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#

Whippet "C" special offer and competition

Between 28 May and 3 June, Whippet is offering unlimited travel on Route C for £10, covering the whole week.

And they're also running a competition, linked to that promotion. So if you want to win a bottle of Jack Daniels...

The whole thing runs under a "Tenner C" label ("Tennessee" - geddit??).

More details here.

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)

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.

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/

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...

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.

Fenstanton joins the Busway network

Not only is Fenstanton shortly to join the Busway network (a term I've just made up to describe the off-Busway services than continue to/from the Busway without the need to change buses...), but Whippet also plan to increase their "C" services (albeit by terminating in Cambridge City Centre and not serving the Railway Station - and omitting Somersham at the other end). Here's the full announcement from Whippet.

"Route C from 2 September 2017 We will be increasing the number of journeys between St Ives and Cambridge, Drummer Street Bus Station to provide a bus up to every 30 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays. 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.  Route C will no longer serve Cambridge Railway Station, Somersham or Hills Road/Ramsey Road in St Ives.  Some morning and afternoon journeys will start and finish at Fenstanton, providing residents with their first Busway service to Cambridge and a Sunday service."

This is part of a major shake-up of Whippet local bus services. Anyone interested in the "bigger picture" will want to read this announcement.

Fenstanton was, for a short while, served by a Stagecoach "feeder" bus to St Ives Park and Ride.

The new Whippet timetable for Fenstanton can be viewed at  http://www.go-whippet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Busway-C-timetable-for-web-2-Sept-2017.pdf

Busway route diversions - Sunday 5 March 2017 until 13.00

Because of the Cambridge Half Marathon, Busway route B will be diverted until 13.00  on Sunday 5th March.

Buses will be unable to serve Shire Hall, Round Church, Jesus Lane and New Square.

Passengers should use Drummer Street Bay 12.  Full details here.

Whippet's route C will also be diverted and there will be times when buses cannot serve stops at Mitcham’s Corner and New Square. Click here to download a PDF showing the alternative bus stops

Timetable changes from 17 October

As reported last month, a temporary timetable (and altered route) is due to be implemented on Route R on17 October. The revised timetable is available here. This change is expected to last for around 3 months.

There's also one change on Route A from the same date. The 0815 journey from Longstanton P&R will now depart at 0825, and operate 10 minutes later throughout. For the updated A/B timetable, follow this link.

I notice that Whippet has also posted a new timetable for Route C, valid from 26 September, although I haven't been able to find any information about what's changed. Here's a link to the new Route C timetable.

So that's a clean sweep of new timetables then!

Whippet changes from 26 July

It's been a long time coming - indeed, it was back in mid-March that Andrew first reported that Whippet were planning changes to their services, including Busway C and D. Now it's reported that those changes will be implemented from July 26.

According to Whippet:

Buses will no longer operate as route D. All our guided buses will now be route C via Science Park. The journey to Long Road Sixth Form College will operate on all weekdays, not just college days, and will use The Busway between Cambridge Station and Addenbrooke’s Hospital to avoid the traffic on Hills Road.  Between the guided busway and Long Road College buses will serve bus stops on Robinson Way outside the Rosie Hospital.  The afternoon journey will be delayed by 10 minutes to give students enough time to reach the bus. The daytime pattern of departures will also now apply on Saturdays and will be complimented by the revised route 1A running on the opposite half hour, resulting in a 30-minute service from Cambridge Railway Station to St Ives.  The midday journey from Cambridge to Somersham will run an hour later, giving more time in the city. Times of route C from Cambridge City Centre in the evenings are adjusted slightly. Route 1A will provide later journeys to St Ives including a new 18:40 departure from Cambridge Railway Station.

So Route D is now "dead".

More information, including links to the new timetable, on the Whippet website.

Extension of guided busway to Cambridge Science Park Station

Cambridgeshire County Council is expected soon to approve construction of a 500-metre guided busway link between Milton Road and the new railway station at Chesterton on the northern edge of Cambridge.

The likely contractor is named in a Cambridge News article as Balfour Beatty, and construction of the track beams is likely to be on site, rather than brought in from elsewhere.

If the scheme proves too expensive, ' a road with guided entry and exit points to prevent trespass' may be built instead.

