Cambridge sixth-formers’ lives ‘absolute misery’ due to five-hour commute by bus

Frustrated parents are complaining that their teenagers’ lives are “absolute misery” because they face up to five hours of travel every day commuting to and from colleges in Cambridge due to an inadequate bus service.

Students who live in villages to the east of the city – including Burwell, Swaffham Bulbeck, Lode and Bottisham – are frequently facing 12-hour days because there is no direct bus service to Hills Road and Long Road Sixth Form colleges.

They have no other option than to make this daily trek that requires them to take two buses because these are still their nearest sixth-form providers – up to 12 miles away from their homes.

Now they are asking for a direct bus service to the colleges instead of students being forced to set off before 7am to avoid getting into trouble for being late.

Dad Chris Everitt says: “My son is getting the 6.40am bus from Burwell for a 9am start and then walking from Drummer Street to Hills Road. His classmates are gobsmacked at what he has to do compared to buses from other places. He can’t get a season ticket as the two buses needed are different companies. We’d commit to a dedicated sixth-form bus. Maybe Hills and Long Road could share one from here.”

Meanwhile, mum Gill Pearson, who lives in Bottisham, says: “My daughter goes to Long Road and the 7.45am from Bottisham is always late – no way would that get her there in time.”

Currently, she feels she has no option but to drive to Tesco in Fulbourn , where her daughter then catches a bus to Addenbrooke’s and walks from there.

“The whole thing is a joke and costs a fortune, as she catches Stephensons and then Stagecoach buses so there is no cheaper way of doing it,” says Gill. “We are spending up to £8 a day on buses. Also on occasions the Stephenson buses don’t turn up. I have tried ringing them but they never answer.”

Dad Damian Saunders added: “Once they arrive at school, having been sat on public transport for over three hours, they get moaned at by the teachers and told to get an earlier bus. The same problem exists at the other end of the day also…

“In a nutshell, sometimes they have pretty much a 12-hour day, half of which was spent sitting around waiting or sitting on buses. It’s about 12 miles from Burwell to Long Road. I can walk there quicker than it takes to get there by bus sometimes. What a joke!

“And how exactly is this conducive to quality learning? Absolute misery for them all.”

The journey home can take even longer, the parents say.

Now the transport campaign group A to B1102, which represents villages along the B1102 road, including Bottisham, Swaffham Bulbeck and Burwell, has launched a survey to find out what buses are needed in the villages.

Spokesperson Jon Cook said: “We are concerned about the difficulties students have accessing post-16 education in Cambridge, Soham, Ely and Bury St Edmunds. We believe an evidenced-based approach is most effective to better assess and understand need and, based on that evidence, make decisions on how subsidies and service design is made.

“We have therefore just launched our transport survey, which launched in Bottisham this weekend, and will be launched in all our villages from Fordham through to Quy, from Lode across to Wilbraham. Students at Long Road college have already been invited to respond.”

He plans to send out similar surveys in village magazines in November. He said: “We hope all the other villages will follow suit so that as many people as possible can tell us about where they need to get to, how frequently, how they travel and where they currently can’t get to and need to go to. It also offers greater understanding of how people can utilise more active travel, for those who are able.”

The survey can be completed at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ZQQPPVL.

The parents agreed that a direct morning and evening bus from these villages to the sixth-form colleges, removing the need to change at Drummer Street, would transform their children’s journeys and education.

One said: “It seems crazy that there isn’t a dedicated service that goes to the Addenbooke’s/Long Road/Hills Road area. There must be enough kids going to and from sixth form to fill one.

“We have generally taken the kids to Ely, then they get the train and walk to Hills Road from Cambridge station. It sounds daft but it’s faster and more reliable.”

Bill Hiron, spokesperson for Stephensons buses, agreed they would be prepared to look at a direct bus route. However, he said: “The service 11 is operated under contract to the Combined Authority so any additional resource would need to be agreed and funded by them.

“I would say that it is virtually impossible to meet all needs on a service that runs hourly. We have to try and allow for peak time arrivals in both Newmarket and Cambridge as well as other more local journeys.”

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is responsible for commissioning bus services in the county and it would be its decision on whether to fund a direct bus route between the villages and the sixth-form colleges.

A spokesperson for Long Road Sixth Form College said: “We are aware that public transport across Cambridgeshire and surrounding areas remains an issue for young people travelling to schools and colleges in the city centre. We have recently reviewed the possibility of introducing our own college transport for students, but sadly current funding for sixth-form colleges means we are unable to run a bus of our own.

“In the spring we met with Bill Hiron, managing director of Stephensons of Essex, to raise concerns we had about student journeys and discuss the various transport and tickets options available. We are continuing to support our students impacted by these issues and work with local bus companies to voice the concerns of our students, parents and carers.

“As a college, we would love to see an extension of the number 11 bus route to the Biomedical Campus, making a direct route to the college. We are hoping that our work with Stephensons, looking at the number of student bus users along route 11, is a step in the right direction towards achieving this. Although we have no control over buses, we are lobbying for better public transport.

“All students, parents and carers received an email on Friday (September 22) containing a link to the A to B1102 campaign group survey on journeys along the B1102 route, in support their goal of improving infrastructure and travel options into Cambridge.”
Long Road Sixth Form puts on a shuttle bus for its students to Cambridge train station.

A spokesperson for Hills Road College said: “We would absolutely like to see a dedicated bus to and from college that serves these villages. A two-and-a-half hour journey each way wll have a detrimental effect on student’s work and mental health.”

Labour mayor Dr Nik Johnson said: “The Combined Authority is currently undertaking a review of the bus network, to look at which services are currently working and not working for passengers and how these can be improved. We note the point raised about the bus not connecting at a good time for students to get to college and will look at this as part of the review. Residents are encouraged to suggest routes by engaging their parish councils.

“All of this reinforces the importance of our work to transform the bus network in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

“This work continues at pace to make bus services more convenient, more frequent, more reliable, and more affordable.”