Probably Britain’s Most Subsidised Bus Route…

... costing £250 per passenger.

Thursday 28th December 2023

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority Mayor Nik Johnson has aspirations to take control of the region’s bus network through franchising but if a recent meeting of the Authority’s Transport & Infrastructure Committee is anything to go by, he’s going to have his work cut out to make the finances work.

The Committee meeting on 15th November received a report highlighting 19 supported bus routes costing frighteningly high levels of public money for pitifully low numbers of passengers travelling. The report was further considered at the Authority’s full Board meeting a couple of weeks later as reported in the local media…

Two of the most glaring examples highlighted in the list of struggling routes are the 7A and 29.

The former provides four off-peak journeys between Duxford, Whiitlesford and Hinxton with Sawston where connections are made with commercial journeys on Stagecoach’s route 7 to Cambridge and Saffron Walden.

According to the Combined Authority’s report, A2B Travel operates the service for a tender price of £96,000. In 2022/23 the route saw just 771 passenger journeys (that’s 2.5 journeys a day) at a staggering subsidy cost of ….. wait for it …. £124.83 per journey. So if one passenger a day makes two journeys (out and back) it’s costing the taxpayer almost £250 for that person to travel with a further £125 for the passenger making the third journey.

Route 29 is not much better with a subsidy cost per passenger journey in 2022/23 of £74.71 with the report confirming 1,833 passenger journeys were recorded, which makes the tender price £137,000. Contracted to Dews (but as commentators have explained, is sub-contracted to Fowler’s), this route involves six off-peak return journeys linking Hampton Hargate and the Ortons in south and west Peterborough on an orbital route between the Serpentine Green shopping centre and the City’s hospital. Passengers per journey work out at 0.5, which, assuming each passenger makes a return, means three people are travelling per day.

You might be surprised to know at the 15th November meeting rather than pull the plug on these routes, councillors agreed to implement modifications to the 7A timetable and a review of the 29 with “further engagement required”.

Not only that, but Mayor Johnson is proposing to treble the council tax precept set by the Combined Authority that’s ring-fenced for expenditure on buses. It’ll increase from £12 to £36 per annum per household in Band D raising £11 million. Now I’m all in favour of hypothecated tax to support buses but I can’t be the only one having serious doubts if it means funding bus routes used by so few passengers.

Against that background I couldn’t resist a trip to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to find out more about these two routes with the bonus being my presence would significantly boost passenger numbers for the day. Although by using my concessionary pass, I probably made the finances worse.

First up I took a ride on route 29, the one where “further engagement is required”.

The Report explains the background for councillors:

“This service [to the city hospital] was introduced as a trial to provide an alternative direct route to the existing interchange option which is available. The service has seen very limited take-up over a number of years and therefore it is proposed to undertake a further review to establish if the trial should end. Last year there were less than 2,000 passengers. In addition to this service, the communities have access to important destinations, including the hospital via interchange at Peterborough bus station.”

The service was actually launched on 1st March 2021 by Stagecoach amid a great fanfare of it being an “innovative orbital bus service for the city” …

… removing the need for passengers to travel into the city centre, change buses, and out again to access the hospital. Optimistic claims were made it would reduce city centre traffic and ease congestion. Seriously.

For an orbital route to work it must serve densely populated residential areas and offer attractive destinations people want to reach on a regular basis. It’s no good just running a bus around a circle shaped route and think it will attract passengers.

A city hospital, at one end of the route, is important for those needing access, but isn’t a big enough draw as a destination in itself while the Serpentine Green shopping centre at the other end is not as attractive a retail offer as the city centre itself.

But what came across to me while riding up and down the route was just how much mileage involves travelling along fast flowing dual carriage roads with no bus stops as there’s nothing to serve.

Aside from two residential areas – Orton Waterville and Hampton Hargate – the route also includes the Orton Southgate Business Park…

… but it’s not the sort that’s going to attract hordes of commuters (there was no ‘footfall’ to be seen as we passed through), and in any event, the timetable only runs in the off-peak.

Furthermore, Orton Waterville is what I’d call a ‘well heeled’ residential area…

… and although Stagecoach operates its commercial X4 between the city centre and Corby via the area it’s not hard core ‘bus territory’…

… while Hampton Hargate is a rather nicely laid out low density relatively new residential area which enjoys a 20 minute frequency on Stagecoach route 6 to and from the city centre, taking just 15 minutes.

Route 29’s terminus at Serpentine Green is dominated by a mega size Tesco Extra …

… as well as other familiar retail names and lots and lots of free car parking.

And that’s about it for what the route serves. It also does a double run to the East of England Showground Entrance on the A605 for good measure, but no custom.

The bus used by Fowler’s on behalf of Dews on the day I travelled was certainly not in its first flush of youth, as they say, being a tired 19 year old ex London General Plaxton bodied Volvo B7TL which is used on a school contract before and after the operation on route 29…

… and even more pertinent, there was not a scrap of evidence of the route’s existence at the city hospital. No timetable or route details, just departures for the three Stagecoach city routes (2, 3 and 4) which terminate there.

Furthermore the 29 doesn’t even go to the main hospital entrance, as Stagecoach buses do, but turns on the outskirts of the huge hospital estate by the Mental Health Unit.

Mind you everything was fine when we left at 13:00 but returning an hour later at 14:00, the entrance to the hospital was chocoblock with cars queueing for the massive car parks…

… presumably as afternoon visiting had started …

… and it took seven minutes to reach the turning point by the Mental Health Unit.