It is not clear from the article what provision is likely to be made for ordinary buses to serve the new station, nor indeed what specific bus routes may run.

From my perspective, as a St Ives resident, I am wondering if the existing bus routes A, B and C may be diverted to the new station - which would inevitably slow down their journey times. Or are some new routes being planned? What connections are planned between guided buses and the train, especially with regard to late night train arrivals from London? Up to now, evening guided bus connections at Huntingdon Station with trains from London have proved poor, and they do not run until late evening.

Whippet fares to rise

I saw a notice on a Whippet route C bus this morning advising that fares are going up as from Monday 7 April. As yet no detailed information appears on Whippet's website.

Mitcham's Corner bus cut-through

Cambridgeshire County Council is planning to create a 'cut-through' for buses at Mitcham's Corner. This will speed up buses travelling from Victoria Avenue to Milton Road and Chesterton Road by 30 seconds, and will benefit Busway routes A and C. The cost of £97,000 is part of a £5.2 million Government-funded scheme to improve bus transport in Cambridge and is supported by the bus companies.

See Cambridge News here.

St Ives Morrison's

There is a hint in this week's Hunts Post ( 23 October, page 24) that Whippet is planning to divert its busway route C.

A new Morrison's store that is planned for the eastern edge of St Ives close to the Marsh Harrier pub/restaurant. The article suggests that the store will be served by six buses an hour, with services 12 and  C diverted. The C currently does a loop around north-west St Ives serving Hill Rise and Ramsey Road.

Read article here.

New busway timetable booklet

Today I picked up a copy of the latest Cambridgeshire busway timetable dated to start from 9 September 2013. This is published by Cambridgeshire County Council.

There don't seem to be many alterations as compared with the previous timetable issued in December last year. But I suggest that you check out your regular journeys before travelling.

But beware - there are a few printing errors on pages 20 and 21 - the timetable for Whippet's routes C and D, plus Stagecoach's A journeys that start from Chatteris, Ramsey and Somersham. The 0731 C from Somersham and the 0802 C from Hill Rise are shown as calling at Histon Road/Akeman Street AND Milton Road/Union Lane They are then shown as not calling at Drummer Street and terminating at Regent Street rather than the Railway Station. The following four C journeys are shown as not serving that rail station and terminating at Addenbrooke's Outpatients.

A footnote on this page mentions that the 0720 from Somersham contiues to Long Road College. In fact, there is no bus leaving Somersham at 0720. This note actually refers to the 0725 from Somersham The Trundle and 0731 from Somersham Cross.

The correct times are given on the large sheet timetables at bus stops and  presumably also on the Whippet website here.

In the reverse direction the 1725 Whippet from Drummer Street is shown on page 24 as a C travelling via Histon Road. However, the Whippet website shows this service as a C via Milton Road.

Not sure I can even trust the timetable that appears here on the official busway website. It gets the 1725 C wrong.

There are a couple of other oddities with this timetable leaflet that I'd like to mention.

First, the map on pages 6-7 doesn't show the bus stop at Houghton Road, served by both A and B services, and shown on the maps that appear at bus stops. It's a potentially useful changing point for passengers from Ramsey Road to Huntingdon.

Second, on page 35 is a map showing the bus stops in St Ives.  Why isn't the bus stop at the start of Houghton Road just round the corner from the Seven Wives not shown? Buses on route B certainly stop there.

And lastly, the map on page 35 shows the Whippet C running along Chestnut Road. Several times I've seen the C turning off Ramsey Road along Houghton Road. Is this Whippet drivers doing unofficial variations from the route? Has any reader of this blog used that section of the C route?

Incident with guided bus near Somersham

Today's Hunts Post ( 20 March, page 3) carries a photograph of a guided bus at an angle across a road.

The incident took place yesterday (Tuesday 19 March) shortly after 07.35. A passenger on the bus reported that there was a bang form the back of the bus, a hissing sound and the bus swung onto the grass. The bus then slid down the road at a 40-50 degree angle. Fortunately no other traffic was affected and no-one was hurt.

It's not possible to see from the photograph whether this was the 0725 service C from Somersham to Cambridge Railway Station via Needingworth.