I must raise my hat to the public transport team at Cambridgeshire County Council who have managed to organize a replacement bus service a very short notice for the one Stagecoach is withdrawing on 3rd January which serves the 900 residents of Teversham village which has no facilities – not even a pub!

Stagecoach is withdrawing the three off peak journeys on route 17 because they are “uneconomical”.  The current single morning peak journey into Cambridge and the single return journey in the evening to Stetchworth will continue for now.

Stagecoach’s rival Go Whippet will extend journeys on the county subsidized route 18 to Cambridge at no extra cost and without affecting the service to Newmarket.  It does mean we can’t run it six days a week – it will operate on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays only and it can’t use Coldham’s Lane because of the low bridge (because Whippet uses a double deck bus), but at least Teversham will continue to have a link not only with the City but also the health centre, library and shops in Fulbourn village for those without a car and who can’t cycle there.

The current first bus from Little Wilbraham will continue beyond Fulbourn to Teversham and the City centre, returning to Teversham to run the journey to Newmarket; returning from Newmarket it will go beyond Teversham to the City centre and then return back to Teversham.  The bus will serve the Ferndale area of Teversham which is far from an existing bus route and would otherwise have no off-peak service to and from the City.

Regrettably once again the multi-million multi-national Stagecoach has shown it has no regard for corporate social responsibility to the communities it serves unless they make profits for it.  It wasn’t prepared to cross-subsidize the  one bus and a driver it cost to operate the lifeline off peak service from the very profitable Citi routes it runs in Cambridge.