprised that neither the Peterborough nor the Cambridge press appears to have thought it worthwhile to test out the service!
Phone or email the newspapers, and complaion to Stagecoach would be my advice. And keep on posting here any problems you find with the buses.
DeleteThe 7,37 turned up with the 7,52around 7,55
ReplyDeleteit was quickly followed by a C service and another bus so there was quite a queue.
The second A did not open its doors nor wait.
A lady from Somersham had been waiting in the bus station so missed the lot. The electronic timetable in the bus station probably did not help as it went haywire last week.
At 8,30 a B arrived and the driver actually understood customer service by announcing that the bus had arrived at St Ives whereupon two people got off in a hurry.
All in all the first morning was a bit shambolic
Colin
Thanks for commenting, Colin. I was late for work yesterday as a result of travelling on the 7.45, so today have caught the 7.22 which got in more or less on time. Good to know that the 7.37 did eventually turn up. And let's hope its punctuyality improves. On the old timetable there was a series of service A buses - 7.25, 7.32, 7.40 - which were all good timekeepers. They have not been adequately replaced in the new timetable. Let's hope day 2 is better! At least they have put up a notice in St Ives Bus station advising passengers to go to the new stop (which should have been done before start of service on Sunday). And this morning (Tuesday) there was a representative of Stagcoach at the new stop, giving advice and answering questions.
DeleteA google search for the "guided busway timetable" takes you initially to the busway home page where the timetable information has not been updated for a long time. After several searches the only link I could find was via this blog!!
ReplyDeleteBrendan
Thanks, Brendan. I have emailed www.busway.info to ask when they are going to update their timetable information. The Cambridgeshire County Council transport pages are usually a reliable source of bus timetable information, but all they have available at the moment is the timetable in two different, indigestible versions. The information is there, but not in an easy to read form, and specifically the version printed in Stagecoach's published timetable leaflet hasn't yet been posted. I now have a printed timetable leaflet - my bus this morning had a supply of them - the first I have seen so far.
ReplyDeletewww.thebusway.info have replied to say that the site the website is managed by Stagecoach (i.e. not by the person on the other end of 'contactus') and all enquiries should be directed to Stagecoach. Tel 01223 423578 / email cambridge.enquiries@stagecoach.com
ReplyDeleteAlso note that all of the new bus shelter timetables are promoting an iPhone / Android app called "My Bus Trip" which doesn't actually seem to exist (yet)...
DeleteWhat a shambles! If you find out any more about this, can you keep us posted?
Delete