Stagecoach Withdraws No. 18 Bus Services

Stagecoach major the bus operator in our district announced quietly at the end of last week a number of bus service changes, including removal of some. The No.18 bus on the Cambridge to Longstowe route is to be withdrawn after 30th October 2022, in addition to a number of other routes.

No. 18 bus from Cambridge to Longstowe serves three of the villages in Caldecote Ward. These are Kingston, Bourn and Longstowe. It is the only bus serving these rural villages, and has been for several years.

Stagecoach had apparently been reviewing its operation because of the impact of covid and change of working patterns. However, in mid August, the Department of Transport announced another 6 months of subsidies for bus operators. So it was expected Stagecoach would continue with services for a further 6 months. However it transpires that Stagecoach were not prepared to use that money to continue to fund bus services. It changed timetables and routed, and submitted a new post-covid, bus network across their entire East operating territory to their Traffic Commissioner.

Stagecoach did not consult the District Council before doing this. However, it should have consulted with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority who is the Transport Authority in this area. If it did, it’s not certain the extent of that consultation. This seems to be in contradiction to the CPCA plans for Bus Reform as outlined on their website.

This is the Stagecoach network announcement of the new Eastern region network on its website. It shows No.18 as “Withdrawn as unsustainable”.

The CPCA responded this morning with a Statement that you can read here. It says:

“The Combined Authority has been placed in an unacceptable position, to now find ways of sustaining as many bus services as it can and prevent bus users across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough being left stranded. We will now explore all options urgently to avoid this happening after 31 October.” 

The Greater Cambridge Partnership has also commented through the Executive Board Chair, Cllr Elisa Meschini. She said:

My colleagues and I in Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats group understand this is a very shocking state of affairs.

We will continue to call on Stagecoach to work together with the Combined Authority to provide a reliable network of public transport across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. To help us do that, please join our “Save Our Bus Services” campaign. Also share with your local friends and neighbours.

Thank you.