Changes to busway timetables from Sunday 25th July

 Stagecoach have announced a number of changes to busway routes, and other connected services.

See this link for more details:

https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/East/BuswayServiceChangeOverviewWeb.pdf

More changes to busway timetables from 24 January

Stagecoach are reducing their service frequency on the Busway. This is in response to a downturn in passenger numbers as a result of the COVID lockdown. Peak hour service C will cease to run from 24 January.

Full details at https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/east/east-covid19-services?utm_campaign=526370_SCCM%20S%20Covid%20lockdown%20update%20Jan%202021&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Dotdigital&dm_i=50SA,BA5E,JTDOH,1AD04,1#tab4

Stagecoach changes from 3rd January

Stagecoach are making further changes to Busway services from 3rd January. Some (but be careful - NOT ALL) journeys on route C will begin from/terminate at Huntingdon, rather than running only to/from St Ives. This will provide additional capacity during peak travel times whilst route B is being operated by single-deck vehicles.

Full details, and revised timetables, are on the Stagecoach website.

Busway timetable changes from 1st November

 Stagecoach have announced a revised timetable to commence from 1st November.

Core busway routes A, B and C will connect. with feeder services to/from various smaller towns and villages near St Ives and Huntingdon.

Changes include - increase frequency between St Ives and Cambridge, and later journeys on Sunday evenings. On the other hand, it seems that Huntingdon Rail Station is no longer served directly —passengers wishing to transfer to rail services there would have to use a Hinchingbrooke bus and alight at the nearest stop in George Street, Huntingdon.

Details at https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/east/busway-and-connecting-services#

Partial closure on southern section, 25-28 September

 A stretch of the Busway, between Trumpington Park & Ride and the Foster Road stop, will be closed completely from 19.00 on Friday 25 September until Monday 28 September. This is a "complete" closure, so impacts not just on buses and their passengers, but also on pedestrians and cyclists.

There's nothing at present about this closure on the County Council's Busway website (why not???), so this information comes courtesy of a Cambridgeshire Live report - which doesn't specify exactly when the reopening is due to take place.

The closure is to allow upgrade work on the traffic lights controlling the single-track section to be carried out.

Yet another weekend, Yet another diversion

This weekend, a different diversion for the A, D and Citi 8 bus services due to the work on Histon A14 roundabout.

Details are here https://www.stagecoachbus.com/service-updates/serviceupdatesarticle?SituationId=ID-19/09/2019-16:20:27:614

However, I would say that the details for the replacement services are, as usual with Stagecoach, vague.

Take this shuttle ‘along the A route between Cambridge City Centre and Orchard Park’. What times does it run and why isn’t it arranged to allow passengers travelling to St Ives to change at Cambridge North. Surely that would make more sense. Specific times for the ‘shuttle’ are needed.

Last night I travelled out of Cambridge on the 22.25 departure for St Ives. After picking up and dropping passengers at the Histon Road stop near Orchard Park, we then diverted through Orchard Park West, Orchard Park East, CRC and Science Park (non-stop, of course), then out along the A10 to the Milton Recycling facility, and in through Impington( a narrow twisty. road), to rejoin the normal route at Histon. This added an extra 15 minutes to the journey time.

Do Stagecoach create a revised timetable to account for these scheduled delays, or do they simply allow the bus service to become chaotic?

In my observations, they generally allow the buses to become chaotic.

I also take issue with Stagecoach over the lack of public information at bus stops about the diversions, particularly the effect this has on travel to/from the Orchard Park stops because of the contra flow route swap between the A/d and B services.

Train companies are penalised for this delays like this. Why not buses?

Another weekend, another diversion

The title of last week's post was rhetorical. For lo, another weekend closure and diversion looms.

On September 14 and 15 the Busway will be closed between St Ives and Swavesey. The nature of the diversionary route - the lack of public roads (!) - means that the Fen Drayton Lakes stop cannot be served at all.

