'They didn't understand the impact bus cuts would have on people'

Several Stagecoach routes in Cambridgeshire and parts of Suffolk had timetable changes at the end of October

Several bus routes in Cambridgeshire and parts of Suffolk have seen changes this week after new operators took over from Stagecoach, which withdrew from 18 loss-making routes and introduced changes on others. With less frequent buses and limited timetables in some areas - and negotiations continuing with providers - how are passengers coping?

'No regard for schoolchildren'

Grandfather Alan Miller says Stagecoach should have known the changes would affect those going to school

Alan Miller is concerned about his grandson, Connor, who travels from Yaxley, near Peterborough, to Sawtry Village Academy.

The 17-year-old uses the 904, which is still run by Stagecoach East but has changed from an hourly service to one every hour and a half.

Mr Miller says: "The early bus, which a lot of students use, they have to arrive almost an hour before school starts, or the next bus arrives half an hour after the school day has started."

The 73-year-old says it is "not so bad in the evenings", but the last bus from the school to Yaxley is at 17:15, "so if any of the students stay behind to do school activities, it limits the time they can spend there or they've got to get any other sort of transport home".

Mr Miller says: "I don't think [Stagecoach] took any regard to the fact schoolchildren use the service in the morning.

"There used to be a bus for schoolchildren only on school days so they were aware."

He says students now have to "get there early or make alternative arrangements to get in".

Stagecoach, he says, "don't seem to have taken much notice of people's concerns".

"It seems like it was a service run for their benefit rather than their passengers," he says.

'If you rely on buses you're excluded'

Village resident Gemma Brewin says the buses are now too full during peak times

Stagecoach's 13 service between Cambridge and Haverhill, in Suffolk, has been made more direct since 31 October, but some passengers have experienced issues.

Gemma Brewin lives on the route in Horseheath, and works at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

She says she "uses the bus as much as she can" but has recently found using her car more "convenient and reliable".

The 40-year-old says on Tuesday she went to get the 13 bus from home at 08:00.

"Normally there's space but it was very difficult to get on; I did manage to squeeze on, but no more people could get on," she says.

"Getting home was another matter. The [Stagecoach] app was showing the bus was cancelled. The bus did arrive but the bus was so full, it was 'one off, one on', so only three people got on and about 20 people were left waiting.

"The next bus was late and had the same problem so only about 10 people got on and by this point more people had arrived [at the bus stop]."

She says after waiting for an hour she "cut my losses" and got a taxi.

Ms Brewin says: "I think it's really frustrating because [nearby] Haverhill [in Suffolk] is a growing town, the only public transport option people have got is that bus.

"It clearly can't meet the demand of the passengers that are there."

She says at a time when there is encouragement to get "people out of their cars and on to public transport... when there isn't capacity, it just seem the wrong message to be sending to people".

"If you're relying on public transport it really is excluding people from opportunities," she adds.

'Not all of us can drive'

The number 13 bus is relied on by Claire Mendes's son but the changes have caused him issues

Claire Mendes lives in Haverhill says her 16-year-old son has been affected by the changes to the number 13 route he takes to get to Long Road College in Cambridge.

She says during his hour-long journey in the morning "he had to stand up the whole way" because it was so busy.

The bus could then not pick up further passenger because it was full.

Connor has a bus pass, which he uses for college and a part-time job, at a cost of £625 for the year.

But on Sunday afternoon his bus for work was cancelled.

The 43-year-old says: "I drove him in, an additional expense I thought by getting the bus pass I wouldn't have to worry about.

"There is a lot of frustration in Haverhill, I don't think people who made the decision to change the buses really understood the impact it would have on people.

"Not all of us can drive; not all of us want to drive or can afford to; [buses] can be a lifeline."

She says some people in the Suffolk town say they "might have to stop working" due to issues with the buses.

'Incredibility frustrating'

Anthony Browne MP says residents need certainty over the timetables and routes

The Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, Anthony Browne, says he has had "hundreds of emails" about public transport.

He says: "The disruption to buses, the threatening to stop a whole load of services, these new disruptive timetables, have been immensely distressing for a lot of people who depend on buses to get to work, to get to school, to go shopping."

Residents find the changes and cancellations "incredibility frustrating", he says.

The Conservative says the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority's directly-elected Mayor, Nik Johnson, needs to sort a long-term solution and the issue is now the "defining mission for the Combined Authority".

He says the authority needs to "make sure the residents have the bus service they want and can rely on".

But the MP adds it is not "an issue about funding" with Stagecoach having received government money.

"What you really need is legal certainty about the routes," he says.

'Fair funding'

Mr Johnson says the "hard work" of Combined Authority's transport team meant all but one of the withdrawn services had been covered following an "urgent" tendering process.

The remaining route, service 39 between Ely and March, had been covered apart from the section between Chatteris and March, with the authority in continued discussions, he adds.

Work is "ongoing" to secure services for those who use the bus to travel to and from school or college, not just those who receive assistance from their council.

"We will continue to make the case to government for fair funding for our bus system, including seeking the united all-important support of the county’s many MPs and working with neighbouring local transport authorities who will be in the same position going into 2023-24," he says.

Ross Barton, operations director at Stagecoach East, apologised to passengers for cancelled services and said driver shortages were a "major issue" across the industry.

"We appreciate the impact that this is having on local people and we are doing everything we can to resolve the problem," he added.

"Inevitably with the introduction of a new network, there can be some teething issues.

"Our customers have raised with us issues with bus times and passenger capacity and our team are doing all they can to look at these individual issues and work up solutions as quickly as possible."