March to Whittlesey bus route on the way to Peterborough is saved

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) will step in to save a vital bus service from being withdrawn – but five other services are still at risk.

Mayor Paul Bristow asked the CPCA board to approve funding for the March to Whittlesey section of service 33 (March to Peterborough), which Stagecoach East planned to cut after August 31 this year.

This would have meant that the villages of Eastrea and Coates risked being cut off from Peterborough, with no public transport alternative.

However, this service will now continue after CPCA board members voted unanimously at a meeting today to approve the procurement of the service, which will cost the authority an additional £115,000.

Mr Bristow told the board meeting that it would be “unthinkable” not to have a town as big as March connected to Peterborough by bus. “That’s why I think it is really important to do this,” he said.

Stagecoach East will continue to run the Whittlesey to Peterborough section of the route commercially.

The estimated cost for maintaining this service is £225,000 annually, based on a one-bus operation.

Documents suggest this cost will be met via £90,000 of existing service funding that will no longer be operational, a forecasted 20 per cent return on revenue from passenger fares and existing capacity within the bus services budget for 2025/26.

Officers say they will work to build a timetable that integrates with the Stagecoach service between Whittlesey and Peterborough and is as “frequent as possible”.

Five other services in Cambridgeshire are still set to be withdrawn by Stagecoach East from August 31. These are: Cambridge–Ely–Littleport; Ramsey–Whittlesey–Peterborough; Milton–Impington Village College; Cambridge City Centre–Impington Village College; Trumpington–Sawston Village College.

Mr Bristow added: “It’s difficult to be unemotional about something as important as bus routes, but we have to make a policy that we’re prepared to subsidise when it comes to connecting towns to cities like March to Peterborough.”