№ 9 bus service between Littleport & Cambridge MUST be fully restored

The Mayor must restore a full timetable for the Number 9 bus service... and get on with articulating a public transport vision fit for 21st century Cambridgeshire.

Together with colleagues I am working to ensure the restoration of a full timetable of the Number 9 bus service from Littleport – Ely – Cambridge. 

Stagecoach previously ran three buses on the route calling at Ely, Little Thetford and Stretham before going onto Cambridge, providing ten services per day in each direction.

Stagecoach has made a reduction to one bus, providing just three services per day – the reduced service came into effect on 15th April.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) has commissioned A2B to run one bus to salvage some of the lost timetable, but the new level of service, including both the Stagecoach bus and the A2B bus is only delivering six journeys per day in each direction instead of ten, with a loss of services at the most popular times in the mornings.  This means there is only one bus before 9.00am in the morning, leaving Littleport at 6.35am. The next CPCA commissioned bus is not until 9.30am, which is useless for people with an 8.30am or 9.00am work start in Ely.   Residents are now forced to turn to alternative transport options to live their lives.  This will undermine use of the service as a whole and it will drive up the cost per passenger journey to the public purse, putting the route’s long-term future in serious jeopardy.

The Mayor insists that the CPCA has done an “outstanding” job with its rescue package, but I’m not sure this is how local residents see it – paying a 200% Mayoral precept increase and losing the service that they use is a very poor outcome indeed.  

CPCA has estimated the cost of the additional bus in public subsidy to be around £1.76 per passenger journey.  This represents very good value for money when set against the CPCA’s benchmark of £12 per passenger journey and compares very favourably with most other subsidised services, including the notorious 7A in South Cambridgeshire which costs an eye watering £125 subsidy per passenger journey. 

The 7A is a route that myself and Cllr Chris Boden tried to end in January 2023 at the CPCA budget setting meeting, but the Liberal Democrat and Labour members of the Board insisted that no bus services whatsoever should be cut.  Consequently the £125 per passenger journey subsidy from the public purse has carried on whilst other, well used services like the Number 9 are left in trouble.  The Mayor and the CPCA need to be much braver about bus reform than this!

I have met with Stagecoach and they are willing to discuss further changes to their Number 9 timetable.  I have therefore asked CPCA officers to convene a public meeting as soon as possible so we can establish exactly what local people want, but we do need the CPCA to commission that third bus in order to restore a full timetable.

Mayor Nik Johnson is remarkably silent on the subject of a third bus for the Number 9 route but given that he has stated he wants to “level up” public transport in rural and deprived areas he must take action…and soon.

Beyond buses, the Mayor has no plan for public transport in Cambridgeshire but, if he is re-selected by the Labour Party, he will be facing an election in just 12 months time, and I suspect the clamour from residents will require all candidates to look beyond buses and articulate their vision for the future of transport, including public transport, in our great county.

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