Buses of Cambridge

It can be hard to find out about buses. This is an unofficial website with some information about the buses of Cambridge UK, plus links to Google maps of the various bus routes. I have tried to make it as accurate as I can by looking at the official maps and timetables, but I do not guarantee the accuracy. If you find any mistakes on it, please contact me, Jo Edkins, at jo.edkins.bus@gwydir.demon.co.uk

• Bus tickets
• Google maps and timetables
• Common destinations and buses going there
• Addenbrookes hospital
• Shopping in Cambridge
• Railway station and bus stations
• What to see in Cambridge
• Official Cambridge bus websites
• The guided bus

Bus tickets

All the following prices are as of April 2013. This website is unofficial, so please check the official websites for up-to-date and accurate information. For most buses in Cambridge, you buy bus tickets from the driver. Park & Ride bus tickets may be bought from machines in the Park & Ride carparks and they are cheaper that way. If you travel on the Busway (guided bus busway), for some stops you have to buy tickets from ticket machines near the stop. Most buses in Cambridge are run by Stagecoach. The Stagecoach Dayrider ticket is valid for one day’s unlimited travel on Stagecoach buses within the city and costs £3.90. A single ticket will probably cost less than this, but most returns cost more, so you will automatically be given a Dayrider. However a return ticket from a Park & Ride carpark to the centre and back is subsidised, so costs £2.90 from the driver or £2.60 from a ticket machine in the carpark. But if you start from the centre and travel to the carpark and back, i.e. in the opposite direction, this is not subsidised and will be a normal Dayrider ticket (£3.90). There are some 'short hop' Park and ride tickets for certain specified short journeys.

If going outside the city, then you may need a Dayrider Plus ticket costing £7.80. There is a Megarider ticket which will give you seven days travel starting from the day you bought it, and saves money if you travel for five days within that period. All these tickets apply to Stagecoach buses only. You can get Multibus tickets for travelling on any bus, either per day, or weekly. See Park & Ride and other bus tickets for up-to-date and complete information.

Sorry if this all seems complicated! My advice is to have a look around at the bus stop to see if there is a ticket machine. If not, tell the driver your journey (including the return), and he will sell you the cheapest ticket.

If you use a Whippet bus, then they have their own price structure (which doesn't seem to be easily available!) Dayrider and other Stagecoach tickets will not be accepted. You can be caught out by this if you have a Stagecoach Dayrider ticket, then try to use a Whippet bus. Multibus ticket will work for both Stagecoach and Whippet bus.

If you are over 60, you can apply for a bus pass which will let you travel free on all buses after 9.30am.

Bus timetables and Google maps

There are plenty of buses which travel from Cambridge to villages and towns round. I have not tried to cover these. Try the county council bus timetables by location. I am concentrating on the buses that serve Cambridge itself. Citi 4 goes all the way to St Neots, so I have only covered the city part of the route. I have made up Google maps for the Cambridge bus routes (see below). You can look up a map of buses going through or round Cambridge here. You can look up individual maps and timetables on the County Council website here.

in the Google map shows a stop marked in the timetable. Zoom in for the other bus stops, or . Click on a stop for its name. Click on the bus route for details, including timing.

Addenbrookes Hospital

As you can see above, there are several buses going to Addenbrookes Hospital from different parts of Cambridge. If you want to visit the hospital late in the evening or on Sundays, or bank holidays, I strongly advise that you look at the official timetables to check what's running.

See above for info about bus tickets.

Most buses go to the Addenbrookes bus station which is at the front of the hospital, by Hills Road. You may have quite a walk to get to the part of the hospital that you require - it's a big place! There is a road leading from Hills Road into the centre of the hospital. Outpatients is on this road, on your left, fairly close to this bus station. Next on your left is A & E (Accident and Emergency) and at the end of this road, again on the left, there is a rotating glass door which is the main entrance to Addenbrookes Hospital. There is a reception there, and shops, and places to eat. There are also corridors to all the wards. In particular, turning right after you leave the food concourse, you can walk down a long corridor (the Clown corridor) to get to Addenbrookes Treatment Centre (ATC or the Treatment Centre), which is a kind of Addenbrookes extention. The Addenbrookes Treatment Centre has its own entrance with another glass rotating door, and another reception. This is like a back door into Addenbrookes hospital. It is on Keith Day Road. You can reach the Rosie (maternity hospital) via the Clown corridor. Click here for a map of Addenbrookes showing the Clown corridor.

There are two regular buses which go round the Addenbrookes site, visiting the back door on Keith Day Road. They also visit the maternity hospital entrance. These buses are the guided Busway A and Citi 7. The guided busway also stops right outside Outpatients - it does not go to the hospital bus station. There is also a hospital courtesy bus visiting different parts of Addenbrookes, including the visitors carpark.

One peculiarity of Addenbrookes Hospital is that the ground floor is not level zero (as in American usage) or level one (as in British usage). It is level two! Ward numbers will be a letter and a number. The number gives the level, so tells you how many flights of stairs (once you've subtracted two!) The ward letters are on the map below.

Shopping in Cambridge

The biggest shopping area in Cambridge is the city centre. Most buses stop in the centre. If you get off a bus and find yourself walking through a park, then you're walking in the wrong direction for the centre! Turn round and either walk along Emmanuel Street or Christs Lane. There are two shopping malls, the Lion Yard and the Grand Arcade (which run into each other). There is a market 6 or 7 days a week in the Market Square. There are big stores and little shops and places to eat scattered over quite an area.

The other shopping mall is the Grafton Centre, in the middle of the Kite area, with other shopping close by. Park & Ride green, Park & Ride red and 114 stop at the Grafton centre on East Road. Walk through the Grafton Centre to get to Fitzroy Street and Burleigh Street, where the rest of the shopping is - a collection of mostly small shops.

Mill Road has an interesting collection of shops, including ethnic shops, food and otherwise. Citi 2 travels the length of Mill Road.

Railway station and bus stations

The railway station is not close to the city centre. There are plenty of buses between the station and the centre - see Common destinations and buses going there. Buses going into the city centre and buses going further out are grouped in different places at the railway station. So click here for maps showing you where the railway station is, plus where the bus stops are at the station.

The main bus station is close to the city centre. It is also too small, so there are bus stops along near-by streets as well - rather a mess! Click here for Bus stops in the centre of Cambridge. Nearly all buses in Cambridge stop here, so see above for details.

There are also major bus stops which act as mini bus stations. These are at the Grafton Centre (a shopping mall), Addenbrookes hospital and the railway station. Click here for more details on this.

What to see in Cambridge

If you are visiting Cambridge and have some spare time, you may want to 'see the sights'. The most famous building in Cambridge is Kings College Chapel. You can see it from Kings Parade, but it costs money to see inside (it's worth it!) There are colleges scattered throughout the city centre. Some have decorated Tudor gatehouses which are very fine, and can be seen from the road. If you want to see inside a college, then I suggest that you do a little research first to see what's worth looking at. Some colleges charge for entry. All colleges will shut during exams, May Balls and other important times of year. At the front of every college there is the porters lodge, so ask a porter if you can visit. There are tours round Cambridge, either walking or by bus.

Cambridge has an eccentric collection of museums, mostly run by the university and mostly free.

© Jo Edkins 2009 - Return to my homepage