Recently, Cambridgeshire Sustainable Travel Alliance surveyed bus passengers in Northstowe, a new town being built northwest of Cambridge. Over a quarter of bus users cited overcrowding as an issue for the area’s services, and two-thirds said that they couldn’t always find a place to sit down on the bus. The survey was carried out on 18 and 20 August at the busway stops in Northstowe and received a total of 80 responses, including from elderly people, teenagers, young adults and parents with young children.
Convenient but full buses
One of the most serious issues reported was overcrowding in the early morning, with passengers saying it affected their journeys into nearby Cambridge for work, school or sixth-form college. One passenger commented: “When I was doing my A-Levels, I had to wait for four buses to go past until I could get on because it was so busy.” Another reported having to wake up at 7am for work because “by the time the bus gets here it’s already full.”
Bus satisfaction was still high, however. Nearly all services from Northstowe run on the busway, an extensive bus-only route, and nine in ten passengers said they use the bus because it’s convenient, while eight in ten said the services are reliable.
One passenger told Cambridgeshire Sustainable Travel Alliance that they felt “lucky”, and another remarked: “It’s very well connected with Cambridge. The busway works well.” Pricing also received positive feedback, with three in ten interviewees mentioning that they chose the bus because of high parking prices in central Cambridge. One passenger said overcrowding hadn’t been as bad this year as in previous years, and that the guided busway was generally “very good”, cutting his “journey down significantly”.
Commuters using the Northstowe busway also told East Anglia Bylines about their journeys.
Edson Da Silva travels from Longstanton to Cambridge Science Park every working day, leaving at 7am and returning at around 4.30pm. His journeys are usually much busier during school term time, he explained, and he has even changed his commuting times to avoid the crowds. Leaving his Longstanton home earlier than he used to helps him avoid the morning school rush. Da Silva also echoed the survey participant who said there had been less overcrowding this year than in the past.
Rosie, who used to use the guided busway regularly to travel to college, told East Anglia Bylines that the bus is usually most crowded in Cambridge city centre and at the railway station.
The issue is widespread around Cambridge
Bus overcrowding is also an issue elsewhere in Cambridgeshire. Members and students of Girton College, northwest of Cambridge, have reported experiences similar to those of Northstowe residents. Luca, a recent Girton graduate, noted that overcrowding was most prevalent at rush hour, when he was leaving the city to return to college. He recalled dealing with the problem by “either having to stand up, or wait for the next bus in 10 to 15 minutes”.
Luca also told East Anglia Bylines of a time when the bus from Girton into Cambridge was so overcrowded that he couldn’t get on at 11am on a Sunday in December, ultimately causing him to miss his train to London. He ended up walking towards the city and getting a taxi to the station, which cost him £8.
“It can get frustrating and expensive when you have time-pressured commitments,” he said.
Calls for action on overcrowding
The Travel Alliance is calling for action to tackle overcrowding. Julen Lippam-Erasti, campaigns intern at Cambridgeshire Sustainable Travel Alliance, who carried out the survey, said: “It is evident that many Northstowe passengers believe that greater frequency would improve an otherwise excellent bus service and relieve pressure from overcrowding. Every avenue must be explored to bring this about, both during the fencing installation works and beyond. This must include ways to increase speeds again on the busway to decrease operating costs, improve service frequencies, and make the service more attractive for passengers.”
He also explained that if people stop using buses because of overcrowding and drive instead, there will be knock-on consequences.
He continued: “Unless the busway operates as a mass rapid transit route as originally intended, attracting large numbers of passengers and helping more people switch journeys from driving, the growth of Northstowe from the current 1,600 homes to the forecast 10,000+ homes will cripple Cambridge’s road network. The city’s streets are already at capacity and cannot accommodate significant increases in car traffic from the new developments in and around the city.”
Cambridgeshire Sustainable Travel Alliance is a coalition of 30 transport, health and environmental organisations which says it aims to unite and inspire people in Cambridgeshire working for a transport network that “protects our future and offers genuine choice”. It was founded in October 2022 by three organisations – Cambridge Living Streets, Camcycle and Cambridge Area Bus Users – which campaign for better walking, cycling and public transport respectively.
Sarah Hughes, campaign officer for the Alliance and a member of the Cambridge Area Bus Users Executive Committee, also called for action, saying: “Northstowe should set a national benchmark as a rural town where residents can thrive without a car, the vision for which planning permission was originally granted. It is therefore extremely disappointing to hear regularly that residents are giving up on bus travel, as services are currently slow, not sufficiently frequent and often uncomfortably crowded at peak times, if you can manage to board at all.”
She added: “The Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, Cambridgeshire County Council, and Stagecoach must work together with haste to increase rather than reduce services before more Northstowe residents abandon the bus forever.”
This article is based on a press release by Cambridgeshire Sustainable Travel Alliance.
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