Route News 2023

Changes to bus services in and around Peterborough (latest items first). For older news see the Archive page.

For details of temporary route diversions and changes (due to roadworks, special events, weather etc) see the local Stagecoach page, Delaine's Twitter page, First's Current Issues page for Excel alterations, and Vectare's Twitter page.

Christmas and New Year Alterations 2023

bullet CHRISTMAS EVE Sunday December 24 - normal Sunday timetables but with an EARLY FINISH around 8pm (see separate item below).

bullet CHRISTMAS DAY Monday December 25 - NO SERVICE. There will be no rail services.

bullet BOXING DAY Tuesday December 26 - NO SERVICE. There will be no rail services.

bullet Wednesday/Thursday/Friday December 27-29 - SATURDAY timetables on Stagecoach, Excel and Delaine. However, Delaine 102 from/to Deeping St James will run a normal Monday to Friday service from 0853 towards Peterborough, and from Peterborough hourly 1015 to 1515 then 1715. Vectare will run a normal weekday service on routes 23/24, but there will be no service on route R4.

bullet Saturday December 30 - normal Saturday timetables.

bullet NEW YEAR'S EVE Sunday December 31 - normal Sunday timetables but with an EARLY FINISH around 8pm (see separate item below).

bullet NEW YEAR'S DAY Monday January 1 - NO SERVICE.

bullet Tuesday January 2 - Normal services resume.

05/12/2023, updated 09/12/23

Early finish on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve (Sunday timetables)

bullet Stagecoach East - last journeys depart as follows:
Service 1: from Orton Paulsgrove 1948, Werrington Centre to Walton Retail Park 1945, Werrington Centre to Orton Paulsgrove 1845.
Service 2: from Paston Pittneys 1920, Hospital Bretton Gate 1940.
Service 3: from Hospital Bretton Gate 1910, Stanground Ellwood Ave 1948.
Service 4: from Parnwell Centre to Queensgate 1930, Parnwell Centre to Hospital 1805, Hospital Bretton Gate to Queensgate 1910, Hospital Bretton Gate to Parnwell Centre 1710, Queensgate to Parnwell 1907.
Service 5: Yaxley Windsor Rd to Dogsthorpe Lavender Cres 1843, Yaxley Windsor Rd to Queensgate 1943, Dogsthorpe Lavender Cres to Yaxley 1845, Lavender Cres to Queensgate 1945.
Service 5A: Welland to Amazon 1915, Amazon to Welland 1925.
Service 6: Queensgate to Hampton 1955, Hampton College to Queensgate 2018.
Service 37: Queensgate to Springfields 1720, Springfields to Queensgate 1852 (normal Sunday timetable).

bullet Stagecoach Midlands (route X4) last journeys:
1816 Peterborough to Northampton will terminate at Corby; 2041 Peterborough to Kettering will not run.
Last journey Northampton to Peterborough will be at 1505 (1635 from Corby); 1905 Corby to Peterborough will not run.

bullet First Excel last journeys:
1800 Peterborough to Norwich will terminate at Kings Lynn. 1900 Peterborough to Kings Lynn will run as normal.

05/12/23

New National Express route to Luton and Heathrow Airports

bullet Starting on Friday October 20th, National Express are introducing new route 788 from Peterborough to Luton Airport and Heathrow Airport via Cambridge and Hitchin. The service runs six times daily, and timings can be found by clicking on Routes (express coach services are shown at the bottom of the Routes page).

17/10/2023

£2 maximum single fare extended

bullet The Government has announced that the £2 cap on single bus fares will be extended until the end of 2024. Previously the plan was to increase it to £2.50 at the end of October this year. Most bus companies are participating, including Stagecoach and Firstbus (who run the Excel route).

