This page will list up-to-the-minute news from CamBUC. This will include service information from the providers of bus services within the CamBUC region.

Latest News

(Nov 21, 2003) A modified schedule will run on National Express 717/797 on Dec 24 and Dec 26. On Dec 24 the 19:50 717 from Cambridge will terminate at Gatwick and the 21:10 from Cambridge will terminate at Heathrow. The 23:00 Brighton-Heathrow will not run. On Dec 26 the 01:15 from Cambridge will not run, the 04:50 Gatwick-Brighton will not run, the 03:05 and 03:50 from Cambridge will start at Heathrow, and the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield will not be served all day. The 01:15 and 03:15 from Brighton will not run.

(Nov 5, 2003) Citi 8 starts on Monday Nov 10. The route is Madingley Road P&R, University West Cambridge site, Madingley Road, Grange Road, West Road, Silver Street, Trumpington Street, Brooklands Avenue, Hills Road, Addenbrookes. Travel is free for all on the first day of operation, and free on production of a University pass from then on. Services run every 15 minutes from 0700 to 1930 from Madingley Road, arrived at Addenbrookes 24 minues later. Journeys from Addenbrookes run 0730 to 1930 at 15 minute intervals, again taking 24 minutes.

(Oct 28, 2003) We now have what is hopefully the definitive version of the November changes.

(Oct 11, 2003) There will be timetable changes on Norfolk Green 63 starting from 11/Nov/2003, and on Burton's Sunday route 11 from 2/Nov/2003 - the latter intended to improve reliability. Details are also expected soon of Cambridge changes due in November including a higher frequency service on the Cambridge-Haverhill corridor and a new Citi 8 running between Madingley Road and Addenbrookes.

(Sep 29, 2003) The X46 will cease operation on Nov 10th, being replaced by services 46 (Cambridge-Royston) and 47 (Cambridge-Guilden Morden). The 46 runs hourly from Cambridge to Royston between 0820 and 1520, then between 1640 and 1840. The journey is scheduled to take 46 minutes. The 1640 service will go via Long Road. Return journeys are at 0710, 0730, then hourly 0910-1610 and then at 1725. The route of the 46 is Cambridge, Trumpington, Harston, Faxton, Shepreth, Melbourn, Royston bus station and Royston Tesco. There are only two journeys on the 47, one of which will not run on Saturdays (there is no Sunday service). The 1250 from Cambridge runs to Royston Burns Road via Trumpington, Harston, Haslingfield, Barrington, Shepreth, Melbourn and Royston. The 1620 (M-F only) follows the same route, continuing on to Kneesworth, Bassingbourn, Litlington, Steeple Morden and Guilden Morden. In the inbound direction there is a Monday-Friday service starting from Guilden Morden at 0715, and a Mon-Sat service from Royston Tesco at 0925

(Sep 19, 2003) The following service changes take place on November 2 or 3 as appropriate:-

Stagecoach 193 - Biggleswade-St Neots - withdrawn

Stagecoach 112 - Bedford-St Neots - withdrawn

Stagecoach X5 - Cambridge-Oxford - timetable changes

Stagecoach 14/14A - Cambridge-Bedford - timetable changes (provides hourly St Neots-Bedford link, plus X5 journeys)

Stagecoach 178 - Bedford-Gamlingay - withdrawn

(Aug 10, 2003) The broken links on stagecoachbus.com have finally been fixed.

(Aug 2, 2003) The latest Citi guide is now on stagecoachbus.com, and the Citi timetables have been added to the timetable library. However the 404s after searching for a route by destination haven't been fixed.

(Jul 31, 2003) stagecoachbus.com has now been updated for the Citi7, however the update is something of an own goal. The whole Citi section has been deleted rather than updated, and the links to timetables for Citi 1 through Citi 6 now produce a 404 Page Not Found error. The 31 is also still listed in the timetables section despite this now being operated under contract from the County Council. At least the out of date fares information is gone now... along with the rest of the information about Citi 1-6.

(Jul 30, 2003) The County website now has the timetables in place. So does stagecoachbus.com, but only if you search by destination or route number. The main content of the Stagecoach Cambridge site is still woefully out of date with no ostensible mention of C7 - you'd only find it if you knew to look for it.

(Jul 28, 2003) This is the first day of operation of the C7, and the associated service changes. While the County's website has details of the services (although without timetables as yet), the Stagecoach website has no mention of the service changes whatsoever. Indeed, the whole site is getting quite stale.

