Tuesday 27th January 2026
Another interesting new commercially operated bus route hit the road yesterday and I was pleased to give it a try out on its first day. I say ‘bus route’ but a more accurate description is ‘express coach route’.
Launched by Whippet, and branded as Blue Arrow, route X1 provides a new fast express service between Cambridge and Peterborough with an end to end journey time scheduled for 80 minutes and just one intermediate stop on the route at Huntingdon bus station.
It’s operated by a single Neoplan Tourliner coach – one of six Whippet retains from its abandoned FlixBus contract and now in standard Whippet livery.
The introductory timetable is fairly limited having four southbound and three full length northbound journeys and another two covering part of the route.
Whippet’s General Manager, Ed Cameron, told me using just one vehicle for the timetable “doesn’t quite provide times into the three destinations that work well” but encouragingly adds “depending on the reception it gets for the first few months, we then plan to put a second coach on which will make it a much more attractive option”.
As you can see the Huntingdon based vehicle provides an early arrival into Peterborough at 06:35 before a peak hour journey to Cambridge arriving there at 08:25. However, the last journey back from Cambridge to Peterborough is as early as 15:30 which is probably a good time for shoppers and leisure travellers who could have also arrived into Cambridge on the 11:50 arrival, but not so good for any commuters.
In the northbound direction Cambridge to Peterborough travellers can leave at 08:50 and arrive at 10:10 with handy return options at 13:40 and 17:20.
Fares are reasonable at £8 single or £14 return for an end to end journey. Concessionary pass holders don’t travel free but pay the same as under 16s at £6 single and £10.50 return.
The southern half of the route. Cambridge to Huntingdon, is also well served by the recently introduced Tiger branded route T1 operated by Whippet for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority running approximately hourly but with a journey time of around an hour as well as Whippet’s own route X3 with a similar journey time.
There’s also Stagecoach’s route B via St Ives every 20 minutes which takes a lengthy one hour and 44 minutes making for an arduous end-to-end journey.
The new Blue Arrow X1 takes just 40 minutes but departs from the slightly less convenient Parkside bus stops in Cambridge rather than Drummer Street bus station used by routes T1, X2 and B.
However, Parkside is the city’s traditional location for express coach departures – used by both National Express and FlixBus and at one time Stagecoach’s X5, when it went through to Oxford.
The Parkside facilities are pretty limited (just three minimalist bus shelters)…
… but the upside is it provides handy connections to NatEx and FlixBus and it has to be said, Drummer Street is nothing to shout about, although it is under cover.
Between Huntingdon and Peterborough Stagecoach East/Dews Route 904 provides an hourly frequency but takes an hour and a quarter compared to Blue Arrow X1 taking just 40 minutes.
Again, in Peterborough, the new Blue Arrow eschews Queensgate bus station (used by the 904). merely using the bus station to pass through on its way to set down in Broadway and then pick up in Westgate.
The layout of Queensgate, like Drummer Street, makes it impossible for a wheelchair user to access the coach through the lift on the nearside, especially as this is towards the rear of the coach.
A similar situation applies at Huntingdon bus station but the company advises wheelchair users aren’t able to board there.
As can be appreciated from the foregoing, Blue Arrow provides a much quicker journey albeit with only a handful of departures but, of course, there’s also a fairly intensive rail service as an alternative with Cross Country providing an hourly frequency between Cambridge and Peterborough via Ely with another hourly option using Greater Anglia and changing at Ely on to East Midlands Railway both taking around 50-55 minutes but with a full price day return of £26.90 (reducing to £24.90 off peak) compared to £14 on the new Blue Arrow.
Huntingdon to Peterborough is also well served by Thameslink’s half hourly service taking just 20 minutes at a full price of £10.70 return (£8.50 off peak) compared to Blue Arrow’s £6.
I sampled the 12:05 from Cambridge Parkside to Peterborough yesterday.
For those unfamiliar with Parkside, Whippet has produced a clear map to show where to board the coach as well as the only other stop on the service, in Huntington bus station, and the alighting and boarding points in Peterborough.
The coach arrived a few minutes ahead of time from its previous journey from Peterborough and it didn’t take long for me to meet up with Wayne and Steve who are going to be the two regular drivers on the route.
Steve welcomed me aboard confirming I was their very first passenger as I handed over £6 for a reduced rate single to Peterborough.
As well as timetable leaflets there was a supply of chocolates to welcome passengers aboard on this inaugural day but sadly no other passengers boarded in Cambridge.
The coach has comfortable seats…
…with good legroom and comes with a toilet giving a real quality ambiance to the journey.
We left spot on time at 12:05 making our way out of the city towards the A14 which we joined 15 minutes later…
…taking us all the way to Huntingdon where we arrived in the town’s bus station at 12:33, 12 minutes ahead of the departure time.
