Eye of the Cambridgeshire Tiger

Sunday 15th June 2025

As the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority gears up for bus franchising, recently elected (six weeks ago) Conservative Mayor Paul Bristow wasted no time launching a raft of new bus roues at the end of last month.

But I wonder if he really appreciates what a waste of money some of them are with no hope of long term financial sustainability.

Obviously these were all planned during his predecessor, Labour Mayor Nik Johnson’s, tenure with the help of consultants Systra, and if these are a precursor to what can be expected on the streets of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in the coming years, passengers might “want to be careful what they wish for”.

The Authority’s new Tiger brand for the franchised network was publicly launched last year with the rebranding of the ‘ting’ DRT service together with the introduction of other ‘Tiger on Demand’ DRTs across the county as in the map below.

All these latest routes, which were consulted on a year ago, are being funded from the Mayoral precept and use conventional buses “connecting our towns, villages and communities offering faster journey times, more frequent services, and improved reliability” to education, employment and health facilities.

The aim, beloved by consultants, and always looks good on paper, is to provide connections at hubs – such as Park and Ride sites, Addenbrooke’s Hospital and stations where onward connections are available. Seven new routes began on 27th May with an eighth (an outer circle for Peterborough) awaiting a bidder. Here’s a map I found on display in Wisbech bus station showing where the new routes go.

I’ve spent the last few days in Cambridgeshire taking a look at what’s on offer.

The routes are all numbered in a T (for Tiger) series. I only saw two buses in the new Tiger livery – a Stagecoach Enviro200 on route T7 and an A2B Ilesbus on the T12 but I understand the latter also has a new Enviro400 for the T5 in Tiger livery.

I thought at first the G of TiGer where it sits across two panels on the side of the Enviro200 had been fitted badly…

… but it seems that’s how it’s meant to look, as the same peculiar layout was also on the Ilesbus with no panel join.

All other buses were in standard operator fleet livery – A2B Travel, Stagecoach or Whippet.

Here’s a brief run down of the seven routes.

Route T1 operated by Whippet with two buses, runs hourly between Huntington and Cambridge including using the Busway east of Swavesey – bringing Whippet back to the northern section of Busway once again.

The idea is to provide a quicker journey from Huntingdon into Cambridge than Stagecoach’s route B. The latter takes an hour and 35 minutes (operating via St Ives) whereas the new T1 takes 49 minutes having used the former A14 (now A1307) only diverting off to serve Fenstanton…

…before turning off through Swavesey and joining the Busway. Bombing down the old A14 for eight miles after leaving HUntingdon bus station certainly gives the impression of a quick journey – and it is much quicker than taking route B.

I caught the 11:08 from Huntingdon railway station yesterday morning and although I was the only passenger when boarding, 10 passengers boarded at the bus station and two more in Fenstanton but as soon as we hit the Busway and arrived at the Longstanton Park and Ride stop…

… there was a driver changeover and eleven passengers boarded and I’m sure more would have boarded as the bus continued into Cambridge, but I alighted to give the T12 a try (see below).

Routes T2 and T3 are strange beasts linking Park and Ride hubs on either side of the city without operating via the city centre – the T2 bypassing it north (yellow on the above map) and the T3 south (purple). Both run hourly taking two buses each and are operated by Stagecoach. I didn’t have a chance to ride these but will return at some point soon to check them out.

Route T4 is the longest of the new routes with an 83-87 minute end-to-end journey time. Together with partner route T5 it’s replaced former route 11 (operated by Stephensons) between Cambridge and Newmarket taking in some delightful Cambridgeshire villages (Fulbourne, Bottisham, Swaffam Prior and Reach).

The T4 runs between Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Newmarket (orange on the above map) and the T5 between Cambridge Drummer Street and Soham (light blue on the above map).

Both are Mondays to Saturdays hourly timetables with the T4 operated with three buses by Stagecoach and the T5 with two buses by A2B. The times aren’t coordinated to provide an even headway between the villages although I doubt that matters as most passengers are travelling to the end destinations.

Interestingly, feedback on the Combined Authority’s Facebook page about the new services includes a passenger suggesting there should be a connection between the T5 and T4 so people from Soham can get to Addenbrooke’s. But that would mean the buses running close together through the villages.

