Contracted Bus Services      Back to Parish Council

 

As of the beginning of April 2008 Cambridgeshire County Council may be making changes to contracted bus services. These changes may affect you or someone you know in your area, so we are writing to you to consult on these proposals.

 

The majority of bus services in Cambridgeshire are operated commercially. These tend to be on well-used routes. For instance the 'corridors' to and from Cambridge City and between the larger towns. Bus operators are less willing however to run other services serving fewer people as they are not commercially viable.

 

When this occurs the County Council steps in to set up contracted services despite not being obliged to do so. There are currently around 80 contracted services within the County where the Council pays a subsidy to operators so that these non-commercial routes are covered. 

 

Every year a number of the contracts we have with bus operators expire.  This provides the county council with the opportunity to review the contract. Consideration is given to whether it provides value for money, covers all the needs of those it serves, and whether suggestions can be incorporated.

 

Cambridgeshire County Council has reviewed all the contracts that will expire in April 2008.  We are now encouraging feedback on the changes we are suggesting.  This is why we are contacting you.  The attached table shows the changes that have been suggested for each contract.  Some contracts have not been changed.  Other contracts have different options.  Some of the different options incorporate suggestions that have been received since the contract was last renewed.  Other options involve removing journeys.  Research has shown that these journeys carry very few passengers.  We will only consider removing these journeys from the final timetable if savings can be made.

 

If you are not directly affected by these proposed changes please do not feel that you can't give feedback. There may be someone in your parish who has a friend using one of the services. Their thoughts are very important to us. Please pass this information onto as many people within your parish and encourage them to contact us.

 

The consultation period is between now and 30 November 2007.

 

Your input is crucial and valued; we look forward to hearing from you.

 

We will be contacting County Councillors, District Councillors, Parish Chairs and Parish Clerks to engage them in this process.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Paul Nelson

Public Transport Manager

 

Please contact Passenger Transport on telephone 01223 714005, fax 01223 717789, email passenger.transport@Cambridgeshire.gov.uk or in writing to Passenger Transport Team, Cambridgeshire County Council, Box ET1015, Castle Court, Shire Hall, Cambridge CB3 0AP

Editor's note:

There is just the one service which concerns us. It is the 18B, one service a day to Comberton at about 07.40 in the morning and back again a little before 6 in the evening. The operators are being asked to tender on the existing timetable and route.

Please note that the service is commercially operated between Comberton and Cambridge except where shown on the timetable.

If you are interested to know plans for other routes, please contact Paul Nelson.