Changes to Whippet bus routes from 2 September

Whippet have announced the withdrawal of a number of their bus services and you can read the full details here:

http://www.go-whippet.co.uk/changes-local-bus-services-2-september-2017/

However, service C, which operates on the Guided Busway will be strengthened to half hourly between St Ives and Drummer Street, with some earlier and later journeys that at present.

Buses will continue to operate every hour on Sundays, but the gap at midday will be removed so the service is regular throughout the day.

Some service C journeys will start or finish at Fenstanton.

From 2 September, Service C will not serve Cambridge Railway Station , Somersham or Hill Rise/Ramsey Road in St Ives.

Bus diversions in St Ives

Due to road works at the junction of Ramsey Road and Houghton Road in St Ives on three evenings next week, buses on routes A and B will be diverted and will not call at stops on Ramsey Road nor the stop beside the shell Garage on Houghton Road.

The times when this diversion will be in place are : Mon 18 Aug 7pm to Tuesday 19 Aug 6am; Tue 19 Aug 7pm to Wed 20 Aug 6am and Wed 20 Aug 7pm to Thu 21 Aug 6 am.

Full details here.

Changes to route B timetable from 4 August 2013

Stagecoach has announced slight amendments to the route B timetable on Sundays starting from 4 August. The 1700 and 1740 journeys from Cambridge Drummer Street will run to Ramsey Road and Hill Rise instead of terminating at St Ives Bus Station.

The new timetable is available here.

Bus stops and route between St Ives and Huntingdon

Letter in this week's Hunts Post asking for a bus stop at Huntingdon Garden & Leisure, and for service B to return to its older route via Ramsey Road. (Hunts Post, 26 June, page 8)

Poor bus service between St Ives and Huntingdon

This week's Hunts Post (22 August, page 6) carries a letter from a St Ives resident who was trying to catch the bus to Huntingdon en route for the Olympics. She noticed six buses going towards Cambridge while she waited for 40 minutes for a bus heading towards Huntingdon.  Unfortunately she was waiting in Ramsey Road, and as readers of this blog will know, the Huntingdon-bound buses no longer travel the top end of Ramsey Road. The writer mentions difficulties getting information about the bus services, and also unhelpful or non-existent responses from Philip Norwell of Stagecoach in response to questions about the timetable.

A closer look at the new route A timetable

Stagecoach has been saying for a while that the busway route A would be extended to serve St Ives Bus Station and the northern part of St Ives. I got the impression that the bus route would form a loop turning left at the Seven Wives, then right into Hill Rise and right again to return towards Cambridge down the top section of Ramsey Road. 

However, the new timetable, as revealed on Cambridgeshire County Council’s transport pages (click here), seems to indicate that the buses won’t perform this loop, but will run either to St Ives Burrel Road or to Wyton Camp via Ansley way, which I think is bus-speak for one of the stops in Hill Rise. 

When I looked in detail at the timetable, it struck me that route A doesn’t provide a consistent service frequency throughout the working day to the northern end of St Ives. 

So what will the service be like? 

Monday-Friday departures from Wyton Camp will be at 06.20 then 07.20, then every half hour until 17.20, then 17.58, 18.28 and 18.58. There is an extra early morning journey starting from Ansley Way ( i.e. Hill Rise) at 05.57. But no 06.50 departure, which you'd think would be a peak travel to work journey. During this early morning period, several route A journeys towards Cambridge start from St Ives Bus Station.

From Burrel Road ( Mopnday-Friday) buses will leave at 07.40 (school days only), then 08.10 and every half hour until 17.10. So, as with the Wyton Camp service, a bit thin on the ground during the morning peak for passengers heading towards Cambridge. 

Heading out from Cambridge, the first A  of the day arrives at Wyton Camp at 08.11 then half hourly until 17.41 (which is the 16.27 from Trumpington and16.53 from Cambridge New Square). Then follows an inexplicable one-and-a half-hour gap when service A runs no further than St Ives Bus Station, forcing passengers from Trumpington, Addenbrooke’s, Cambridge Railway Station, Parkside,The Science Park and CRC, to have to change onto a B, which, of course, won’t take them further up Ramsey Road than the Seven Wives.  Later arrivals at Wyton Camp are at 19.11, 19.26, 19.56, 20.26, with two further journeys terminating at Ansley Way at 20.49 and 21.19. 

