I'd never noticed that that 31 had been cut back to Addies - that was a terrible change! It's surely better to leave buses wasting time caught in traffic and run a slightly less frequent service than to make people have to make a worrying connection onto a wretchedly infrequent bus? Or at least tell people to change at Trumpington P&R, and that the return buses will wait for the first busway service to leave Cambridge after X times?
As A2B were always straightforward and open in their communication it seems a shame to see them call a 25% service cut great news, and to infer that there's been an improvement. It may on balance be a sensible choice by the CPCA, and I get that it goes to extra useful places, and it's perhaps dubious whether there was value in that number of buses leaving within only a short period of the day. But it's still a further 25% cut on a route that's already seen a few.
Barry where have you been? the 31 service has been cut back to Addenbrookes for all inward journeys other than the first one of the day from Barley for some years now. Like wise only two, the 16.10 & 18.20 return journeys start from Drummer Street. The reasoning is that passenger numbers do not warrant a through service. As it is the Fowlmere - Addenbrookes service is very little used and the mainly by a few pensioners travelling from Hauxton & Little Shelford, to Gt Shelford for shopping, and to Addenbrookes Hospital. Any one wanting the city centre does not have to wait long at Addenbrookes for a connecting Stagecoach bus onwards to city centre.
A2B's notification of service changes
https://twitter.com/a2btravelgroup/status/1424829904298856454/photo/1 does not give an updated time table, but from what they say it looks as though some 31 journeys will continue as the 114 from Addenbrookes. Not sure how that will effect the 31 return journeys from Addenbrooks if the bus has gone onto the 114, unless an incoming 114 continues to Fowlmere as a 31.
I can see that the GCP want make changes that will increase patronage and give better coverage, but the fact is that most of the villages served Fowlmere, Thriplow, Newton, Hauxton and Little Shelford are 'dormatory' villages, with only the pensioners there in the day to use a bus. Myself and Steve Edmundson spent many hours replacing lost or faded bus stop flags and refurbishing timetable cases with new timetables, but it had little effect. Obviously Covid came along and really decimated patronage, I dont see that returning any time soon. I dont know what the answer is.
Further to writing the above I have looked up the new timetables on Bustimes.org (just put in a date post 16th August and they are displayed) The 31 timetable remains the same but the 114 has been re timed to aline with the 31 for 3 inward journeys the 1015 1145 1315 from Addenbrookes and 3 outward 0930 1100 1200 from Chesterton with a 10 min wait (assuming bus is on time) at Addenbrookes for the onward journeys to Fowlmere.
