Despite the many protests from people in Waterbeach and Landbeach Stagecoach has now carried out its plan to withdraw the daytime service from the villages to Ely.

Stagecoach says that they had to “review their services” following the Conservative-run county council’s decision to cut bus subsidies. The threat to the Ely service was first spotted by Maurice Leeke who immediately alerted the two villages in a Focus leaflet.

“There was no mention of the withdrawal of the Ely bus in Stagecoach’s announcement of their changes,” said Maurice Leeke, “It was only when I checked the details of the proposed timetable that I spotted that the Cambridge to Ely buses during the day would sail past Landbeach and Waterbeach along the A10.”

Maurice Leeke and Michael Williamson have both been in touch with Stagecoach pointing out the difficulties that these changes will cause, and many other local people have also contacted Stagecoach, the county council or their local MP, while many more have signed one of the petitions in the villages asking for the Ely service to be retained.

The one improvement on the original plans that we have achieved is that a morning service to Ely has been added to the timetable stopping at Landbeach Crossroads at 8:36 and Waterbeach Green at 8:39. While any improvement is a welcome step in the right direction, as there is no return service from Ely to the villages it is unlikely to meet the needs of those wishing to do their shopping in Ely.

This may not be the end of the matter however. Maurice Leeke is contacting other bus companies to explore the possibility of them running a weekly bus service from Landbeach and Waterbeach to Ely on a Thursday. “The idea” says Maurice “is for the bus to leave at some time after half past nine in the morning so that pensioners would be able to use their bus passes, and then give passengers a couple of hours in Ely to do their shopping and other errands before the return journey.”

The intention would be for this service to be self-supporting, but it may be necessary for it be supported financially for a few months to prove that it is viable.

“We do need to know whether there is support in Landbeach and Waterbeach for such a service to be provided,” says Maurice Leeke “so I am asking everyone who is in favour of this proposal to contact me either online through my website or using the slip at the bottom of this leaflet.”

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