17/10/2023

Changes to Stagecoach Routes from October 29th 2023

bullet From Sunday October 29th there will be a further round of bus timetable changes affecting Stagecoach routes 1 to 6, 37 and 61, including new areas being served. Note that the Citi branding is being phased out. For Stagecoach's new pdf timetables please see the Routes page; revised Destination pages are also available.

bullet Route 1 - the Saturday timetable is amended, with the daytime frequency dropping from every 10 minutes to every 12. There are no changes on other days.

bullet Routes 2,3,4 - there are minor changes with some journeys retimed by up to 3 minutes earlier, notably from the Hospital. On Saturday mornings, some very early journeys before about 0745 have been withdrawn meaning an hourly frequency instead of half-hourly on some sections of route. At City Hospital, the stop where buses terminate and sometimes lay over has been renamed Hospital Bretton Gate in timetables, rather than Stop 4.

bullet Route 5 - timings change by a few minutes on some sections of route. The biggest change, however, is the extension of many Cardea and Amazon journeys on route 5A through to Hampton Serpentine Green. Journeys departing Queensgate for Amazon between 0745 and 1420 on Mondays to Fridays (0805 to 1720 Saturdays; 0840 to 1540 Sundays) are extended, returning from Serpentine Green around 35-40 minutes later.

bullet Route 6 - on leaving Serpentine Green, all journeys will now serve the new development at Hampton Gardens before continuing as now on a loop via Hampton Vale and Hampton Hargate back to Serpentine Green and Queensgate. The new timetable allows an extra 10 minutes for this deviation. Departure times from Queensgate remain the same but of course timings towards Queensgate will now be 10 minutes later.

bullet Route 37 - there are further timing changes following on from the recent September 3rd changes: the 0550 from Queensgate is retimed to 0510, the 0810 will serve the Blue Diamond Retail Park (formerly PE1 Retail Park), and the 1610 and 1810 journeys are retimed to 1620 and 1830 respectively; furthermore the Saturday timetable will change to be once again the same as the Monday to Friday timetable.

It's all change at the Spalding end, however: in a welcome move all journeys will be extended from Spalding Bus Station to the Springfields Outlet shopping and leisure complex. All except the first two journeys will serve Spalding Hospital and Morrisons en route to Springfields, whilst all journeys take a direct route from Springfields back to Spalding bus station. This does mean, of course, that timings from Spalding to Peterborough will be later than now (see the timetable on the Routes page). A consequence is that buses from Eye to Peterborough, at least those between 0938 and 1738, will once again run at the same minutes past each hour, instead of the uneven frequencies introduced at the end of July due to withdrawal of Stagecoach route 36.

bullet Route 61 - another welcome move is an increase in frequency to this route which serves Fengate, the Showcase Cinema, Vicarage Farm Road and Newark Sainsbury's. On Mondays to Fridays there will be three additional journeys from Queensgate at 1130, 1230 and 1430 (with four additional journeys back from Sainsbury's), whilst the Saturday service will see buses leaving Queensgate hourly from 0630 to 1830 (an increase from 7 journeys to 13) and from Sainsbury's hourly 0550 to 1750, also at 1720.

bullet Route X4 - timings are unchanged but most journeys will call additionally at Weldon Village Academy.

22/09/2023

Revisions to Stagecoach Fares

bullet From September 17th Stagecoach East has increased many of its fares including DayRider and MegaRider tickets. Note, however, that the maximum £2.00 single fare, which is part of the Government's Help for Households initiative, will continue until October 31st, when the fare will increase to £2.50. Update - it was announced in October that the £2.00 fare will continue until the end of 2024.

bullet Good news for families - Small Group tickets are now valid for up to three passengers of any type travelling together; previously they were restricted to one adult and up to two young people, so now two adults and a young person, or three adults travelling together, can take advantage of this DayRider fare. The Large Group ticket remains valid for up to five passengers of any type travelling together.

bullet Further details of day tickets and tickets for longer periods can be found on the Fares page.

