Two Classes of Bus User

Here in Milton we have a Citi 2 bus service which runs into Cambridge on a ten minute periodicity during the day. In some ways this is a significant improvement over the old half hour service in that it comes so often you can just turn up and go and it also goes to a lot more places, so if your destination is anywhere in Chesterton, east or west, you'll be a lot happier. It also goes all the way to Addenbrooke's hospital, so good news if you're going there.

The down side is that this complex route means it takes significantly longer to get into the town centre and a very long time to get to Addenbrooke's.

So if you're going into town or to Addenbrooke's then the smart way to do it currently is to buy a Dayrider, take the Citi 2 to the stop opposite the Golden Hind, hop off there, and get on the next Cowley Road P&R bus. There's one of those every few minutes and it's a lot quicker into town (and especially to Addenbrooke's) than the Citi2 as it doesn't go all round the houses and only stops at a few stops, hence it's worth the delay at the Golden Hind. It works in reverse too.

From Sunday, 20th May this will no longer be an option as the P&R bus will no longer stop at the Golden Hind so you will be left either trying to catch the hourly 9 service into town, which is more direct than the Citi 2, or biting the bullet and exploring Chesterton on the Citi 2 all the way into town.

When asked about this the County claim that it will make things better for P&R passengers and as there is a "ten minute service" at this stop it's not a problem, totally ignoring the difference in time to destination between the two services.

So essentially what's going on here is that we're getting two classes of bus user: those who they want to woo out of their cars get a fast, efficient service into town. Meanwhile those who have no choice but to use the bus get a worse service. For me, I can drive at the moment and my time is precious so this change makes it more likely that I will choose to drive into town rather than take the bus, which I can't think is what the County want to happen. If you're elderly or disabled and need to get to Addenbrooke's then you probably don't have that luxury and you're stuck with it.

In the Cambridge Evening News article on this story Cllr John Reynolds, the cabinet member responsible, says "Public transport needs to be expeditious and of good quality if we are to encourage more people to use it". I can only agree. It's just a shame this philosophy seems to be being applied rather selectively.

What's the solution? Well in the short term it's worth lobbying to get this decision reversed - unlike most Stagecoach decisions the County were involved in this one so if it affects you then write to your county councillor and ask them what they're going to do about it. There's a complete list here but if this affects you then you're likely to fall under one of the following:

• Milton, Waterbeach or Landbeach -
• King's Hedges -
• East Chesterton -

P.S. In the longer term then it seems to me that the real solution would be to finally get away from buying your ticket or having it checked as you join the bus. Go elsewhere in Europe and you'll see ticket machines at the stops and a system where you self cancel the ticket. This means that buses stop a lot more briefly at each stop so you get a faster end to end service and there wouldn't be such an issue with the P&R bus stopping at intermediate stops and the Citi 2 would be faster too. It works for them. Why not for us?