Changes to Stagecoach busway Routes A and N

I was wondering why I hadn’t seen a route N bus for a while. and had noticed that some Route A buses in the middle of the day were diverting via Cambridge North Station and calling at all bus stops along Milton Road.

It turns out that for some weeks, the N has been ‘temporarily’ discontinued. This comes as no surprise as it never had more than a handful of people on it, and the fact that it served Cambridge North was scarcely advertised.

Departure sheets posted at bus stops don’t indicate which buses serve Cambridge North.

The timetable for the A,B,N and R services valid from 29th July (here) shows the N as still running, but includes an extra mini timetable,  after the ‘village’ timetable pages, for the variant As which replace the N and starting from 14 August.

Today, while cycling, I stopped at Longstanton Park & Ride. In the Cambridge-bound waiting shelter a paper copy of this extra mini timetable has been pasted up, but no information that the N no longer runs.

What a shambles! First of all, Stagecoach fails to provide a frequent service between St Ives and Cambridge North. Then it extends the N to St Ives P&R. Then it replaces the N with an occasional diverted A soon to be re-named as the D.

Why don’t Stagecoach run every A to/from Cambridge North? That way, St Ives would have a much improved access to trains to London, Ely, Norwich and Kings Lynn.

Nor is Stagecoach providing a viable service from the northern suburbs to Cambridge North. OK, the Citi2 goes to Cambridge North. But how about extending the Citi1 and the 9/X9 to Cambridge North as well?

The new A,B,D,R timetable, valid from 16 September, can be viwed here here.

Stagecoach changes from 18 September

Stagecoach are introducing a number of changes to their Busway services from 18 September.

Busway A/B/D - Journeys numbered D which operate via Cambridge North Station will no longer serve the station. These will now be renumbered route A.

Busway N - This service will continue to operate every 20 minutes into Cambridge first thing in the morning. Buses will now operate hourly throughout the day. This reduction is due to a lack of passengers using the service after the morning peak.

Busway R - Changes to early morning journeys in order to allow more time for passengers to connect with trains at Cambridge station following changes to the platform of London bound trains.

The main change here is a significant reduction in the number of buses serving Cambridge North station.

New timetables aren't available yet, but are likely to be posted on the Stagecoach website shortly.

Cambridge North Railway Station has opened

Beautiful spring day for the opening of Cambridge's new station.

The A bus to St Ives about to depart from the new bus stop outside the station earlier today. It's linked to Milton Road by 500 metres of bus-only road, with a short length of guide rail at each end. Through buses to/from St Ives only run at certain times of the day, but at other times St Ives-Cambridge North passengers connect at Longstanton. The bus journey between St Ives and Cambridge North is quicker than that between St Ives and Huntingdon Station, so it offers a viable alternative route to/from London.

Update from Stagecoach about the revised busway services

Stagecoach have just sent out an update message by email which summarises the changes to the busway timetable resulting from the opening of Cambridge north Station. You can read it at this link .

New timetable showing busway buses serving Cambridge North station

The new timetable, which starts on Sunday 21 May, for busway services that will be calling at Cambridge North Station has been posted on Cambridgeshire County Council's busway website http://www.thebusway.info/ .  This includes all journeys on routes A, B, D, N and R.

Click on this link http://thebusway.info/pdfs/tt/AB-may2017.pdf

The timetable is also available on Stagecoach's website at https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/East/HYBRIDS/The%20Busway%20Complete%20-%20HYBRID.pdf

The pdf shows the current timetable ( i.e. valid until 20 May) followed by the new timetable ( but no start is shown on the pages listing new services D or N and revised services A, B and R).

Train timetable for Cambridge North Station from 21 May 2017

Timetables for the new Cambridge North Station, which opens on 21 May,  and connects to the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, can be viewed on the Abellio Greater Anglia website  at https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/sites/default/files/assets/download_ct/ga1705_web_regional_table_10.pdf 

and on the Great Northern Rail website at https://www.greatnorthernrail.com/travel-information/plan-your-journey/timetables .

Guided buses serving Cambridge North Station

Timetables for the guided buses that will serve Cambridge North Station from 21 May can be viewed at https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/buses/bus-timetables/

There will be two completely new routes:

Service  D will run between Cambridge and St Ives via Cambridge North during peak periods Monday-Friday only - to Cambridge in the morning, and from Cambridge in the evening. Some of these journeys will start from or continue to some of teh towns and villages north and west of St Ives.

Service N will link Longstanton Park & Ride and Cambridge North throughout most of the the day Monday-Saturday. A few morning journeys will start from St Ives, and a few evening journeys will continue to St Ives.

Two existing routes will be amended to serve Cambridge North at certain times:

A few Service A journeys towards St Ives will serve Cambridge North, Monday to Friday early evening. Service A will run half hourly between Drummer Street and St Ives via Cambridge North on Sundays.

Citi 2 will serve Cambridge North daily.