17/09/2023

Stagecoach 37 Peterborough - Spalding revised

bullet From September 3rd route 37 Peterborough - Spalding has some timetable revisions on Mondays to Fridays, partly to improve the service for students travelling to and from Spalding Grammar School. The 0650 and 1710 journeys from Peterborough will run 20 minutes later. The 0802 from Spalding is retimed to 0837 (arriving Peterborough 0955 and running via the Blue Diamond Retail Park), whilst the 1537 and 1837 journeys from Spalding are retimed 20 minutes later. The Saturday and Sunday timetables are unchanged.

01/09/2023

Enhanced Delaine 301/302 timetable

bullet Although not serving Peterborough, the timetable for Delaine 301/302 Stamford - Market Deeping - Deeping St James - Spalding - Springfields is included on the Routes page. From August 28th there have been some timetable revisions, and also a Saturday service has been introduced. All journeys towards Stamford will operate via Uffington Road, St Pauls Street, North Street, Scotgate and All Saints Church.

01/09/2023

New minibus service between Eye and Thorney

bullet With the withdrawal of Stagecoach route 36 from July 30th (see item below dated 25/06/2023), the Combined Authority has organised a replacement minibus service 36 between Eye and Thorney starting on July 31st and operated by FACT. It runs on Mondays to Fridays with six round trips leaving Eye at 0730, 0930, 1100, 1400, 1530 and 1700, returning 15 minutes later from Thorney (Smithfield) to Eye. The full timetable may be found on the Routes page.

28/07/2023

Peterborough to Skegness X12

bullet Stagecoach are once again running the summer weekend X12 Peterborough to Skegness on Saturdays and Sundays. It starts on Saturday July 22nd and will this year be extended for a further two months, finishing on October 29th. Timings are the same as last year, leaving Queensgate Bus Station (Bay 9/10) at 0945, calling at Market Deeping Market Place (1005) and Spalding Bus Station (1035). Arrival at Skegness is at 1155, and the bus returns from Skegness at 1730 for the two-hour trip back to Peterborough. The full timetable is linked from the Routes page.

bullet Fares are the same as last year - £14 return for adults, whilst under 19s, students with ID, and concessionary pass holders pay £9. A Group ticket is available for £35, valid for four people including up to two adults. Purchase your ticket from the driver using contactless, card or cah payment.

21/07/2023

Extra Saturday journeys on Delaine 201/2 from July 31st

bullet From July 31st the 1645 Bourne - Stamford (1720) - Peterborough journey on Delaine route 202 and the 1815 Peterborough - Stamford - Bourne journey on route 201 will run additionally on Saturdays.

21/07/2023

New Stagecoach timetables from July 30th

bullet Stagecoach is changing most of its Peterborough area timetables from July 30th. Details are as follows:

bullet Citi 1 - daytime services run broadly to the same timetable, but there is an earlier start from both ends of the route, and morning depot journeys now run in service. The Sunday service also starts earlier and departures from Werrington are now at 05, 25, 45 on Sundays, with the 20-minute frequency finishing earlier before becoming hourly for the evening, which at least standardises the evening timetable to be the same on every day of the week.

bullet Citi 2 and 3 - timings are similar to before but with an earlier start, a particularly early journey being the 0455 from Paston (0500 on Saturdays). Journeys from Queensgate to the Hospital now start at 0530 on route 2 (previously 0635). The Bretton terminus of both routes is now officially the Hospital instead of buses changing their number at Heltwate in one direction.

bullet Citi 4 - this route also starts earlier, and there are minor changes from around 1600 hrs. The Sunday service is completely retimed and starts much earlier (0805 from Parnwell and 0810 from the Hospital, previously 0930 from both ends).

bullet Citi 5 - whilst frequencies remain the same, there is a completely new timetable. Buses run between Yaxley and Dogsthorpe Lavender Crescent in both directions numbered 5, whilst new number 5A has been introduced for journeys between Amazon and Welland (extended as before to/from Manor Drive except evenings and Sundays).

bullet Citi 6 - the service starts earlier, and departures before 0855 on Mondays to Fridays have revised times, but otherwise timings are unchanged.

