Bus operators come together to improve travel in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

Bus operators in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have come together to form a new association aimed at giving the people of the region an improved transport network. The CP Bus Alliance is a grouping of the key bus operators: A2B, Delaine Buses, Dews Coaches, Stagecoach East, Stephenson’s, Vectare and Whippet.

They intend to take a pan-network approach to maintain competition and work together to improve the bus network for passengers.

The move comes in the same month that Mayor Dr Nik Johnson outlined his vision to offer the people of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough a world-class bus service.

He has also outlined his key priorities to keep people connected as: to add more buses to the network; provide bus users with better information; offer more reliability across the network; provide nicer, better-quality buses; and give better value for money to users.

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The CP Bus Alliance is supportive of the Mayor’s priorities.

David Boden, Director of Business Development at Stagecoach East has been elected at the first chairman of the CP Bus Alliance.

He said: “By working together with the Mayor, we can work through the detail needed to deliver on those priorities and, most importantly, start to deliver results for the people of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

“We intend to ensure that Cambridgeshire and Peterborough residents can see something real and tangible in terms of change.

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Representatives of bus operators gather at Huntingdon Bus Station to launch the Cambridge & Peterborough Bus Alliance. Pic – Keith Heppell
“This partnership, though, does need, on the part of the Mayor, CPCA and other local authorities, support in delivering a road network on which we can deliver punctual services.

“We are ready, willing, and able to be held accountable for the aspect of reliability we can control – providing a bus and a driver when we say we will.

“But, let me be clear: once the bus leaves the depot early in a morning, its performance throughout the rest of the day is overwhelmingly dictated by issues like congestion, parking enforcement and roadworks, none of which are in bus operators’ power to change.

Mr Boden added: “We all know that these issues cause daily problems for our customers with delayed and cancelled services and are also a significant barrier to encouraging more people to travel by bus.

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“From our perspective, we will work to clearly understand the wants and needs of our customers, local officials and the Mayor and his team, so we can deliver real tangible results which people can see soon.

“By working together, in the spirit of co-operation, we can get Cambridgeshire and Peterborough moving.”