Changes to bus services in and around Peterborough during 2005 (latest items first). For older news see the Archive page.
New Year
I was unable to put details of the Christmas changes onto the site, but just a reminder that there will be no bus services at all on Sunday 1st January. On Monday 2nd January there will be a Sunday service, except that Delaine will run a revised Saturday service on 101/102 (first bus Bourne - Peterborough 0725 and Peterborough - Bourne 0830; last bus Bourne - Peterborough 1700 and Peterborough - Bourne 1800) and a normal Tuesday service on Peterborough - Stamford route 201.
31/12/05
Bits 'n Pieces affecting 9,11,16
Due to a heavy workload I have been remiss in not advising the following changes:
From 14 November the 0715 journey from Huntingdon to Peterborough on Stagecoach service 16 has been rerouted via London Road instead of Celta Road due to traffic congestion.
From 5 December, Kimes service 9 at 1545 from Peterborough to Oakham runs 5 minutes earlier between Queensgate and Stamford, and no longer starts from St John Fisher School. There is an additional Peterborough - Stamford journey on schooldays at 1610.
First Choice service 11 journey at 1600 from Queensgate to Stamford now runs 15 minutes earlier and on schooldays starts from St John Fisher School (at 1535) instead of Kings School. Kings to Queensgate is replaced by Kime's service 71, which connects with the new Kime journey at 1610 to Stamford.
31/12/05
Cavalier Travel 15
I have been advised rather belatedly by the City Council that the new timetable for Cavalier service 15 was not implemented after all, and that the old timetable is still in operation! Sorry about that.
03/11/05
Demise of Morleys
Front page news of today's Evening Telegraph is that Morleys has ceased to run, with vandalism, increasing costs and competition cited as the reasons for its closure on Sunday. Alec Head has reportedly taken over, running to the same timetable, and has offered jobs to all Morley's staff. The article states that Morleys will continue to run its school contracts until the end of the month. What a shame there was no notice of the last Morley's 701 journey as it would no doubt have drawn a crowd of enthusiasts (or maybe it did and nobody told me)!
01/11/05
New Stagecoach routes and timetables from October 23
Timetable revisions from October 23 will bring increased frequencies and a simplified network for Hampton, Parnwell, Welland, Dogsthorpe and Bluebell, as well as changes on many country services. Revised pages for all country destinations are now available on this site - city pages will follow shortly.
Service 5 will cease to serve Welland but instead service 4 will run on a one-way loop via Sainsbury's, Parnwell and Welland (via a short section of Paston Parkway), continuing via Scalford Drive and Eastern Avenue to rejoin the outward route at the top of Reeves Way. Frequency will be doubled to every 10 minutes. Having lost the Welland leg, all service 5 journeys will run round the Dogsthorpe/Bluebell loop, thereby doubling the frequency of this section to every 10 minutes as well.
Both the 4 and 5 will have an hourly evening and Sunday service, replacing the 45, although the 4 will not divert from Parnwell Way to Parnwell Centre at these times. Service 4 will leave Queensgate at 15 minutes past the hour, and service 5 at 45 minutes past the hour. This will bring to an end the last of the dedicated evening and Sunday services, and will double the evening frequency for those residents of Eastfield and Dogsthorpe who live close to both routes.
Stagecoach will be introducing a new service 6 to serve Hampton every 20 minutes, again an increase in frequency. From Serpentine Green the route will run one way through Hampton Vale to Hampton Hargate before returning to Serpentine Green. On Mondays to Fridays the service will start at 0625 and run via the station for commuters - evening journeys will also run via the station and the 20 minute frequency from Queensgate (calling at the station first) will be maintained right up to 1950. City Council service 6 will be known as Local Link 6 to avoid confusion with the Stagecoach service.
Evening and Sunday journeys on service 2 to the District Hospital will return to Queensgate by way of the railway station, connecting, of course, with other services at Queensgate.
Sunday service 12 (Queensgate - Hampton - Orton) will be renumbered 15, as it takes the same route as evening service 15 operated by Cavalier Travel on behalf of the City Council. The daytime service on Cavalier 15 is also changing as a result of the Stagecoach changes - it will cease to serve Hampton Vale, but will be extended at the other end of the route from Orton Southgate to Lynch Wood Business Park.
