Local Bus Services -Some Comments

The local bus service, No 75, is soon to be changed with a new timetable and revised timings.

Thankfully, the timetable is less complicated than before and should be easier for passengers to understand. BUT, Read More below

The missing link in the provision of a successful and flourishing bus service is the very poor bus stops, and an almost total lack of information.

For example, my own village has a number of places where the bus can be boarded. But most are so poorly maintained, and lacking in time and route information, as to be useless to all but hardened, determined users. Others bus stop signs are missing altogether or hidden amongst trees. The chances of the new service being successful rests on high levels of accessibility and convenience.

The new service is an ideal opportunity to create a bus service which is successful and flourishing, and which contributes to reducing the ever growing reliance on private cars and the congestion they cause.

My suggestions for future success are:

• Bus stops reviewed and upgraded.
• The main village centre stops need shelters.
• Timetable information is provided at every stop. This needs to be easy to understand, with a clear route map included, as well as a list of departure times.
• Timetable leaflets must be freely available, with information also available at village shops and delivered to each house (with existing mailings perhaps?)

The Trumpington Park & Ride transport hub offers great potential for onward travel. However, information and convenience is again the key. What plans are there to provide this at the Hub? Which other routes will be required to call at the Hub? (No7, No 26)

On many buses, the electronic displays offer great potential for publicising the route. However the current uninspired ‘Croydon’ or ‘Central Cambridge’, offers potential users no clues as to the places served by that bus. What a waste!

We are frequently urged to ‘leave the car at home and use public transport’. If using the bus is to be an attractive proposition, the vehicles and facilities must be attractive and easy to use. This is an ideal opportunity to see that this is the case.

Steve Edmondson