Arrivals at Burrel Road are at 08.51 then half hourly until 1721, which is the 16.38 departure from Cambridge New Square, and a bit early for most people finishing work. Curiously the Saturday service to both Wyton Camp and Burrel Road is steadier throughout the day, and there is no evening gap in service to Wyton Camp.

During the late evening, route B serves the top of Ramsey Road and Hill Rise as at present, with four trips in each direction Monday-Saturday. There is no change to the Sunday bus service.


I hope I have understood the new timetable correctly. As I mentioned in another posting, the old and new times are mingled together in a single timetable, which makes reading it difficult.

Bus petition

The Hunts Post ( 20 June, page 25) reports that about 300 people have signed a petition against bus service changes affecting the northern end of St Ives. Route B will run fast from St Ives to Huntingdon by skipping the top end of Ramsey Road and Hill Rise.  Route A will serve those parts of St Ives, but will not link to Huntingdon. Andy Campbell, of Stagecoach, is, in effect, saying that not enough people travel from Ramsey Road / Hill Rise to Huntingdon to justify the detour, and that providing faster service between Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon has priority.

More about Ramsey Road timetable changes

This week's Hunts Post (30 May, page 6) includes a very long letter from a Sawtry resident, mainly about changes to buses in the Sawtry area, but goes on to compare Stagecoach with Ryanair. The writer thinks that Stagecoach has used spurious arguments to justify re-routong the service B away Hill Rise, and claims that time saving will be marginal. He suggests that time gained will be lost during slow crew changeovers at St Ives Park & Ride. There is also a criticism of Whippet for unofficial variations of their bus routes, and finally bewails that fact the bus passengers have no official channel for pursuing complaints.

Re-routing buses in northern St Ives

This week's Hunts Post (9 May, page 6) has two letters from St Ives residents about Stagecoach's proposal to divert the Service B away from Hill Rise and the north end of Ramsey Road. One accuses Stagecoach of being motivated solely by profit, and not really considering the needs of the people who use the buses. The other highlights the needs of elderly and disabled people for whom the rerouting will cause problems. There is a reply from Andy Campbell, manager of Stagecoach East. He says that the Service B will continue to serve the full length of Ramsey Road in the evenings and Sundays. There will still be a direct service between Hill Rise and St Ives Town Centre. Bus coverage of St Ives will improve. The Oxmoor will still be served by the B, and Huntingdon will have a quicker service. The accusation that Stagecoach is somehow punishing St Ives because of the Town Council's refusal to allow buses through the town centre, he says, is ludicrous. Of course, the fact remains that passengers from the north end of Ramsey Road and Hill r Rise won't have a direct service to/from Huntingdon. Whippet might well find themselves picking up some of this traffic. In the Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier (10 may, page 14-15) is a report about the recent flooding, caused by rain water flowing down the Great Ouse and its tributaries. There are several photos of the floods, including one (by Mark Shelley) of the guided busway cycle track, but nothing at all in the text about the busway.

Busway in today's Hunts Post

Today's Hunts Post (2 May) touches on several topics of busway interest. First, on page 5, is an update on the Cambridgeshire County Council v BAM Nuttall court case. While the Council is suing BAM Nuttall for £60m, BAM Nuttall is now making a counter claim of £43m. On page 14 it is reported that the County Council is pressing ahead with creating a new bus stop in Station Road, St Ives, to allow extra busway buses to serve St Ives town. The siting of the bus stop, outside Hyperion auction house, is near a road junction and therefore likely to increase road accidents, according to the County Council's own road safety report. There are four letters from Hunts Post readers (on pages 7 and 32). The topic of all four concerns the proposal to divert the service B away from the north end of Ramsey Road and Hill Rise in order to provide faster journeys to/from Huntingdon. One writer fears he may have to revert to using his car when travelling to/from Huntingdon rail station. Another speaks of Stagecoach's plans as depriving residents of northern St Ives of choice of bus services, and calls for a compromise solution whereby some buses continue to serve Hill Rise. A third letter is about problems the revised service will cause for disabled people who are unable to walk to St Ives town centre if buses are re-routed, and asks Stagecoach to provide an alternative. Finally, Peter Lee of Whippet says his company intends to continue service the Hill Rise route, and would consider increasing the frequency of services if demand justifies it.

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)