Two petitions call for Stagecoach’s No 9 Littleport-Cambridge bus service to be safeguarded
Petitions have been launched to save the No 9 Littleport-Cambridge bus service after Stagecoach announced it was one of those it would be downgrading.
The company is making a raft of changes to services in Cambridgeshire from April 14, 2024. It said it is responding to levels of demand and altering services to reflect the longer journey times caused by increasing congestion.
Two petitions have been launched concerning the No 9 Littleport-Cambridge service, which goes via Ely and Waterbeach, and is due to be cut back to three journeys each way per day. It currently operates hourly in peak-time and every two hours outside of this.
However, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, which recently increased its share of the council tax bill to £36 for the ‘average’ Band D household to help fund better bus services, could step in to safeguard the service.
It is working on plans to invest in bus services during summer 2024 using the money gained from its precept, which will also fund a £1 fare scheme for under-25s from May/June 2024.
A report to the Combined Authority’s transport and infrastructure committee, which met on Wednesday (13 March), gave an update on the proposed routes it could invest in, which include the No 9 service.
The report said of the route: “Using data provided by Stagecoach, it is estimated that the cost per passenger journey figure would be £1.76 for a potential contracted service. This is well below the benchmark of £12 that has previously been used.
“Due to the severe degradation in service that residents will face, it is recommended to introduce a contracted service that restores as much of the service to its current form, subject to a tender process.”
No vote was taken at the meeting as work is ongoing.
Emma Mayoux-Andrews has launched a petition on Change.org that gathered about 800 signatures by Saturday (16 March).
She told the Cambridge Independent: “There is a lot of strong feeling here in Littleport as there are a lot of vulnerable and lower income people here who rely on it for work, hospital appointments, and generally being able to visit shops, friends, and family.”
Emma said the Combined Authority mayor, Dr Nik Johnson, had called her “to express his support for the petition” and she has now been invited to present to the Combined Authority on Wednesday (20 March) as the petition has passed 500 signatures.
Elizabeth McWilliams has established another petition at change.org, which had attracted 276 signatures by Saturday (16 March).
It says: “We ask the mayor of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority to set up a new service that connects Milton, Waterbeach village and other villages to Ely.
“The number 9 bus was a vital service that ran through Waterbeach village on its way to Ely. First, Stagecoach changed the route so that it stopped only on the A10, outside the village. This meant that people with limited mobility found accessing the service hard due to the long walk to the stop.
“Now the company have said that it cannot compete with the train service to Ely and is reducing the service to fewer times a day and cutting the A10 stop altogether. Whilst there is a fast train service to Ely, this is expensive and can still make for a long walk for the less mobile.”
Darren Roe, managing director of Stagecoach East, said: “The 9 service has not returned to anything like its pre-Covid customer numbers and we have a responsibility to match our service levels to the level of demand – so we are actually providing services when and where most people really want to travel.
“As such, we have been working with the CAPCA to December 2023 to discuss solutions to maintain a service.
“The 9 service is not currently covering the cost of service provision and so we have had to make the difficult decision to reduce the number of journeys to maintain the most well used 3 journeys inbound and 3 journeys outbound per day. This will give the 9 service the best chance to be sustainable into the future and will mean that customers will still be able to access local shops and services.”