In some ways it was just as well the bus didn’t continue to the hospital entrance as that would have meant another three to four minutes delay as Stagecoach buses were encountering.

Both the driver and I were surprised when a passenger boarded at Serpentine Green and travelled on the return journey all the way to the hospital and I seriously wondered if he might also be doing so to write a blog about it, otherwise why else would you travel from an out-of-town shopping centre to an out-of-town hospital? No-one else had travelled on the outward journey.

Another interesting facet is there was no ticket machine on the bus and the driver just waved me on as he did the other passenger on the return journey, merely observing our concessionary passes. So that might explain why the number of recorded passengers is so low; they’re not being recorded. But my observations indicate there are hardly any (passengers) anyway.

All in all, route 29 is a lost cause and the sooner the plug is pulled the better. The route is serving no useful purpose, no-one is travelling, and £137,000 of public money could be saved each year or redeployed to better bus projects.

Next up on Monday morning last week, I enjoyed a ride on the Daddy of them all when it comes to subsidy per passenger, route 7A. The route shuttles from Duxford (outside the Imperial War Museum rather than the village itself) and the nearby hamlet of Heathfield via the village of Whittlesford (which used to be served by Stagecoach’s route 7) then a double run south to the hamlet of Hinxton, then back north to Sawston and finally back via Whittlesford to the museum at Duxford and Heathfield.

Here’s the timetable.

The recommendation approved by the Transport & Infrastructure Committee was to “retain with improvements” which was explained in the following summary:

“This service has been reviewed as part of a package which includes 7A, 31 and 75. The 7A is recommended to be merged with a home to school service. This will provide a more cost-effective solution for both CPCA and Cambridgeshire County Council, while retaining connections for the community. A number of options have been considered for the three services, which together are intended to provide a more joined-up and integrated service, while significantly improving the value for money.”

Services 31 and 75 are also operated by A2B Travel with the 31 comprising three return journeys between Fowlmere (close to Heathfield) and Addenbrooke’s Hospital as well as a peak journey into Cambridge. Brian, the friendly owner of A2B Travel, confirmed to me the 31 already interworks with the 7A providing one efficient vehicle working so I don’t know how the Authority thinks it can “provide a more cost-effective solution”. Brian already seems to be doing that as he does with route 75 which links Orwell with Cambridge to a similar pattern including a morning and afternoon peak journey catering for school children.

I aimed to catch the first journey from outside the Imperial War Museum at Duxford at 10:55. Unfortunately a Just Stop Oil protest in Cambridge delayed the bus on its preceding journeys on the 31 resulting in it running around 20 minutes late, but as you can see there was a nice spacious shelter to wait in (complete with timetable on display) outside the museum entrance …

… and when I rang the company to enquire about its non appearance, the phone was quickly answered by Brian himself who kindly rang the driver to get an update and reassured me it would soon be with me. In the meantime we had a good chat about the route with Brian explaining how it performs a very useful function for the few who do travel and he’d done all he could to operate the service as cost effectively as could be done.

The bus soon arrived with the wonderful Sharon in the driving seat. She’s been bus driving in the old Eastern Counties area for nigh on 35 years and knows all the regular passengers who use the 7A by name. My journey didn’t attract any takers on Monday morning – Jean, who often travels from Hinxton wasn’t travelling that day.

Sharon explained the route can be useful in the summer, when the Museum attracts many visitors, by providing a connection from Whittlesford station to the Museum, a distance of just over one and a half miles on the A505, which is not a pleasant road to walk along.

It also provides connections for residents of Whittlesford, Hinxton and Heathfield with the Stagecoach route 7 in Sawton where Sharon pointed out the bus shelter for onward travel.

In the very picturesque village of Whittlesford there’s even a real time sign for the four journeys a day that pass by.

The bus couldn’t have been more of a contrast with the one I encountered on the 29 – a smart and very comfortable one year old Ilesbus …

… seating 29 with two further tip-up seats or a wheelchair space.

As you can see from the map, the route is essentially a local shuttle service between four communities providing useful links for the few who use them, but the bus also provides a peak hour journey to and from Cambridge and other journeys on route 31 which also needs to be taken into account. It came across how much A2B have invested in trying to make the route a success, but ultimately the numbers just don’t seem to be there, and consequently the finances don’t “add up” resulting in what must be a record breaking subsidy per passenger.

You’d hope these examples would provide valuable lessons for the Mayor and officers at the Combined Authority about public funding for bus routes. Yet at the meeting of the Combined Authority’s Board on 29th November, which received the report about the 19 bus routes under the microscope, plans for four new bus routes were also approved including three new DRT schemes costing £900,000 representing 40% of the Authority’s £2.3 million BSIP+ funding, despite it also being reported the Authority’s existing ‘ting’ branded DRT based on St Neots (and appearing on that list of 19 “use it or lose it routes”) is costing £42 per passenger journey.

It doesn’t bode well for judicious financial management if the Mayor proceeds with his aim of taking full control of every bus route in the region.

Roger French

My thanks to Paul Hollinghurst for letting me know about these routes as well as Brian Clifford of A2B Travel for the background and Sharon for the wonderful journey she provided. I can’t say for sure if the 7A really is Britain’s Most Subsidised Bus Route, but it must be a strong contender.

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