A new community bus service was launched on 3 July in the Cambridgeshire town of Wisbech to replace the former Stagecoach-operated Tesco 66 route that was discontinued last year.
Fenland District Council set-up a project for the area, resulting in the birth of the new service to be run initially on a 12-month trial by the Fenland Association for Community Transport (Fact).
Going against the recent trend of rural services being cut, new route 68 is longer than the one it replaces and links residential areas in south and north-west Wisbech not previously served by public transport to the town centre and a business park. It also serves a general store, shopping centre, cinema, community centre, an academy, college, leisure centre, hospital, surgery and eye clinic.
Simon King, a councillor with special responsibility for transport, says: ‘The withdrawal of the Tesco 66 service granted us the opportunity to rethink how the public transport needs of local people could be met.
‘Residents played an active part in our Wisbech Bus Service project, helping us to form the routes and timetable that would suit them best.’
He has appealed to residents to make use of the new service, in order for it to become permanent. He also wants newcomers to the area residing in new developments to take advantage of the route.
