At-risk bus routes saved by local councils

In September Stagecoach East revealed 18 routes were at risk

Several bus routes which faced being axed at the end of the month have now been saved.

In September Stagecoach East said it could no longer run 18 routes in Cambridgeshire and parts of Suffolk.

But the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) said other companies have now come forward to run all but four of the routes.

CPCA's board has agreed new contracts which will keep services running until the end of March 2023.

Mayor Dr Nik Johnson said: "I know from all correspondence I’ve received just how much of an impact this decision by Stagecoach has had on people.

"There has been a widespread concern across the region to get something done to keep these bus routes going and that’s what the Combined Authority is working hard to achieve."

He said for legal reasons around the tendering process, it was not yet able to confirm which bus operators were the preferred bidder for each route nor was it able to confirm the route timetables.

More detail would be available from Monday, he said.

Stephensons Buses, however, has said it would run the 12 from Newmarket to Cambridge.

The authority has agreed new contracts which will keep services running until the end of March 2023.

Meanwhile, the CPCA said it would continue to work with bus operators to see if it could plug the remaining gaps.

The four services without an operator were the 23 and 24 services from Queensgate to Lynch Wood, Peterborough, the 915 from Royston to Cambridge and part of service 39 running from Chatteris to March.

Bids for the 23 and 24 routes have now been submitted, and discussions are ongoing with an operator for 915, the CPCA said.

The 18 routes came under threat after Stagecoach East said they were not "financially viable" to run and made up only 6% of its network in the area.

Bill Hiron, the managing director of Essex-based Stephensons Buses, said the company decided it could run the number 12 route on a "commercial basis" after analysing passenger data, but with a "few tweaks".

He said it would continue to run "broadly hourly" but would take in Bottisham, currently served by the number 11.

"Hopefully we can turn a crust where Stagecoach can't," he said.

Suffolk County Council said it was able to part-fund the route using money from the Department for Transport "for supporting local bus routes during Covid".

CPCA said saved routes would require some of the £1.7m set aside by the combined authority for subsidies to operators to keep them running.

It said the total cost was expected to be about £1,076,658 to keep the services which had tenders running.