As in Parkside, departure times were on display in the bus station, as well as leaflets in the waiting room…
… and the X1 was shown on the electronic departure listings.
Even better, another passenger joined us, having seen we were going to Peterborough, and decided to jump aboard rather than wait for the 904.
Again we left on time at 12:45 and made our way over to the A1(M) for our non-stop second half journey to Peterborough where we arrived exactly half an hour later at 13:15.
Ignoring the pause time in Huntingdon bus station it had taken just a couple of minutes under an hour’s driving time from Cambridge to Peterborough.
Which made me wonder whether a tightening up of the journey time allowance to just an hour (with adequate layover times at each end) might help to promote the service as a great alternative to the train.
The Blue Arrow branding can be found on the printed leaflet, online and at bus stops but it would make a great impact if the livery of the coach could carry the Blue Arrow message with the three destinations served as well as promoting it as a turn-up-and-go express coach service.
High profile promotion of a service of this kind is essential to raise awareness especially as it escapes the normal coverage that local bus services achieve with local authority support and commitment.
Wayne observed it wasn’t yet appearing in Google Maps’ travel options but hopefully that can be rectified.
One things for sure, both Wayne and Steve are great ambassadors for the route – they’ve worked together before on National Express work – and make for a great team.
And as I wandered past the picking up stop in Peterborough it was encouraging to see a passenger waiting for the 13:40 journey to Cambridge. She told me her Mum had told her about it having seen it on Facebook.
I wish this new route every success and hope the fledgling initial timetable will give confidence leading to future expansion and the deployment of more resources to expand the journey options.
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS
BusAndTrainUser 
thoguth ?
meanwhile this could be a service of two halves with Huntingdon Peterborough better balanced for a day out travel . Perhaps showing arr dep times at huntingdon if that early arrival is going to be achieved every time.
is offering a coach calling point then not allowing wheelchairs on actually not permissable under present regulations?
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Great to see innovation from an independent operator. Let’s hope it succeeds
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Good luck to any new and faster services brave enough to start in the current climate, but I don’t think a single vehicle working will break any records, particularly with regular parallel services. It is just a shame it cannot serve perhaps just a couple or more locations, although I realise the attraction is the speed and this may be compromised
A far cry from crew worked Eastern Counties FLFs hurtling along the A14 linking the same three towns.
Terence Uden
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the am peak into Cambridge shows the effect of congestion which priority measures might improve
JBC Prestatyn
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Great to see another express bus (or coach) and I hope it does well. But to campaigners for properly integrated public transport, a better use of a spare bus/coach would be an every-two-hours Huntingdon-Cambridge link, calling at both railway stations as well as the town centres/bus stations, with arrangements for through ticketing, plus good signage (London Underground style) and able to carry wheel-chair users.
Better still would be for it to be used on routes where any rail option involves a long detour – such as Biggleswade-Cambridge
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I am thinking there is scope for a blue arrow network. Northampton Huntingdon Cambridge for one and Northampton Peterborough Huntingdon giving possible times that would fit into the X1 timings. Given National express have reduced their regional network there is scope for more local operators to step in. A through maybe joint service north of Peterborough with Delaine sounds a wish list item, and Huntingdon to London (Walthamstow, Aldgate or Stratford) might help our Waltham Abbey correspondent
JBC Prestatyn
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The name you are looking for is, or rather was, “United Counties Coachlinks” although of course it is decades since that attempt at a local coach network around deregulation died.
Wish list is Peterborough – Bourne – Sleaford – Lincoln, but there’s a reason that there’s such a limited service north of Bourne; indeed it’s only recently that the Sleaford – Lincoln section has seen Saturday journeys reinstated.
Even in the golden era of the 1950s there was very limited service (Delaine/LRC joint service 34) between Bourne and Sleaford.
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@JBCPrestatyn Don’t know if you meant me lol, I just don’t understand how a town just outside London could be so cutoff from public transport like Waltham Abbey is. I think where demand is lower, a longer distance coach or limited stop bus would be a good way of filling in the gaps especially for more medium sized towns where commuting is likely. To leave neighbouring towns with no service at all between them was always unacceptable. If traffic can be reined in, I would like to see a lot more fast bus services and want to see dual carriageways like the A10 near me used by public transport.
Last night I took the 42 bus from Sudbury to Braintree, a connection that seems to have come about randomly, no asked for it to exist and sadly it was a very quiet bus but if bus routes randomly come into existence with little or no publicity or advertising…
And I personally think a lot of towns are struggling at the moment too.
If us as enthusiasts only hear about buses because we are interested and even then still often don’t hear about things despite the internet existing, to me that is a major failure of the councils and bus operators. I smiled when Roger said someone heard of this X1 service through a relative using Facebook, more of that is needed please!
