Ely and Wisbech rural bus services get temporary reprieve

Two rural bus services threatened with closure have been given a temporary reprieve after funding was made available to keep them running.

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority said it would fund an Ely and a Wisbech service until March.

The independent Ely Zipper and the number 68 - known as the Wisbech Tesco bus - were under threat because of falling passenger numbers.

The authority said it hoped the funding would provide "some reassurance".

The Zipper service, operated by Dews, runs in a loop starting and ending in Ely, connecting places including Stretham, Wilburton, Aldreth, Haddenham and Witcham.

The Wisbech service, operated by community transport provider FACT, runs on a circular route between the Horsefair Bus Station and Tesco in Cromwell Road.

Nik Johnson, the authority's directly-elected mayor, said: "These are two services that have been specifically supported by the combined authority for several years."

The Zipper service was "put forward" by East Cambridgeshire District Council, and the 68 "was a route that was initially created following Section 106 [housing developer's] money, and we wanted to keep it going", he said.

"It's about what bus services do for the whole of the community, about rural isolation, giving people opportunities for employment and education," the Labour mayor said.

"It felt important to keep supporting them while we go through a process of reassessing what we can support for the whole of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough."

Mr Johnson did not wish to go into detail about the cost, but said it would be "tens of thousands of pounds".

He said he hoped "that this funding will provide some reassurance for those people and communities who rely on them".

The two services are not related to the announced withdrawal at the end of October of some routes operated by bus company Stagecoach.

For these services, the combined authority said it was working on a tendering process for the routes, with an aim to keep as many of them going as possible.

Its board, which is drawn from local councils, will make a decision on funding on 19 October.

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