The 7A bus, which connects four settlements in South Cambridgeshire on a 20 km route, runs four times a day, six days a week. Despite carrying only 771 passengers in 2022/23, it operates thanks to a taxpayer subsidy of £124 per passenger. Its operator, A2B Travel Group admits it is not value for money, and the elected mayor responsible for transport, Nik Johnson, is planning significant changes to the local network. The 7A illustrates how bus services need to make adjustments to retain passengers.
One of the 7A’s most regular passengers is Jean Wakefield, who is three months away from her 80th birthday. She catches the 7A to visit her friend’s house in the village of Sawston, shuttling between her residence near the Imperial War Museum at Duxford airfield. Wakefield says that the bus does not always appear on time and needs to be more reliable. She attributes the low passenger numbers to deaths in the area.
There are other passengers on the 7A, including 70-year-old retired couple, Brian and Angela Swann, who are heading to the Imperial War Museum. The Swanns, who use public transport frequently, believe the £124 subsidy is too high, but Mr Swann says the journey they are on probably isn’t unreasonable.
A2B Travel Group has been running the 7A since 2016, and while it provides links to rural areas that have no other services, the route does not run from high population areas nor does it operate frequently enough. Managing Director Brian Clifford thinks the service needs better start and end points and needs to operate where passengers want to go. The ongoing Covid-19 crisis has led to fewer drivers as well as passengers, but A2B is training new drivers in-house.
Last year, CPCA Board, chaired by elected Labour mayor Nik Johnson responsible for public transport in the area, evaluated 19 subsidised bus routes, including the 7A. CPCA found that while the 7A had the highest per passenger subsidy, six others cost more than £40, and all 19 were above CPCA’s £12 per passenger target. The review suggested that the 7A be combined with a home-to-school service and linked with other services to create savings. Later this week, if the Board passes the budget, the mayoral “bus tax” will increase from a yearly average of £12 per household to £36, raising around £11m to finance around 30 new or expanded routes and on-call services. Nik Johnson believes that subsidising routes is essential to keep people from being socially isolated, but he also wants to get value for money
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