No details have been given of the revised timetable that will result from this quite extensive diversion.

Is there no end to the diversions?

SO,...yet again there's a Busway closure this weekend - this one's between Oakington and Longstanton and will last all day Saturday and Sunday.

The County Council's announcement claims that "all services will be running as normal", but as the diversionary route takes several minutes longer than the direct Busway route, it's hard to take this statement at all seriously. Indeed, one wonders why the County Council feel it's necessary to make this sort of false statement Wouldn't passengers - or those who haven't given up in disgust following a summer of closures and diversions - rather be given accurate, reliable and, above all, truthful information, rather than this misleading spin? Feel free to offer your thoughts in the Comments!

NB: the closure applies equally to buses, cyclists and pedestrians. And, presumably, horses as well.

Diversion - Cambridge Parkside

I'm late passing this one on!

Since earlier this week Busway services have been unable to serve Cambridge Parkside - this is served only by route A & D buses heading to Cambridge North and the St Ives area. This is due to roadworks (which have been reported in the local press - and personally by my wife! - as causing significant disruption.

Services are stopping at the Regent Street stop instead, before resuming the usual route at Parker Street.

Stagecoach report that the diversion is expected to operate from 10 April for *approximately 10 days". It's worth noting, however, that the permit authorising these works on the carriageway is valid until 22 April (to allow them to overrun, perhaps?).

The times they are a-changing' (yet again...)

I'm sure Bob Dylan didn't have Stagecoach in mind when he wrote his influential song (and yes, I do realise Stagecoach didn't exist in 1964). But it's certainly appropriate, as another clutch of timetable revisions is set to be introduced on 13 January.

Here are the details from the Stagecoach website:

"There are minor adjustments to morning peak hour departures to accommodate additional journeys between St. Ives and Cambridge. There are also changes to journeys in the evening peak to accommodate additional journeys between Cambridge and St Ives. There are additional minor changes to evening peak journeys from St. Ives Hill Rise, Marley Road and Ramsey Road towards St Ives Town Centre. Route A departures on Sundays have been re-named to Route D and will serve Milton Road stops. The Route A to Buckden will now depart St. Ives Bus Station at 18:08 and will serve stops 12 minutes earlier throughout the journey. The 1450 from Huntingdon to Peterborough (M-F) journey will now depart 5 minutes later and will serve stops 5 minutes later throughout."

The revised timetable is also available for download from Stagecoach.

Bus vs deer

Last Friday (7 December) a Stagecoach busway service collided with, and subsequently ran over, a deer. The Cambridgeshire Live report is a little unclear regarding the details, but the bus seems to have been operating a rush-hour "A" service from Cambridge to St Ives. The precise location of the incident is uncertain. No injuries (other than to the deer).

Timetable changes - 16 September

Stagecoach have announced a series of changes to the A and N services from 16 September. The new timetable isn't currently available, either from Stagecoach or Traveline. Here's the Stagecoach announcement:

Service N will no longer operate. The peak time N's will be renamed to Route D and have been re-timed. These will continue to serve all stops along Milton Road. The Off-Peak N's will be replaced by a diversion of the Route A once an hour via Cambridge North Station. These will also be renamed to Route D and will also serve all stops along Milton Road.
In order to maintain a 15 minute service on Route A, all Route A journeys have been re-timed between Trumpington Park & Ride and the Science Park in both directions. The Buckden journey in the afternoon will now be split at St Ives bus station. This is to enable customers who finish work at 5 at CB1 to catch a later bus and change in St Ives as these changes will see the A's depart earlier. The last A's to/from Royston are renumbered D's.

Busway driver guilty of speeding

Those with a long memory may recall an accident on the Busway in February 2016 (and if you don't, here's a link to our blogpost). The driver concerned was recently given a 12-week suspended prison sentence for speeding at the time of the crash. According to a Cambridge News report the bus was travelling at 53mph in a 30mph zone at the time of the accident, whilst the driver was reading a time duty card.