I strongly agree a regional network of these is needed, between NX cuts and a lot of the regional trains leaving a lot to be desired in the East and East Midlands due to short trains that are regularly overcrowded. A gap exists for Blue Arrow, routes like Excel in Norfolk show that well.
Also really agree with @a nony mouse about improving links into and across Lincolnshire too. If England had something like Citylink, that could fill in so many gaps left by the lack of railways up there.
Aaron
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It’s going off topic but there is a back story to the Sudbury – Braintree Service 42. It would appear that the local management of Go-Ahead East Anglia didn’t know that they were about to be sold to Central Connect otherwise they wouldn’t have introduced the route. I’m sure that dealing with this will be on Mr. Nathanail’s list of priorities.
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Looks an interesting proposition and reasonably priced. Good to see something different being offered by other than the incumbent operator in Peterborough.
Will have to take a ride out soon!
RJL
Peterborough (formerly of BN3 3LT…)
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That doesn’t sound legal to me. Looking at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/buses-and-coaches-features-and-help-for-disabled-people/buses-and-coaches-features-and-help-for-disabled-people it’s very clear:
There are some exceptions but our coach isn’t compatible with the stop isn’t one of them.
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Anon @ 08.22: Instead of pontificating, look at the practicabilities:
Huntingdon Bus Station is of the “saw-tooth” layout, where only the front of the bus/coach is able to stop alongside the pavement. The wheelchair lift on the coach is midway along the vehicle.
The only way for a wheelchair user to board / alight the coach is in the road area of the bus station, and there is no safe way for the wheelchair to access the pavement, particularly if the user is alone.
There actually is no suitable point in Huntingdon Bus Station for a wheelchair user to board / alight; the Rail Station might be suitable (but a 10 minute walk away) . . . perhaps that might be possible in a further iteration of the timetable.
Just to reinforce the point . . . in Peterborough the coach doesn’t serve the Bus Station for exactly the same reason, using roadside stops to allow wheelchair users to safely board / alight the coach.
Sometimes the ideal just isn’t possible !!
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indeed so, vehicles are mandated to carry disabled persons, and indeed there are services and other means of reaching the destination for such persons. It is like still the lack of full access at many rail stations, but if operators have to carry the cost of more expensive vehicles to buy and maintain then authorities have to create the safe stopping locations if the expectation of the government that disabled persons should participate in the world of full time paid employment and wish to reduce private car use. Remember it was the wheelchair users that saw off rear platform buses in normal use in London, I think they should be more vocal now about a lot of London’s rail stations, at the end of the day this will increase opportunities for economic growth.
JBC Prestatyn
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I raised the question of Huntingdon as one of legality which anon at8.22 considers it is not compatible with the law as written. I don’t know what the sanction is. Indeed would any saw tooth, other than potential a bay 1 with extended pavement work with any vehicle equipped with a ramp thar is not at the front door area?
JBC Prestatyn
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On 20/09/1996 I traversed the road between Huntingdon and Peterborough by bus on a combined rail and road tour visiting the JDWs in Peterborough and Grantham. NSE discount between Hersham and Huntingdon, then bus between there and Peterborough where I had so much time I was able to get back on the train to visit Grantham. Train back to Peterborough, bus to Huntingdon and then south back to London and Hersham by train. What delighted me most was that after getting back to Huntingdon my train to London was an Inter-City service which used the crossings most recently used when there was a knife attack on a southbound service. My bus rides took me past the former Alconbury Air Base. The area around Alconbury Air Base was used in a free OS leaflet giving the reader a crude introduction to map reading. All the names in the leaflet were fictitious, but I knew that it was based upon reality having had those bus rides on Route X51, past the air base. N/B on a former EKRCC FKK842Y; S/B on LBD923V. My return bus fare between Huntingdon and Peterborough then was £3.40. Rail fares: Hersham – Huntingdon £11.20, Peterborough – Grantham £7.20. This part of a £1,000 legacy from Joyce Harris, my Godmother who worked in the Lifts, Pumps & Escalators Department of London Transport with her office at Griffith House over Edgware Road (H&C) Station. In effect LT paid for this and other JDW jaunts in 1996.
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At present, this service doesn’t seem to feature on bustimes or Traveline websites, which makes it a bit invisible. Hope this can be sorted, since this service has good potential.
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For comparison, travelling on local buses (with a change in Huntingdon) can be done approximately hourly through the day taking between 2.5 and 3.5 hours. Free with a ENCTS bus pass, or presumably £6 one way otherwise (a few journeys needing 3 or more buses). Some of the buses are also operated by Whippet.
