It’s 8:20am on a Friday and I’m standing at the bus stop by the Eddington Sainsbury waiting for the U2 to take me to my 9am seminar at the Sidgwick site. It’s grey, raining, and cold, but the bus is scheduled to leave in a few minutes – at least, according to Google Maps and the electronic display at the bus stop. On schedule, the bus pulls up and the driver opens the door to let us in so that we can escape the cold weather. As we’re settling into our seats, he announces: “Just to let you all know, this bus is going to leave in 22 minutes.”

“What happened to the one due at 8:26?” a woman asks. He tells us that the bus leaving at 8:26 wasn’t charged overnight, so it won’t be running. A 22-minute wait would make most of us late. In the end, I shared an Uber with a friend, though not everyone can afford that.

I’m not the first to complain about the abysmal service of Cambridge buses, and I doubt I’ll be the last. In 2023, Girton’s then-MCR president, James Walsh, stated that “we cannot depend on it for our regular commute,” a sentiment that has been echoed since by the current MCR president, Jye Smallwood. There has been an influx of complaints by residents of Huntingdonshire regarding delays and cancellations, which caused significant disruptions to their daily commutes. Despite these complaints, Whippet, the company in charge of running the U1 and U2 buses, has claimed a 9% rise in passenger satisfaction between 2023 and 2024.

“The bus timetable itself is about as reliable as a tarot card reading”

As a Girtonian without a bike, I feel that I am well-positioned to comment on the need for more reliable public transport options in Cambridge. Indeed, if the past two terms at Girton have taught me anything, it’s that, without a bike, the city is largely inaccessible. The best way to get around Cambridge without a bike is to take the bus, but taking a bus in Cambridge is a little like winning a raffle. Frequent delays and cancellations are compounded by a cohort of indifferent bus drivers who ignore timetables, arrive late to work, and stop mid-route to buy groceries. The bus timetable itself is about as reliable as a tarot card reading, and there is no regular late-night service and an appallingly sporadic weekend service.

“The lacklustre public transport system is a symptom and symbol of the city’s more fundamental problem with wealth inequality”

This is not the level of public transport you would expect from a city which is, on the surface, relatively prosperous, houses a university consistently ranked in the global top five, and which just last year received a £10.2 million injection to support the development of its transport infrastructure. But, if you dig under the prim exterior of pretty college spires and cobbled streets, you’ll find that the lacklustre public transport system is a symptom and symbol of the city’s more fundamental problem with wealth inequality.

On the one hand, it’s home to a booming private sector comprised of tech and life sciences industries. Under Rachel Reeves’ new plan, it will receive sizable government investment to position itself, alongside Oxford, as part of the “Silicon Valley of Europe.” This has triggered a rapid growth in the city’s population alongside a need for infrastructural expansion. But, according to the above Bloomberg article, the city’s “lagging infrastructure has failed to keep pace with a swelling population.” Indeed, despite the £10.2 million injection, the Greater Cambridge Partnership suggested that a total of £160 million would be required for the full delivery of the Cambridge South East transport scheme alone. Where they expect to find the money is anyone’s guess.

In the meantime, residents must endure a subpar transport system. It only seems to be getting worse. Amidst the private sector boom and grand plans for its development, the city has seen massive rise in house prices and cost-of-living (which currently matches London, despite a lower average regional wage). Combined with stagnant wages, these developments have made Cambridge the second least affordable city in the UK, trailing just behind the capital.

As regular citizens are priced out of the city and forced to relocate to neighbouring suburbs, they will rely increasingly on reliable public transport links to the city centre. But, as it stands, the lack of a robust public transport system risks leaving people marooned in their villages. If the city is to keep up with its plans for Silicon Valley-esque development, it must give due attention to addressing the crisis that is its public transport system.

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