Service 12 will no longer run cross-town to Hampton and will revert to running Queensgate to the Deepings. The 1720 journey from Queensgate will be withdrawn, as will the 0850 on Saturdays. Service 46 to Huntingdon will be renumbered 16 and will have a revised timetable from mid-afternoon onwards. It will cease to divert via Hampton Vale, except in the evenings, saving up to 5 minutes on country journeys.
The 1550 journey on service 47 to Etton will be retimed to 1600, and the 1802 to Etton (which was an extension of a service 4 journey) will be withdrawn. The 1742 service 4 to Thorney will also be withdrawn but replaced by retiming the 1820 service 36 to Thorney and Wisbech to 1745. The 1815 Thorney - Peterborough journey will be withdrawn as a consequence.
Services to the Oundle area (apart from the X4) will be reorganised and renumbered. Basically the 42 becomes 14, running hourly to Elton and extended two-hourly (with gaps) to Warmington, Oundle and Thrapston. This will give Thrapston, also Barnwell, Thorpe Waterville and Titchmarsh, a much improved service, as they were previously only linked to Peterborough by "market day" services operated by Alec Head or Buckby's. Tansor and Cotterstock are also served by the 14 giving these villages an improved service, but Warmington village, previously served hourly, will lose out. The 14 will have additional hourly journeys to Lynch Wood and Orton Northgate (Newcombe Way - close to the Showground), giving the business park at Lynch Wood a half-hourly service. Some additional morning peak journeys to Lynch Wood are numbered 13A and run via Thorpe Road and the Parkway.
The 43/43A to Kings Cliffe will be renumbered 13 with revised routeings and an additional journey, although as all trips are routed via Lynch Wood, Stibbington and Wansford some journey times are extended. Fotheringhay will no longer be served. Rockingham Hills, Glapthorn and Southwick (also St Peters Road in Oundle) will be served by service 13 with two or three trips to and from Oundle, with poor connections for Peterborough. Although one through journey to Peterborough is possible, this takes much longer than previously.
08/10/05 amended 16/10/05
Christmas Park and Ride extended
Peterborough's seasonal Park and Ride service will run from three sites this year, and will run on Sundays as well as Saturdays. The additional site will be Maskew Avenue close to Bourges Boulevard, where the car park belonging to the City Council's transport depot will be used. The other two sites are unchanged from last year - Lynch Wood (the large Pearl Assurance car park number 5 adjacent to the bus shelter) and the Perkins car park adjacent to Sainsburys in Oxney Road just off the Frank Perkins Parkway.
The services will run on Saturdays and Sundays from October 29 until December 31 and will also run on two bank holidays, Tuesday December 27 and Monday January 2 (but not December 25 or January 1). All three services will run every 12 minutes from about 0800 to 1810 on Saturdays and from 1000 to around 1710 on Sundays and bank holidays. Once again there will be no charge for parking and travel will be entirely free. Cavalier Travel will run the Lynch Wood service whilst Stagecoach will operate from the other two sites.
29/09/05, updated 29/10/05
Service 38
The minibus service from Werrington Centre to Maxey and Helpston via Peakirk (service 38, operated by First Choice for the Council) has revised timings from September 6. The changes are minor, except that there is a new journey from Werrington Centre at 0815 on schooldays to Arthur Mellows Village College via Peakirk (continuing to Etton). It returns from Etton at 1530 calling at the college at 1540.
06/09/05
Village Link changes
The Village Link service, operated by Bettacars, has a new timetable from September 5. Most journeys extend from Edith Cavell Hospital to terminate at Queensgate Bus Station (Bay 9), and there is a new afternoon journey linking Stamford College with Barnack and Bainton.
06/09/05
New buses for Peterborough
14 new buses for service 1 are believed to be under construction. They will be low-floor Dennis Tridents with Alexander bodywork, and will replace the ex London Volvo Olympians which currently run on this service, which runs between Werrington and Orton.
02/08/05
Improved service for Morton from August 28
Delaine are making minor changes to the 101/102 timetable from August 28. The service is unchanged between Bourne and Peterborough but departures from Morton will be 5 minutes later, generally at 50 minutes past the hour. The 0850 from Morton will run daily (previously Saturdays and non-schooldays) and there will be an additional journey on schooldays at 0820 (replacing a journey to Bourne on service 301).
