MP demands to know why the Combined Authority ‘took three months to tackle Cambridge bus cuts’

An MP has demanded to know why the Combined Authority appears to have waited almost three months to act on news that bus operator Stagecoach East intended to axe a long list of routes in the county.

A letter written by the Combined Authority’s mayor Dr Nik Johnson to South Cambridgeshire MP Anthony Browne reveals he had been given a list of Cambridgeshire buses facing the chop as far back as June this year, sparking the political row.

The mayor announced “urgent” action to sort out the looming bus crisis in September, after the 18 bus route cuts were formally announced to the public, leaving many concerned about how they would get to work and school.

Now Conservative MP Mr Browne has asked why there appears to have been a delay of more than two months before the Labour mayor and the Combined Authority moved to save the buses started.

In a column inside today’s Cambridge Independent, Mr Brown writes: “The leader of the authority, Mayor Johnson, had 120 days prevaricating before starting his ‘urgent process’. Phileas Fogg could get around the world one and a half times before the Combined Authority has even got its boots on.”

However, Dr Johnson has responded by saying he persuaded government ministers to pay a Bus Recovery Grant to Stagecoach over the summer, so had been expecting services to continue, despite warnings that the bus operator was going to proceed with the cuts.

After first hearing of the cuts through the media, Mr Browne wrote to the mayor demanding to know when he had first been warned about the bus cancellations and what actions had been taken.

The MP says his constituents were “blindsided” by the news on September 20 that 18 bus routes around Cambridgeshire were set to be cancelled from October 31, and adds: “They have been left scrambling to find new ways of getting to work, taking their children to school, and going to the shops. It was a surprise to us, and yet the Combined Authority knew this was coming for many months - and failed to act.

“Today I have released a letter in response to my inquiry for a timeline of activity, which shows that the Combined Authority was formally told in June about the looming closures, although they were first warned as far back as May. They were given a long list of at-risk services approximately three months before passengers found out. They had specific knowledge of the routes being closed seventy days before their closure.”

He adds: “Commercially sensitive discussions are rightly held in private and are subject to contract. But what is the rationale behind waiting for months before coming up with a plan? Why did they need an ‘urgent’ process, when they could have started preparing for this back in May?”

In response to Mr Browne’s questions, the mayor wrote: “We were first made aware of an initial long-list of potential service cuts at the end of June 2022 – a long list that we were not permitted to disclose.”

He adds: “A final list of these confirmed service withdrawals was received on August 15 giving at least 70 days’ notice to the Combined Authority as required by the Transport Act. The Act stipulates that the first 28 days of this notice are on a confidential basis.

“Stagecoach did share some details and rationale for their decision with the Combined Authority and other stakeholders at their three roadshows on 22, 23 and 24 August. The Combined Authority made clear its expectation that services should not be withdrawn now that Bus Recovery Grant funding was agreed.

“However, apart from changes to one service, they confirmed the list of service withdrawals to the Combined Authority as final on Friday, August 26.”

Dr Johnson told the Cambridge Independent that only once the Combined Authority realised that Stagecoach would not change its mind about cutting bus routes, despite being given the Bus Recovery Grant, did it take action.

He said: “Our clear expectation was that this (Bus Recovery Grant) money would be used to keep services going, at least in the short term. The fact that Stagecoach East went ahead with a significant reduction in services anyway is, as I have said before, unacceptable.

“When it became clear that Stagecoach East had a different view on the use of BRG money, again, we had to work quickly to prepare the ground for running a tender process with bus operators. This preparation began before Stagecoach made public which services were going to be withdrawn, and therefore enabled the Combined Authority to start the tendering process with operators the day after the Stagecoach announcement was made.”

He added: “The timing also allows for bus routes to continue from October 30, with no gaps in service.”

But this will only be the case if all of the 18 axed bus routes can be replaced by companies tendering for the work, and it is not yet clear if there have been many, or any, companies willing to take them on.

The mayor told the Cambridge Independent: “Our tendering process is aiming at continuing as many of these services as possible to the end of March 2023 and recommendations on routes will be put to the Combined Authority Board on October 19.”

Stagecoach announced that it was also changing the stops at other routes from October 31.

Managing director Darren Roe said the changes were being made because the routes had become unprofitable due to low passenger numbers and rising fuel costs.

Thousnads of passengers who fear they can no longer get to work, school or sixth form college via public transport have launched a petition.

The mayor has now promised that the Combined Authority will have a meeting about its bus strategy in November.