Andy Pacer
Established Member
I would agree, I think a general rule of thumb at present is traffic is back, passengers arent.
Have normal road traffic levels not returned in Cambridge? They have in MK, though that's also because people are driving instead of going by bus, not because the commuters are back (they aren't).
Leicester is certainly getting there, afternoons especially.I doubt that traffic levels across the country are, in general, back to pre-Covid levels given the numbers furloughed or working from home. Plus schools are only just starting to go back. It's certainly busier on the roads than it has been recently but not yet back to the jams and peak problems.
I note that post-Lockdown the Busway is operating every 20 minutes on each route as opposed to every 15 mins. I imagine East will want those coaches back sooner rather than later so they can ramp up the Busway again
Indeed at the moment the Busway services have been heavily cut back. All the service A and B extensions have been replaced with peak time feeder services or other replacement routes, leaving just the guideway stretches itself plus Huntingdon.There will be a huge number of spare busway vehicles. The busway had been just about to see a massive service increase, with a replacement fleet, before covid struck. There would have been greatly enhanced peak frequencies on the core and new hourly services to Alconbury, Brampton, Chatteris & Somersham.
Have normal road traffic levels not returned in Cambridge? They have in MK, though that's also because people are driving instead of going by bus, not because the commuters are back (they aren't).
Travelling on this route soon. Is there a day ticket for this route? There is one for Oxford area.
I expect the single fare between Oxford and Bedford is lower than £15.It is covered by the East Dayrider Gold (£15 for an Adult).
Not the near-daily gridlock on weekdays that was the case pre-Covid. City traffic is very quiet in the mornings, the ring roads are busier getting to the Biomedical Campus etc.
I expect the single fare between Oxford and Bedford is lower than £15.
Gets you on Stagecoach West and Oxfordshire services too ☺️It is covered by the East Dayrider Gold (£15 for an Adult).
The X5 coach service between Bedford and Oxford is to undergo a second major change in the space of 11 months, with the current Plaxton Elite coaches being replaced by newer Alexander Dennis (ADL) Enviro400MMC double-deckers. Originally introduced in the late 1990s, the X5 service provided a through service from Cambridge to Oxford and has been popular with tourists in the decades that followed but changed on 30 August 2020 when the direct route was revised.
In conjunction with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, the old X5 route was be split into two parts, with the X5 continuing to operate between Bedford to Oxford and the 905 running via a new route of Bedford to Cambridge via Roxton, Eaton Socon, St Neots, Cambourne, Cambridge Regional College and Cambridge Science Park.
Stagecoach advised its customers that “over the next few weeks, we will be introducing a fleet of newly painted, amber coloured double-deck vehicles to the X5 route. Introducing double deck vehicles will help to improve the reliability of the service and minimise disruption. You’ll still be able to travel in comfort, as the double deck vehicles will have free WiFi, USB charging points, leather seats and luggage racks.”
This is not the first time that Stagecoach has considered using double-deckers on this route, in 2008 Alexander RL-bodied Volvo Olympian 16209, R34 TAC, was down-seated and fitted with luggage racks for a trial. However, it was deemed unsuitable in operation between Cambridge and Oxford, so batch of new Plaxton Panthers were ordered instead. The current split service arrangement means passengers now have to break their journey at Bedford if travelling onwards.
Ten ADL Enviro400MMCs (10872-81) from Peterborough have transferred to Bedford depot along with former Cambridge Park & Ride 10803 for the service.
Or a sign they are further downgrading the route from a coach route to become more of a local stopping bus.While I remember, I spotted this bit of news earlier this week:
Stagecoach East’s X5 coach service to go double-deck
The X5 coach service between Bedford and Oxford is to undergo a second major change in the space of 11 months, with the current Plaxton Elite coaches being replaced by newer Alexander Dennis (ADL) Enviro400MMC [...]cbwmagazine.com
This is surely a sign that things are picking up if they need the extra capacity.
Well, quite - that's certainly another way of looking at it!Or a sign they are further downgrading the route from a coach route to become more of a local stopping bus.
Or a sign they are further downgrading the route from a coach route to become more of a local stopping bus.
I wonder if they'd get more people trying to compete with NatEx doing Oxford to Luton Airport via Milton Keynes (replacing the 99) and Cambridge to Milton Keynes making that be the connection point. Can't see many people going 'through' MKC.Which is basically how it is used anyway.
End to end traffic is pretty limited, and what there is is very concentrated into certain periods (e.g. Friday and Sunday evenings)
I wonder if they'd get more people trying to compete with NatEx doing Oxford to Luton Airport via Milton Keynes (replacing the 99) and Cambridge to Milton Keynes making that be the connection point. Can't see many people going 'through' MKC.
Or a sign they are further downgrading the route from a coach route to become more of a local stopping bus.
Well, quite - that's certainly another way of looking at it!
Apparently because of reliability too, a few of the Elites have gone to South West to replace some of the older Plaxtons on the Falcon serviceThe reason for Bedford is partly operational convenience - that is the depot that operates it.
Between Bedford and Cambridge its a local service so makes sense to use deckers with extra capacity.
It sat at Bedford for 20 minutes anyway during which the few through passengers would tend to get off for a walk and the loo, so that they then got back on a different bus is not disastrous.
Add to that that East West Rail will kill the western part stone dead within a few years, but EWR to Cambridge will be many years hence. So splitting it is preparing for eventual withdrawal, though I'd not be surprised if some sort of Buckingham-Bicester service remained. (MK to Buckingham has the Arriva X60 and isn't itself a big flow).
...and similarly not be surprised if there continued to be a Bicester to Oxford service (not X5) given the frequency of the existing S5 route.So splitting it is preparing for eventual withdrawal, though I'd not be surprised if some sort of Buckingham-Bicester service remained. (MK to Buckingham has the Arriva X60 and isn't itself a big flow).
...and similarly not be surprised if there continued to be a Bicester to Oxford service (not X5) given the frequency of the existing S5 route.
A logical end state would be (eventually) a Cambridge-MK service - I can still see Bedford-MK being retained in order to get to MK Shopping Centre without the large hoof up Midsummer Boulevard from MK Central.
It is covered by the East Dayrider Gold (£15 for an Adult).
I'm sure there will be, given the massive growth zoned for Bicester. Purists could advocate a feeder service from the outlying areas, then a train to Oxford before getting a bus from the slightly peripheral train station to get into the centre. Three stages, two changes and no time saving....Not exactly attractive....and similarly not be surprised if there continued to be a Bicester to Oxford service (not X5) given the frequency of the existing S5 route.
Got to remember that the last set of coaches on the X5 were replaced after 6 years. These are already older and have done a good few miles so reliability will also start to be an issue.I used the X5 yesterday between Oxford and Bedford, a 64 plate elite coach. Half of the other buses on the X5 were E400mmcs.
Add to that that East West Rail will kill the western part stone dead within a few years, but EWR to Cambridge will be many years hence. So splitting it is preparing for eventual withdrawal, though I'd not be surprised if some sort of Buckingham-Bicester service remained. (MK to Buckingham has the Arriva X60 and isn't itself a big flow).