02/08/05
Norwich Bus Station
The new bus station in Norwich is due to open on August 30. First Excel service X1 to and from Peterborough will be one of the services which will use the rebuilt facility, which is on the site of the old bus station which closed last year. The X1 from Peterborough will leave from Bay 2.
02/08/05, updated 04/08/05
New Peterborough timetable book
Peterborough City Council has now published its new comprehensive timetable book dated July 2005. Running to 136 pages it's the biggest and best yet, and includes several pages of general travel information and local places of interest. Most of the inaccuracies which have plagued previous editions (and recent Council timetable leaflets) have been sorted out. At the back there is an excellent new map for the city area with each route colour-coded, and the front has a diagramatic colour-coded map for the entire network.
The timetable is free of charge and is available from the bus station, tourist office, central library and the council offices at Bridge House near the Town Bridge. It is probably also available from local libraries, and council operated buses may also have some on board.
15/07/05
Peterborough Dial-a-Ride
From July 1, the City Council is to take over operation of the Peterborough Dial-a-Ride minibus service operated by the Orton Community Transport Association. Originally started in 1982 by a group of volunteers, this service aimed at the elderly and infirm originally served the Orton area, but thanks to additional funding has expanded over the years to include many areas of the city including the rural hinterland. The Council aims to save money by using school minibuses and their drivers to run the off-peak service. Three 18-seaters are currently required, but slightly larger vehicles will be used in future. Passengers pay an annual membership fee (£5 per person or £7.50 for a couple), and fares are charged per return trip, typically £1.90 - £2.80 within the city area. Bookings have to be made 48 hours in advance, although the Council are planning to improve this to 24 hours.
27/06/05
Park and Ride trial service ceases
For the record, the brief history of the temporary Park and Ride service from Horsefair Meadow (near the football ground) to Queensgate needs to be documented here. The reason for the service was major reconstruction work on the Town Rail Bridge over the Whittlesey line, immediately south of the Town Bridge (which crosses the River Nene). Bus Lanes have been introduced on the north and south approaches of the bridges, coming into effect from May 31. Serious congestion was expected during the bridge construction work due to lane closures, and the trial service was introduced as a precautionary measure by the City Council. In the event, disruption to traffic has been less than expected, and very few passengers used the service. A decision was announced on June 27 to bring the three month trial to an early end on July 1.
The service is believed to have been first introduced on April 18, but was later suspended due to a change to the schedule of work. It was reintroduced on May 31 to coincide with the new bus lanes, running on Mondays to Fridays every 10 minutes from 0730 to 1820 (2000 on Thursdays). The service was operated by Stagecoach on behalf of the City Council, using Metrorider midibuses, at least one of which is in a special Park and Ride livery (and appeared as such on the Christmas Park & Ride). All-day parking plus the "free" shuttle bus cost £3 per vehicle. With the car park being so close to the city centre, the service has been the subject of much criticism in the local press, which reported that it cost £14,000 per month to run and carried just 29 people in one week at its lowest point.
27/06/05
Embling's Isle College service
At some point this year the service operated by Emblings known as "Isle 3" between Peterborough and Wisbech Isle College became a contract service rather than a public service and will no longer appear in the Council's timetable book. Of interest to enthusiasts, as it is believed to involve a rather elderly double decker, the service leaves Westgate (opposite the bus station) at 0820 on college days, departing Isle College at 1630.
27/06/05
New timetable book
A new edition of the comprehensive Peterborough Bus Timetable book (last published June 2004) is in preparation and should be available shortly.
28/05/05, updated 25/06/05
New Community Link Bus Services from May 31
Peterborough City Council becomes a bus operator in its own right from this weekend, taking over some existing tendered services, and starting a new service 7. The Council's network will be marketed as Community Link, and all the new timetables can be seen on the Council website.
