Busway connections at Huntingdon Railway Station

Today I was reminded how poor the bus connections at Huntingdon Station are on a Sunday. The bus times really don't fit in well with the trains in either direction.

We were at an event at Hinchingbrooke Country Park and walked down to the Railway Station in time to catch the last bus to St Ives - departing at 1619, which is barely mid afternoon. Trains from London generally arrive at Huntingdon at 16 past the hour, scarcely enough time to cross over the footbridge and walk out to the bus stop, even if the train is on time and you are athletic. But the 1508 from Kings Cross is timed to arrive at Huntingdon at 1619, thus missing the 1619 bus altogether.

Busway arrivals to Huntingdon Station on a Sunday are hourly between 1030 and 1830. Trains to London are 1030 ( i.e. no connection), then 1100, 1125 ( no connection), 1200 and hourly  thereafter. So a longish wait.

Departures to Peterborough are mostly at 16 minutes past the hour, so a very long wait of 46 minutes for any would-be passengers.

Another issue with the Sunday bus service to Huntingdon Station is that you can't really use it for a decent day out in London, travelling from St Ives. First arrival in Kings Cross would be 1214 and you'd have to leave Kings Cross at 1508 to get a bus connection back to St Ives.

One other gripe - the timetable sheet displayed at the bus stop at Huntingdon Station doesn't show the new bus times including the buses arriving in from Peterborough and serving the railway station. This information sheet also shows the now closed bus stop at the top of the station steps.

Is it any wonder that with a poor service, and inaccurate information at the station bus stop, that the service is not well used?

Changes to bus route B

Stagecoach will take advantage of the new West Huntingdon Link Road to re-route buses to/from Peterborough on service B, enabling them to serve Huntingdon Railway Station.

Details of the change of timetable, which will start from 1 September, can be found here.

Harrison Way congestion and bus connections to Huntingdon Railway Station

This week's Hunts Post (8 August) has two items about the busway.

First,  a piece entitled 'Ring road peak flow now smoother' (page 2). Engineers have changed the timings of the traffic lights at the Harrison Way/Busway crossing to reduce the number of times cars have to stop when both pedestrians and buses are at the junction.  It is worth noting that traffic is light at the moment because of the school holidays, and it remains to be seen how the new lights sequence will perform when traffic increases at the start of the school term.

Second, a letter from a Bluntisham resident about connectiosn between the busway and trains at Huntingdon Railway Station. It is a response to Philip Newell's comment last week on behalf of Stagecoach. The letter gives a couple of example of how the service B does not connect with trains.

Hunts Post - 1 August

Four items of busway interest in this week's Hunts Post ( 1 August).

First ( page 6) , a letter from a resident of St Ives who has been using the bus to/from Huntingdon Rail Station for his daily commute. The new timetable has reduced the service to the station. he alos comments thta the buses don't comnnect well with the trains.  Stagecoach reply pointing out that the new evening frequency is the same as before, and that the Hinchingbrooke buses call at the stop on Brampton Road adjacent to the station. This isn't made clear by the published timetable though.

On page 14 are three articles about the busway.

Cambridgeshire County Council says that usage of the busway has been more than expected, reaching 2.5 million in the first year. They are expecting 3 million in year 2.

Whippet say their first year on the busway has been better than expected. Stagecoach.

Stagecoach refer to their heavy investment in vehicales and staff training. Their big question is - when will they get the return on their investment? In fact, they don't see that happening until the Northstowe development gets going.

Busway feeder routes

A Bluntisham resident complain that changes to the service 21 will result in her husband being unable to catch his bus connection to Huntingdon Station for his commute to work ( Hunts Post, 20 June, page 15). Stagecoach says this service is run 'on the back of the St Ivo School transport contract' which contract their manager, Andy Campbell, is confident of retaining. If he does retain the contract, reinstatement of the current level of service would be one of the likely options, but there are clearly no guarantees. Although no information about changes to Stagecoach's service 21 are yet to be found on the County Council's bus service web pages, the route A services that leave Somersham and service Bluntisham at 06.10, 06.30 and 06.50 are shown as ending on 20 July.  The 06.45 route A connection from Chatteris and Pidley is being withdrawn. Click here to see timetable.

Serving the villages north of St Ives with viable buses linking to busway services going in both directions is fraught with problems, and judging by the success of St Ives Park & Ride, many people from these places are simply driving to the busway. The poor frequency of the village buses, and the often roundabout routes they take in order to serve a loop of villages, is not working for them.

Revised timetables for Stagecoach busway services starting 23 July

The new busway timetable for Stagecoach's services A and B can now be viewed on Cambridgeshire County Council's bus timetable pages. Click here for details in 'print format'. Unfortunately the format does not make viewing easy as the current times and the new times are not separated out into two independent tables. However, there is a useful list of SMS codes for stops served by the A and B.  Wyton Camp gains a half hourly service  (route A)to/from St Ives and Cambridge for most of the day Monday-Saturday.  The other two route A service each hour terminate at Burrel Road in St Ives. Hinchingbrooke Hospital gets two service B per hour, and Huntingdon rail Station one an hour. Of course, the Hinchingbrooke buses wil stop on Brampton Road just outside ths railway station.For details of what those services are, click here. The revised times are not yet available on the Stagecoach website.