bullet Routes 31/33 - journeys from Peterborough are unchanged except that there is an additional bus to March at 0505. From March to Peterborough there is an additional bus at 0618 and the other journeys from March now leave 20 minutes later (consequent upon withdrawal of route 36 which interworked with 33), meaning that buses from Whittlesey to Peterborough can no longer leave at the same minutes past each hour (there is, however, an additional journey from Whittlesey at 0858). Journeys from Ramsey leave three minutes earlier than before, and there is a new 1926 from Ramsey, being a continuation of the 1825 from Peterborough around the loop and back to the city.

bullet Routes 36/37 - route 36 Peterborough - Eye - Thorney - March is withdrawn, leaving Thorney to the hourly Excel service, although this takes the Eye bypass. This would have meant the loss of a link betweeen Thorney and Eye but the Combined Authority has organised a replacement minibus between these two villages (see separate item above). Route 37, however, has additional journeys, some to Spalding and some terminating at Eye. This means there is still a bus to Eye from Queensgate at 10 minutes past the hour, but from Eye to Peterborough it is not possible to run at the same minutes past each hour. Early and late journeys no longer serve Eye Garden Centre (i.e. Peterborough One Retail Park). Route 37 will continue to serve Newark Sainsbury's but will now take the Eye Road (as per the old 36) rather than Parnwell Way. The four Sunday journeys between Peterborough and Spalding have been increased to five with revised timings.

bullet Routes 60 to 63 - departures from Queensgate on route 60 are now seven minutes earlier (at 1125, 1425, 1725), whilst the seven journeys on route 61 now all leave on the half hour, and run 15 minutes earlier back into town (except the 1720). Routes 62 and 63 are unchanged, except that the Saturday service to Maxey no longer runs two minutes later than on Mondays to Fridays.

bullet Route 904 - timings are unchanged. Not previously mentioned is that since June this route has been operated by Dews Coaches on behalf of Stagecoach, generally using Stagecoach vehicles but with Dews buses sometimes appearing.

25/06/2023 updated 28/07/23

Vectare changes from July 17th

bullet Vectare's Peterborough - Lynch Wood minibus service has a revised timetable from Monday July 17th. Most journeys will now run via Oundle Road using the new route number 24, and the majority of these will serve Orton Waterville Church Drive (those that don't are numbered 24X). Five journeys each way will still run direct to/from Lynch Wood via Thorpe Road (route 23).

bullet Vectare's route R4/R4A Melton Mowbray - Oakham - Uppingham - Wansford - Peterborough will be cut back to run between Uppingham and Peterborough only (route R4), the Melton Mowbray to Uppingham section (route R4A) being withdrawn.

bullet The new pdf timetables will be found on the Routes page, and relevant Destination pages have been updated.

07/07/2023 updated 16/07/23

Fare Cap extended again

bullet The Government's bus fare cap of £2.00 per single journey has been extended once again and will run until 31st October, after which it will be increased to £2.50 for a further year until November 2024. Most bus companies are participating in the scheme, including Stagecoach and Excel.

28/05/2023

New Flixbus service London - Peterborough - Bradford

bullet Flixbus has been rapidly expanding its network of express coach services in the UK, and from May 19th (note change of date) is including Peterborough with a daily journey London - Peterborough - Sheffield (Meadowhall) - Leeds - Bradford. Flixbus operates in many countries and uses partner companies to operate the services; in this case it is Whippet who are running this route using coaches in the green livery of Flixbus. Bookings are made through the Flixbus website.

bullet Northbound departure from Peterborough is at 1335, having left London at 1100. The southbound journey leaves Peterborough at 2125, arriving London's Victoria Coach Station at 2345. Further details are on the Routes page. Originally advertised to start on Thursday April 27th, commencement of the service was delayed until Friday May 19th.

bullet A promotional fare of just £2.00 per single journey (plus a booking fee of £1 per booking) is available for bookings made until April 30th - travel can be anytime until July 31st.