Service 6: From May 31 Peterborough City Council will take over operation of Stagecoach service 6 (Werrington - Queensgate - Ravensthorpe - Edith Cavell Hospital) with a revised timetable, also incorporating service 6A formerly operated by First Choice Travel. Alexandra Road (which lost its service in the April 2004 shakeup) will be served in preference to Garten End Road, which will now only be served by the one journey each way on Stagecoach 47. The Werrington - Queensgate section will not cease so early in the afternoon, running for a further two hours in both directions. All journeys on the Ravensthorpe section operate via the former 6A route: Thorpe Road, Audley Gate and Atherstone Avenue (leaving Priory Road unserved once again). The evening service continues as before to Bretton Centre but finishes earlier and is newly extended to North Bretton (Ice Rink) to bolster the evening service on the 3. The 6A (which was one of the experimental services introduced last August) had a Sunday service, but the revised 6 will only run on Mondays to Saturdays.
Service 7: This is a new hourly off-peak service operated by the City Council, restoring buses to the North Street area of Stanground, which was another casualty of Stagecoach's April 2004 network, and increasing the service to Hampton Serpentine Green (in fact by operating direct between Park Farm and Serpentine Green via Fletton Parkway - that's one I hadn't predicted). Glebe Road and Queens Road (near the football ground) are also served, and between there and Thistle Drive the service runs on the hail and ride principle.
Service 31: This service (one journey each way on Mondays to Fridays between Thornhaugh and Peterborough) will be operated by the Council rather than First Choice.
Service 33: This is another of the experimental services introduced in August 2004, to address the loss of the links from Millfield to Bretton and Dogsthorpe with the April changes. Originally operated by First Choice, and then Stagecoach from January, this service will also be taken over by the City Council from May 31. The service will run to a new timetable, and is extended beyond Bretton Centre to Edith Cavell Hospital.
Service 38: This service, to Maxey and Etton, is completely revamped (using the same principles as the Village Link service) and will run from Werrington Centre rather than Queensgate, connecting with Stagecoach service 1. There will also be connections at Northborough or Glinton with service 12. Although it forms part of the new Community Link network, this service will continue to be operated by First Choice Travel, but using a specially-liveried vehicle. Most journeys will serve the Scotts Road area of Glinton, on a hail and ride basis.
NewEye Flyer: From May 29 the NewEye Flyer will be operated by the Council rather than Cavalier Travel, and will run to a new timetable with an all-day service between Queensgate and Newborough. Most journeys will be diverted to serve Sainsbury's at Newark. The demand-responsive section of route north of Newborough no longer features in the timetable, although Crowland will be served on Sundays with a regular service every two hours. Certain Sunday journeys will also extend to Ferry Meadows.
Local Link: This service also changes from Cavalier to City Council operation from Tuesday May 31 (after the Bank Holiday weekend) although passengers will probably not notice any difference as the timetable is unchanged, and the same vehicles will be used (I gather the drivers have also transfered into Council employment). Even under Cavalier, this route and the NewEye Flyer were operated from the City Council depot in Maskew Avenue, using Peterborough-based drivers and Council-owned vehicles.
Four new 24-seat Iveco Iris buses were ordered for services 6, 7 and 33, but unfortunately a problem was discovered with the low-floor version of this design, and Optare Solos were delivered instead, entering service in early June. As they were not available in time for the start of the new services, a mixture of vehicles from the Council's school bus fleet was drafted in, it being the half-term holiday.
A press launch took place on Friday May 27 at Glebe Road. The press release quotes Councillor John Peach, Cabinet Member for the Environment, as saying "We are striving to improve bus services to local people, particularly those who may be isolated for a variety of reasons. We believe that these new low floor vehicles will make travelling by public transport much easier for a lot of people, bringing greater freedom and enhancing quality of life." A picture appeared in Saturday's Evening Telegraph, unfortunately with a non low-floor Mercedes midibus.
28/05/05, updated 27/06/05
Change of Operator for rural services 405/407
Cambridgeshire County Council has contracted Huntingdon and District to operate services 405 and 407 from April 4, formerly operated by Whippet. Between them these routes provide a service to the villages west of Huntingdon on alternate Wednesdays.
09/04/05
X1 times change by one minute
A new timetable for First Excel service X1 (Peterborough - Norwich - Great Yarmouth - Lowestoft) was issued from March 27. However, changes are very minor by up to 2 minutes, with journeys from Peterborough leaving 1 minute earlier from both the railway station and Queensgate. Pages have been updated.
