Reprieved bus service is a lifeline, say users

Laurisa Hallam said: "I don't know how I'd get back to college unless I paid more money to use a train, and that's too much money every day"

Bus users of a service that runs between a market town and a city have reacted with relief after the route was saved.

The March to Peterborough 33 route was to have been shortened from 31 August due to "extremely low passenger numbers", according to operator Stagecoach.

The Combined Authority Board has backed a proposal by Conservative Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Paul Bristow to save the service.

Students Laurisa Hallam and Paige Camplin said that without the bus, they would have to pay "two or three times more" to access their Peterborough college courses.

The 33 travels from the Fenland town of March, with stops at Eastrea, Coates and Whittlesey

Saving the service will cost the authority, which oversees the county's bus network, an additional £115,000, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Bristow told its board meeting it would be "unthinkable" to not have a town as big as March connected to Peterborough by bus.

"I think it's a good thing to save the bus for people like us, teenagers needing to go to college or get to work," said Ms Campin, 18.

She relies on the number 33 to attend her course 14 miles (23km) away in Peterborough at least three days a week and sometimes every day.

Her only other alternative is the train service, but "if I get train, it's two to three times more money – I have done that before when the bus is cancelled".

Student Paige Camplin, 18, takes the bus to college in Peterborough at least three times a week

Fellow student Ms Hallam, 19, also makes the journey three times a week from March to Peterborough.

She was grateful for plans to subsidise the route, saying "it's a good use of money".

Stagecoach said only 32 passengers used the 33 service between March and Peterborough on an average day.

The route includes stops at the villages of Eastrea and Coates, as well as Whittlesey.

Anne Benedict sometimes uses the 33, as does her son

Coates postmistress Anne Benedict said: "It's great news, not only for me, but also for elderly customers.

"One comes every Tuesday, from here to Whittlesey, not only for shopping but so they're not stuck in the house, while others go into Peterborough at least twice a week."

The £2 fair contrasts with the cost of a taxi journey into Peterborough, which the 46-year-old said ranged from £22 to £25.

Eastrea resident Sharon Stevens says she knows people who see the bus as their lifeline

While Eastrea resident Sharon Stevens also welcomed the news she admitted she did not use the service herself, preferring to use her car.

"God forbid I hurt myself and couldn't drive, then I would have to use a bus, because I definitely wouldn't use the taxi service because of the cost," the 55-year-old said.

"There's lots of people who say it's their lifeline, they like to do a bit of shopping in Whittlesey, have a coffee and a meet-up."