I caught the 11:58 route T4 from Addenbrooke’s on Friday and was surprised to see 20 passengers travelled on the journey including three boarding at Addenbrooke’s one of of whom was enjoying an end-to-end leisure journey, as well as six students boarding as we headed out of Cambridge and alighted at various of the villages served. But, of course, previously they would have travelled on the now withdrawn route 11.

The bus had arrived late into Addenbrooke’s from its previous journey – the timetable shows no stand time with a loop working in place from Cherry Hinton, which together with a driver changeover meant we left the Hospital nine minutes late, making none of that time up along the way, so arriving into Newmarket 12 minutes late at 13:37 instead of 13:25.

Six passengers were waiting for the return departure at 13:40 and after a brief pause the driver headed back having been proceeded by Stephenson’s route 12 which runs direct to Cambridge taking 40 minutes.

There was no reference to the T4 in Newmarket’s small bus station and I wonder if Suffolk County Council has been consulted and involved?

I gave new route T7 a try out on Thursday.

This provides new connections across Fenland between Wisbech and Chatteris. It’s operated by Stagecoach and runs hourly on Mondays to Saturdays with an 80-85 minute journey time therefore taking three buses.

Oddly, with three buses allocated, the timetable has been compiled so the first journey of the morning doesn’t arrive into Wisbech until 09:05. I’m surprised it hasn’t been advanced by 15 or so minutes to make for a pre 09:00 (or even pre 08:30) arrival into what is the main destination served by the route.

I also wonder whether Norfolk County Council has been consulted and involved as the first half hour of the route south from Wisbech duplicates ‘semi commercial’ Lynx bus route 60 to Emneth, Outwell and Three Holes, all of which are in Norfolk rather than Cambridgeshire.

South of Three Holes there are just the small communities of Christchurch, Manea and Chatteris…

… and many miles of flat uninhabited Fenland.

I’m guessing this new route hasn’t gone down too well with Julian Patterson at Lynx although I’d be confident when faced with a choice, passengers will be loyal to Lynx with its first class reputation. Furthermore, I believe Stagecoach are operating the route from its base in Spalding which, if so, could be challenging when disruption strikes.

Indeed, Thursday’s operations on the route, when I travelled, were badly disrupted by a problem at Manea level crossing necessitating a lengthy diversion.

I’d intended to catch the 13:15 from Wisbech and luckily got to the town’s small bus station on First’s excel branded route in very good time, at 12:20, to find the 12:15 departure hadn’t appeared from its previous journey due to the delays.

It did arrive soon after that and after a driver changeover we left 18 minutes late at 12:33. I noticed the bus operating the 13:15 departure was running half an hour late so that was a stroke of luck to just catch the late running preceeding journey so disruption for me was minimised.

I was surprised to see in addition to one passenger who travelled to Upwell (also served by route 60) three students travelled all the way through to Chatteris, but I can’t see this service doing much and the fact three buses are wandering around Fenland every hour is quite bizarre.

Finally I gave route T12 a whirl yesterday. This links the villages of Sutton, Earith and Willingham with the Longstanton Park and Ride stop on the Cambridgeshire Busway. It’s operated by A2B with one minibus running hourly on Mondays to Saturdays.

It’s a tight schedule with barely any recovery time but I don’t think it’ll get delayed by a multitude of passengers boarding and alighting. There was no information on display at Longstanton about the service.

However, six alighted as the bus arrived into the Longstanton Park and Ride terminus at 12:25 yesterday but my return journey to Sutton and back was in splendid isolation aside from the mentor showing the new driver the route. He mentioned to me the six passengers on that last trip “was double the number we’ve carried so far this morning”.

Seven routes. 15 buses. The T1 is certainly a quicker alternative to route B and will go down well with Huntingdonians travelling to Cambridge; the T2/T3 don’t look promising but I’ll wait till I take a look; the T4 relies on former route 11 passengers except there’s the confusion it now goes to Addenbrooke’s rather than the city centre; the T5 provides a link from Soham to the city – which will no doubt be welcomed; the T7 will abstract from the 60 and not much else; and the T12 won’t do anything.

I hope Council Tax payers living in the land of the Tiger appreciate what their extra precept tax is giving them.

Roger French

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