21/04/2023 updated 26/04/2023

New National Express 767 Nottingham - Peterborough - Stansted

bullet National Express withdrew all of its regular coach services through Peterborough when the pandemic hit, but from April 28th new daily route 767 will be introduced running Nottingham - Leicester - Peterborough - Cambridge - Stansted Airport.

bullet Departures from Peterborough to Stansted Airport are at 0305 and 1555 (arriving 0445 and 1805), returning from Stansted at 0900 and 2000. Departures from Peterborough to Nottingham are at 1055 and 2155 (arriving 1300 and 2355), returning from Nottingham at 0100 and 1350.

bullet In Peterborough coaches will call at Queensgate bus station, whilst in Nottingham the terminus will be the newly rebuilt Broadmarsh bus station. Bookings can be made through the National Express website.

21/04/2023

Revised timings on Stagecoach 904 from April 16th

bullet Stagecoach 904 Peterborough - Huntingdon has a revised timetable from April 16th. All journeys will leave Peterborough five minutes later and the overall journey time to Huntingdon is increased by seven minutes. Northbound departures from Huntingdon are unchanged but eight minutes has been added to the scheduled journey time to Peterborough after leaving Sawtry (departure times from Sawtry to Peterborough are unchanged). The revised timetable is on the Routes page.

06/04/2023

Easter Holiday Arrangements 2023

bullet Good Friday April 7th - Stagecoach East and Excel are running a Sunday service; route X4 (operated by Stagecoach Midlands) has a Saturday service. Delaine 101 runs from Bourne at 0730, 0900 then every 30 minutes until 1630; from Peterborough at 0900, 1000 then every 30 minutes until 1730 (no service on 102). Delaine 201 has a Saturday timetable starting with the 0810 from Bourne and 1000 from Peterborough.

bullet Easter Saturday April 8th - Normal Saturday services.

bullet Easter Sunday April 9th - Sunday service on Stagecoach and Excel. No service on Delaine.

bullet Easter Monday April 10th - All operators are running Sunday timetables.

05/04/2023

Citi 5 returns to Manor Drive

bullet Citi 5 was briefly extended to Manor Drive from the end of October 2022 but initial problems with the road layout led to it being suspended shortly afterwards. Stagecoach has now announced that the route will once again serve Manor Drive from March 6th. To celebrate, passengers boarding at Manor Drive between March 6th and 12th will receive a free DayRider ticket.

25/02/2023

£2.00 maximum single fare extended

bullet The Government has announced that the £2 cap on single bus fares, initially running from January 1st to March 31st 2023, will be extended to June 30th. Stagecoach and Excel are the local operators who are participating in this scheme.

25/02/2023

Minor change to Spalding route 37

bullet From February 19th there is a minor change to Stagecoach route 37. The 0707 journey from Spalding to Peterborough (Mons to Sats) now departs at 0700 and runs seven minutes earlier throughout.

25/02/2023

New procedure for applying for or renewing concessionary bus passes

bullet Since 1st February 2023 there is a new procedure for applying for or renewing bus passes. Applications should be made online to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority through www.thebuspass.com. You can renew up to six weeks before your pass expires. An email address and passport sized photo are required. It is no longer possible to apply with a paper application form or in person at the Town Hall, but assistance in renewing online is available at local libraries. You can also apply for and renew your pass by phoning 03445 045 1367.

06/02/2023

Stagecoach fares increase from January 8th, 2023

bullet Stagecoach East is increasing its fares from Sunday January 8th, the first network-wide fare increase for over four and a half years. This does not affect the special maximum single fare of £2.00 (see below) which is in effect from January 1st until March 31st. The Fares page has been updated, and further information can be found on the Stagecoach website.

08/01/2023

Bus fares capped at £2.00 single January to March 2023

bullet As part of a government initiative, most single bus fares are being temporarily capped at £2.00 between January 1st and March 31st, in a bid to attract more passengers. In our area, all Stagecoach bus routes are included, as are the Excel routes operated by First Eastern Counties. Delaine, however, are not participating in the scheme.

bullet Government sources say that single local bus fares in England normally cost £2.80 on average but can exceed £5 in rural areas.

30/12/2022