(Jul 18, 2003) We now have details of the C7 timetable. The headline news is that it also serves Pampisford, Duxford, IWM Duxford and Whittlesford. The main Monday Friday service runs from the Imperial War Museum to Cottenham every 20 minutes from 0725 through to 1735, with the one exception that the 1615 journey begins at 1610. From Duxford it takes an hour to Emmanuel Street, and a further 36 minutes to Cottenham. The first journey is from Duxford Wheatsheaf at 0613, then two journeys starting at Pampisford at 0702 and 0722 before the main pattern begins. The 1615 and 1715 journeys go on to Cottenham Denmark Road. The first journey after the 1735 is at 1815, running onto to Emmanuel Street. The service is then hourly from 1846 to 2146. The 2146 journey runs right through to Cottenham Denmark Road.

Going towards Duxford the first two journeys are at 0630 and 0650 from Emmanuel Street. The first through journey leaves Cottenham (Lambs Lane/Victory Way) at 0626. The service is then every 20 minutes until 1716 with the 1616 and 1656 going through to Duxford Woburn Place, as does the 1746. The 1816 runs to Duxford IWM. The 1846 runs only to Emmanuel Street, and then there are hourly journeys between 1918 and 2218. The last two journeys finish at Whittlesford.

The Saturday service pattern is broadly similar.

(Jul 16, 2003) Changes coming up on July 27 and Sep 1 are detailed below:-

July 27 changes

32 - (Saffron Walden, Sawston, Cambridge) Withdrawn - replaced by a County contracted service

33 - (Whittlesford, Sawston, Cambridge) Withdrawn - replaced by a County contracted service

104/5/6- (Cambridge, Cottenham, Ely/Mepal) 104 and 105 withdrawn, 106 retimed to connect with C7.

Citi 7 - New Mon-Sat 20 minute frequency service running between Cottenham Lambs Lane, Histon, Impington, Cambridge, Addenbrookes, Trumpington, Gt Shelford, Stapleford, Sawston White Horse

Sep 1 changes

X6 - (Cambridge-Peterborough) withdrawn

X7 - (Cambridge, March, Peterborough) withdrawn

X8 - (Wisbech-March) withdrawn

Sunday X7/X8 - (Cambridge, Ely, Wisbech, Peterborough) withdrawn

X12 - (Cambridge, Newmarket) Two early morning journeys between Newmarket and Ely withdrawn

157/8 - (St Ives-Cambridge) Two peak journeys withdrawn

12 - New service hourly Ely-Littleport, evening service from Cambridge to Littleport

9/9A (Ely, March, Cambridge) Timetable changes

CamBUC opinion: There is little here to be cheerful about. Withdrawal of services outside of Cambridge requires the County to investigate alternatives and potentially commit funds to replacing former commercial services instead of developing new areas of bus use. With a quicker rail service between Cambridge, March and Peterborough it isn't that surprising that the X7 (like the original X6 Peterborough/Cambridge/Stansted before it) hasn't survived, however the rail service will be of little comfort to the affected communities inbetween.

The Citi 7 gives cause for concern too. To begin with, it's a very long route that goes well outside the city at both extremes, and as such it's debatable whether it's deserving of inclusion in the Citi regime. It goes well beyond the Megarider city boundary at both ends of the route. It is likely that the central section through the city will make timekeeping very difficult unless adequate recovery time has been allowed at both ends of the route - a problem the C4 suffers from now with recovery time only at the Cherry Hinton end. It's hard not to draw comparisons with the former Arbury-Sawston service which was the occasion of the company's last but one encounter with the Traffic Commissioners. Essentially the Citi 7 is the 104/5 Cottenham route combined with the 32/33 to Sawston with a diversion to Addenbrookes added in. While it does mean that the Histon Road corridor finally gets a 20 minute service replacing the 30 minute service provided by the 16/17 when Citi was first introduced my feeling is that this would probably have been better as two separate routes rather than one very long route.

(Jul 15, 2003) A further five low-floor double deckers have now been received from London and are being painted into green for the Babraham Road/Cowley Road P&R service. The county council have been going through a re-tendering process, so there will probably be some route and operator changes in the coming months. News will appear here as we get it.

(May 25, 2003) The Trumpington Park&Ride has recently been converted to low floor double-deck operation. The other two routes will follow suit later in the year. However, the single-deck low floor buses presently working on Cowley Road/Babraham Road will be moved onto other routes before the arrival of the low floor double decks, so for the interim period passengers travelling from to Addenbrookes by Park & Ride are advised to use Trumpington and then the C5. If travelling from the city centre the C1 or C2 could be used instead.

(Jan 11, 2003) Changes are planned for 113, Citi 2 (23 Feb) and Citi 4 (24 Feb). There will be an extra afternoon journey on the 113. The Citi 2 will no longer serve the Grafton Centre, and the Citi 4 will no longer serve the Science Park - both changes being made to improve punctuality.

Starting on December 15th 2000, a new night-time service will run on two new routes each Friday and Saturday night for a three month experimental period. Click here for details of the route and the timetable. (Update: the service has continued to operate beyond its initial experimental period.)

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