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#

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.

Evening diversions, week beginning 25 March, Cambridge City Centre

I've tried to capture the essence of this post in the title!

Starting on Monday 25 March, there are diversions after 21.30 each evening affecting Bridge Street and Magdalene Street in Cambridge City Centre. This means that the Round Church St and Jesus Lane stops won't be served by the last couple of "B" services of the day in each direction.

How long does this last, I hear you asking. Well, I wish I could tell you for certain. According to boards "on the ground" there are four nights of works. According to the Stagecoach website diversions are in place from Monday to Friday. Perhaps Stagecoach have learned from experience that all roadworks take longer than originally expected...

According to the County Council website the works continue until Friday (but they're overnight works, which suggests that "Thursday night" is the last one. But according to the County Council, the works are scheduled to commence at 20.00.

Who knows? How many possible variants of what should be the same information is it reasonable for the passenger to digest? How important, in the scheme of things, is providing accurate, reliable information to potential passengers? Why are the simplest things so hard to get right?

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.

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).

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.

Cambridge Half Marathon - Sunday 4th March

Stagecoach has published an update on itsCambridge bus routes, many of which will be diverted on Sunday 4th March, due to road closures for the Cambridge Half Marathon.

 Bus B will be unable to serve Shire Hall, Jesus Lane/Round Church Street and New Square befor 1pm.

Towards St. Ives buses will serve the first stop on Histon Road (The Grapes). Customers in Central Cambridge should use Drummer Street bay 12. Towards Cambridge buses will serve the first stop on Victoria Road instead of Shire Hall

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/service-updates/serviceupdatesarticle?SituationId=ID-24/02/2017-14:31:57:474

Whippet bus route C will also be diverted. See http://www.go-whippet.co.uk/diversions-and-known-disruptions/

Busway diversions - weekends in February

A series of closures of the Busway has been announced for February. Details are as follows:

3/4 February - Fen Drayton Lakes Stop - Buses will be unable to serve this stop - No Alternative is avaliable

10/11 February - Swavesey - To be confirmed

17/18 February - Longstanton - Delays of 10-15 minutes - No stops missed

Further closures are expected, and details will be avaliable in due course

Apologies for the late notification.

One of the County Council's news releases (there were two, posted in different places) on this weekend's closure - and one which only went out on 3 February - refers to the "request stop Holywell Ferry" [sic]. Curiously, the corresponding announcement on the Busway web pages refers to it by its correct name. Puzzling.

The next two closures/diversions have yet to be confirmed by the County Council - so should, I guess, be marked "subject to alteration".

UPDATED 8 February: The County Council has now published its plans for the remainder of the month - and provided an explanation as to why the work is being carried out. Here's that information:
https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/weekend-guided-busway-repairs-planned/

Timetable changes, 7 January (or 8 January, to be more precise)

Stagecoach are introducing a few timetable changes to Busway services with effect from 7 January (although none of the changes actually seem to apply until Monday 8 January). Here are the details:

A new journey has been added at 0823 from Longstanton Park & Ride to Cambridge Rail Station. The 0702 journey from Hill Rise will start at 0625 at Somersham, and will serve Colne, Earith, Bluntisham and Needingworth.
Also, the 0745 Route N from Cambridge will now terminate at Longstanton Park & Ride (M-F).

And here's a link to the revised timetable.

Timetable changes today (or tomorrow, in fact)

Stagecoach are making more changes to their Busway "B" service. In theory these impact only on the "regular road" section between Huntingdon and Peterborough, but it's possible there might be consequences for the Busway proper.

The B is to be rerouted via Stilton. To accommodate this, Peterborough services will leave Huntingdon 3 minutes earlier. And southbound services will generally leave Peterborough 5 minutes earlier. If this latter isn't sufficient to fit in the extra route mileage, then arrival at Huntingdon could be late, with consequences on the Huntingdon to Cambridge stretch. Only time will tell!

A revised timetable for the Huntingdon to Peterborough stretch is available for download here. The new times are also available from Traveline. The dedicated Busway pages on the County Council website seem unaware of either the route change or the amended timetable.

It's not 100% clear from either Stagecoach or Traveline if the Huntingdon/Peterborough service is continuing as a through service to/from Cambridge (there are a few runs that never have, of course). It seems unlikely that any change is planned in this regard, but until we have a new complete timetable for the whole Busway, it's impossible to be certain.

According to Stagecoach the changes come into effect today (29 October) - but there isn't a Sunday service on this stretch, so in practice they apply from 30 October.

Upcoming diversions

There are two sets of Busway diversions coming up soon.

The first one concerns only the "B" route and comes into effect tomorrow, Saturday 21 October. The Orchard Park East and West stops in both directions will be closed until 6pm on Sunday week. This will allow repairs at Iceni Way, Chariot Way, Chieftain Way and Graham Road to be carried out. The maintenance track will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists though. A replacement for the Orchard Park West stop will be provided at the regular bus stop on the Cambridge Road, just round the corner. Orchard Park East would-be passengers aren't quite so lucky. Presumably they will have to walk to the CRC.

The other diversion affects "A", "B" and "C" routes, and applies this coming Sunday, 22 October. It's caused by another road race. Route A services won't serve New Square until 1 pm. Passengers should go to Drummer St Bus Station (Bay 12) instead. Until 1 pm Route B services can't serve the stops from Castle Street (Shire Hall) through to New Square, in either direction. Additional stops are being made on Victoria Road (inbound) and Histon Road Grapes (outbound). Route C services aren't using the St Ives-bound New Square stop until 1 pm

The County Council announcement about these diversions doesn't even mention the Whippet service. And provides incorrect information about the "A" change. And incomplete information about the "B". The information in the preceding paragraph is based on information provided by the operators, whom I'm inclined to trust more than the County Council.

Finally, I feel like there should be a special prize to anyone who can explain why inbound C services still stop at New Square, but B services don't...

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).