09/04/05, 11/04/05
Additional Country Destinations
Several destinations have been added in recent weeks as part of the revamp of the site. Until now only through buses have been shown, but the three latest destinations involve a change of bus. These are Cambridge, Leicester and Nottingham, changing at Huntingdon, Uppingham and Oakham respectively. Through tickets are available for Nottingham (the £4.50 day ticket, available from the Kimes driver).
21/03/05
Easter Holiday Services
Peterborough City Council have produced a pdf file with details of Easter holiday services. This is also available from the bus station enquiry office in the form of a leaflet.
19/03/05
Rail and Coach Fares Comparison - London
Something of a departure from the normal content on this site is a special page comparing the various different WAGN and GNER rail fares for a day trip from Peterborough to London, showing any restrictions. Coach fares (day returns) are also included for completeness. You will find this item, which I hope you will find useful, on the menu under Rail Fares - London
16/03/05
New Peterborough Bus Times Website
After nearly five years, the site now has a new home with more room for expansion! The web address www.pbt.org.uk will bring you straight to the new site, which has been completely rewritten from the ground up. Some features of the old site have still to be moved over.
The City Area pages have not yet been integrated into the new site in that the menus etc will not appear down each side. However, I am not giving this a high priority at the moment.
13/03/05
New National Express timetable
The new National Express coach timetable from March 7 sees few changes as far as Peterborough is concerned. However, the London - Peterborough - Lincoln service is renumbered 447 and now leaves London 30 minutes later at 1600. Departure from Peterborough for Lincoln is at 1825 on Saturdays and Sundays, 1840 on Mondays to Fridays, and it now misses out the Stamford stop due to timekeeping problems. Stamford is served instead by an extension of the 1800 London - Peterborough journey.
07/03/05
Uppingham and Oakham Changes
From February 14 there are minor changes to the R47 timetable with buses leaving Uppingham for Peterborough 5 minutes later. The route is extended in Uppingham beyong the North Street East interchange to Shepherds Way/Leicester Road.
On February 27 an improved Sunday timetable was introduced on Kimes 9A and 9B services to Oakham. The 9B is routed via Uppingham between Stamford and Oakham.
All these changes have been incorporated into the new Peterborough Bus Times (PBT) site at www.pbt.org.uk, which is fairly complete as far as Country Services are concerned, but for all other items please continue to use the old site for now.
03/03/05
Sunday service to Ramsey
Cavalier Travel's experimental Sunday service to Ramsey will not be extended beyond its trial period and will therfore be withdrawn after operation on January 30.
22/01/05
Peterborough City Council trial city services
From January 4, First Choice service 33 (Bretton - Millfield - Dogsthorpe) is being operated by Stagecoach, with some changes to the timetable at the beginning and end of the day. The new timetable can be found on the Council's Travelchoice website (see the Timetables by Route page for a link).
First Choice service 6A (Queensgate - Netherton - Westwood) is further extended to run at least until the end of March, as is Stagecoach service 6.
Evening service 15 (Queensgate - Hampton - Orton) will be operated by Cavalier Travel from January 24, and the timetable is now integrated with the daytime service, also operated by Cavalier (but not serving Queensgate). The evening service was another of the trial services introduced by the City Council, but its future seems assured beyond the end of March.
The additional evening journeys on Stagecoach service 2 (Queensgate - Paston), making it half-hourly, have also been extended until the end of March, but will then be withdrawn. The evening service will therefore revert to hourly from the beginning of April.
11/01/05, updated 21/01/05
Stagecoach X4 changes
From January 3 there is a new timetable on service X4 Peterborough - Northampton - Milton Keynes. On Mondays to Saturdays changes are minor with some retimings of 5 minutes. On Sundays, however, the two-hourly service towards Peterborough is recast and shifted by an hour. This means, for example, that Sunday buses from Oundle to Peterborough are now two-hourly 0930 to 1730, one hour earlier than before. All relevant pages have been updated.
Unfortunately, a persistent virus (not the computer variety) has prevented me from bringing you news of this and other changes earlier, for which I apologise.
11/01/05
Page updated 29/12/09