I wonder if a more frequent and cheaper service could be offered by Whippet if the journey was not single seat but a carefully timetabled commercial express leg covering the part that whippet doesn’t currently serve with local buses. Or gain subsidy with a split route number but single seat slightly less express service like the 730/731 pair from Basingstoke to Heathrow (charged as £6 single).
milest
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Does the coach need route branding? Not sure. If I were launching with at least two vehicle with regular clock face departures maybe , but with the base line blue livery of the operator the clear route and destination displayed at front I think is sufficient
JBC Prestatyn
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Not a new idea. We had Eastern Counties 792 then Ambassador Travel 792 then United Counties X51 then for a short time Stagecoach Cambus X6 along with National Express 350 376 over the same route. All had a degree of succuss into and out of Cambridge in peak times however the Huntingdon to Peterborough was a shoppers service rather than workers. For Cambridge it does say return halves blue arrow X1 can be used on X2/X3 which may be helpful for workers with 0730 to Cambridge from Huntingdon. For those mentioning Stage Carriage Stagecoach did try “Busway B” Cambridge to Peterborough for awhile using the name “Whoosh” on ads lasted about a year and then restructed as 904 Peterborough to St Ives connecting with the B at Huntingdon or St Ives that was withdrawn two October ago with big cut of services by Stagecoach around Cambs and became a Franchise by Dews running it for Stagecoach (Stagecoach Travel conditions/tickets apply.) For those with long memories it was known NBC Eastern Counties and NBC era of Cambus as 151.it was through route of 2 hours end to end. It goy spilt at De-reg at Huntingdon Mill Common. until the Busway B came along. around 10 years ago now as through route.
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Why does Roger’s BF, Ray Stenning, with his predictable bus stop flag designs insist on making the text so small on them? They can barley be read from the street as illustrated
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a lot of street signage is difficult to read at a distance or close. One is limited to bus stop panel size and generally the view is guesswork
JBC Prestatyn
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Roger might be interested to know, the announcement was made last Friday who won tranche 1 in the Merseyside area franchising
https://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/news/operators-announced-for-first-franchised-bus-services-in-the-liverpool-city-region-in-40-years/
SM
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might as well kept Birkenhead and wallasey corporations with new fleetlines and atlanteans along with St Helens and RT Regents. Such is progress
JBC Prestatyn
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Following my comment in the blog about the 99, I travelled between Peterborough and Cambridge as part of my trip to Hastings.
The capped fare was only £2 so £4 for the trip in todays blog. The journey time was quicker because there was no speed limit on the busway at that time.
Others have mentioned the various predecessors to this venture, I rode on Eastline 792 back in the 1980s. It would appear to be an obvious gap in the network but I still think this is a very brave attempt at this time. Perhaps a comprehensive Tiger Express network as part of franchising might work.
Richard Warwick
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A mere £24.90 return via Ely on the 50 to 58 minutes on the train .
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If you can get on the 3 coach Voyager that is. EMR aren’t any better – Ely to Peterborough either. We need class 755’s on as many regional railways as possible, which is usually 4 coaches, which makes a big difference. Huge upgrade over a class 158!
Aaron
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Huntingdon bus station waiting room?! Do such things still exist?
John
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Huntingdon has quite a new bus station and it’s really quite decent: it even has very presentable pubic toilets!
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Well, once again, Roger I’ve had to rely on you to tell me (from East Sussex!) about new services in Cambridge! No wonder you were the only passenger: publicity about bus services in Cambridge is virtually non-existent.
About time there was a decent bus link from Cambridge to Peterborough, especially since the A14 was massively improved between Cambridge and Huntingdon not so long ago. The train journey is quite tedious and often crowded with inadequate three-car Cross Country sets and two-car EMR sets going all the way from Norwich to Liverpool. When I first moved here the wander through the Fens was quite novel, but the attraction wore off very quickly! And given the inconvenient situation of Cambridge station, thanks to the University not wanting its students to defile themselves in ‘that London’, city centre to city centre journey times are not much different. (I love the fact that today the station tells you Cambridge is home to Anglia Ruskin University!) But it seems a very limited service, especially with such a late first departure from Cambridge. Let’s hope it can grow.
The three axle ex-Flixbus coaches turn up in all sorts of odd places: I saw one the other day on the 18, Cambridge-St Neots which serves lots of small villages to the west of Cambridge: I hope it got to St Neots in one piece!
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Roger found from me via email and (like the sole ordinary passenger) I found out via Facebook! Not sure why it popped up in my feed since I don’t live or work in Cambridge.
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If stephenmorris2578 would like to subscribe to the Cambridge Area Bus Users website he’ll receive updates on all of our blogposts, including every service update in the Cambridge area of which we are aware. (Some are harder to track down than others!)
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Saw this on LinkedIn and thought ooh exciting!
Then saw the timetable. I give it six months.
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Not sure your annotated route map is correct, Roger. You show the bus leaving the A14 at the Ermine Street (A1198) junction (23) which is prohibited in this direction.
I think you meant to show the route joining the A1307 (the old A14 route) at junction 24 near to Whippet’s depot.
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