You can read the full Cambridge News report here.

Busway Service A

On Cambridgeshire County Council's website you can find maps of all the bus routes in the county that show all stops. Stagecoach's route A, which started life 7 years ago as a simple route between St Ives Park & Ride and Trumpington, has now reached a new level of complication, with numerous peak-hour branch routes.  You need to look at the map to fully appreciate it.

Click here for the web version.

Timetable changes from 29 July

As mentioned in an earlier post, there are to be significant changes to Busway timetables coming up at the end of July. It's now clear that these will affect most Stagecoach services.

They stem, in one way or another, from the need to accommodate the addition of journeys to and from Royston on Busway A (as perviously reported). But that has a knock-on effect on Route B times.

In addition, Route A buses that currently terminate at RAF Wyton will now terminate at Hill Rise during the day. RAF Wyton will be served by Route B on Peterborough and Huntingdon rail station journeys. Some peak time A buses will continue to serve RAF Wyton.

There are too many changes to be able to provide meaningful detail here. Fortunately, the new times are available on Traveline (but not - at time of writing - on the Stagecoach website).

Route A additional services from 28 July

Although these proposals haven't yet been submitted to the Traffic Commissioners, there are changes afoot at the southern end of Route A.

From 28 July there will be new Busway A services to and from Trumpington Park and Ride

Two new services will run from the Park and Ride at 06:02 and 06:17, and there will also be a new bus route to and through the biomedical campus from Royston, also stopping at Melbourn, Shepreth, Foxton and Harston (separate to the existing 26 bus service which currently routes to the City). This new bus route will initially run hourly and will be an extension to the Busway A to/from Trumpington Park and Ride.

The new 08:03 Busway A service from Longstanton will now be a single-deck bus, which means it can travel all the way to the biomedical campus as opposed to terminating at Cambridge rail station. 

Unplanned diversion - overrunning works?

The Busway was closed during this morning's rush hour south of Cambridge Railway Station. Does anyone have any further information? I've checked the County Council, Stagecoach and Whippet Twitter feeds, Facebook and web pages, and none report any problems. The driver of one bus was clearly unaware, so it seems like a last-minute thing.

My guess is that it's "overrunning engineering works" (a disease transmitted by the neighbouring railway line, perhaps...).

Busway diversions - weekends in April

More diversions coming up! Starting tomorrow (Saturday 7 April)!!

This weekend: between Cambridge Railway Station and Trumpington Park and Ride
14-15 April: in Histon, between Park Road and Station Road (St Ives-bound buses will serve a stop in Station Road)

Further information (although there isn't much to be said) is available on the County Council website. (Annoyingly, there's no link to this announcement on the County Council's own dedicated Busway page - and the announcement itself appears, from the embedded metadata, to have been posted as late as 2115 on 6 April - contradicting the displayed date of 5 April, and leaving it rather late to warn passengers)

New timetable starting Sunday 1st April 2018

Stagecoach have publishedtheir new busway timetable, to come into operation on Sunday 1st April. Details at http://thebusway.info/pdfs/tt/ABNR-april2018.pdf

Busway diversions - weekends in March

Details have now been posted of this month's weekend diversions on the Busway.

In summary:

9-10 March: Between Longstanton and Oakington. But no changes to the stops served.
17-18 March: Between Histon and Milton Road, and with changes to pick up and set down locations
24-25 March: Between Histon and Milton Road, and with changes to pick up and set down locations

The maintenance track remains open at all times.

All services are affected. It's reasonable to assume that these diversions will involve extended journey times around the blockages, but as there's no mention of them on either the Stagecoach or Whippet websites, there's no further information about these. Unlike engineering works on the railways, the bus companies never issue revised timetables, so if you need to be somewhere at a specific time (a railway station, for example!), you're left to do the calculations yourself.

Further details are now available (at rather short notice) on the County Council website.