Whippet, formerly Go Whippet, is a bus and coach operator based in Swavesey,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...

, England.

History

Whippet Coaches was founded in

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

by bicycle salesman Henry Lee in 1919. The first Whippet coach was converted from an American ambulance. Originally based in the village of Hilton, they moved into a depot at

Fenstanton Fenstanton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, south of St Ives in Huntingdonshire, a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and historic county. Fenstanton lies on the south side of the River Ouse. Known as ''S ...

in 1977. In 2009 the company sold these buildings to

Stagecoach in The Fens Stagecoach East is the divisional name for the bus operations of the Stagecoach Group in eastern England. History Under the control of the National Bus Company, ''Cambus Ltd.'' was set up when the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company was split in ...

and moved to a depot at Swavesey. In November 2014, the business was sold to

Transit Systems Transit Systems Group is an Australian-based public transport company, which also operates overseas through its subsidiary Tower Transit Group. Transit Systems Group is a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group, formerly SeaLink Travel Group. History ...

, the parent company of London bus company

Tower Transit A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...

. In October 2018, Go Whippet was sold to the

Ascendal Group Ascendal Group is a British public transport company that operates Whippet in Cambridgeshire, the Ascendal Punta Arenas in southern Chile, and has a small shareholding in Hong Kong bus companies of Citybus and New World First Bus through Bravo ...

, owned by Tower Transit's former CEO Adam Leishman. Whippet used to operate some summer only services to the coast. These have been running in various forms from 1957 up to 2013, and ultimately served

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London. H ...

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated ...

and

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north ...

Current operations

As of November 2019, Whippet has a fleet of 45 vehicles buses are run in parts of north

, including town services in St Neots, and the company also operates a few school and college contracts.

Contracts

In 2014 Whippet started as a contractor for

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

. These services were discontinued in 2020, but the company currently works long-distance services on behalf of FlixBus, operating out of

Victoria Coach Station Victoria Coach Station is the largest coach station in London, located in the central district of Victoria in the City of Westminster. It serves as a terminus for many medium- and long-distance coach services in the United Kingdom, and is al ...

in London to destinations such as

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

and

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the C ...

. In the summer of 2018, Whippet unexpectedly withdrew several services in Cambridgeshire, leaving council contracts to other independent operators.

Cambridgeshire busway

From 7 August 2011 until 9 November 2018, Whippet operated service C on

Cambridgeshire Guided Busway The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, known locally as The Busway, connects Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives in the English county of Cambridgeshire. It is the longest guided busway in the world, overtaking the O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, South Au ...

from

Somersham Somersham is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Somersham lies approximately east of Huntingdon and north of St Ives. Somersham is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as ...

to Cambridge city centre on the section between St Ives and the

Cambridge Science Park The Cambridge Science Park, founded by Trinity College in 1970, is the oldest science park in the United Kingdom. It is a concentration of science and technology related businesses, and has strong links with the nearby University of Cambridge. ...

. This was being run in conjunction with

Stagecoach in the Fens Stagecoach East is the divisional name for the bus operations of the Stagecoach Group in eastern England. History Under the control of the National Bus Company, ''Cambus Ltd.'' was set up when the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company was split in ...

(who ran routes A and B) who jointly with Whippet had exclusive use of the route for a period of five years in exchange for providing a minimum service frequency between 07:00 and 19:00 each weekday. Whippet spent a total of £420,000 on three

Plaxton Centro The Plaxton Centro was a low entry single-decker bus bodywork designed by Bluebird Vehicles and manufactured by Plaxton.Volvo B7RLE The Volvo B7RLE is a low-entry single-deck bus chassis manufactured by Volvo. It was superseded by the Volvo B8RLE in 2013. Specifications The Volvo B7RLE is similar to its predecessor, the B10BLE. In essence the B7RLE is the front section of t ...

buses that have been sold since and replaced by four Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7RLEs. Service C was withdrawn on 9 November 2018, leaving all bus operations on the northern section of the guided busway to

Stagecoach East Stagecoach East is the divisional name for the bus operations of the Stagecoach Group in eastern England. History Under the control of the National Bus Company, ''Cambus Ltd.'' was set up when the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company was split in ...

and ending Whippet's services in the St. Ives area. Whippet launched a new bus service U (for ''Universal'') in Cambridge in July 2016, running originally from

Madingley Road Madingley Road is a major arterial road linking central Cambridge, England with Junction 13 of the M11 motorway. It passes by West Cambridge, a major new site where some University of Cambridge departments are being relocated. The road is design ...

Park & Ride (now: Eddington) via

West Cambridge West Cambridge is a university site to the west of Cambridge city centre in England. As part of the ''West Cambridge Master Plan'', several of the University of Cambridge's departments have relocated to the West Cambridge site from the cent ...

Addenbrooke's Hospital Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Camp ...

. It is subsidised by the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and replaced the Uni4 service, formerly operated by

Stagecoach in Cambridge Stagecoach East is the divisional name for the bus operations of the Stagecoach Group in eastern England. History Under the control of the National Bus Company, ''Cambus Ltd.'' was set up when the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company was split in ...

.Universal bus service links West Cambridge to Cambridge railway station
University of Cambridge 29 June 2016 The service was rerouted between

Cambridge railway station Cambridge railway station is the principal station serving the city of Cambridge in the east of England. It stands at the end of Station Road, south-east of the city centre. It is the northern terminus of the West Anglia Main Line, down ...

and Cambridge Biomedical Campus via the southern part of the Busway, starting 3 December 2016, after delivery of seven Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B8RLEs fitted for use on the guided busway. On 21 June 2017 at approximately 15:48, a Cambridgeshire Guided Busway service, operated by Whippet, derailed near the entrance to the busway at

. It was travelling towards

. The bus crashed into a wall, with damage sustained to the driver's position but there were no serious injuries. Whippet initially blamed cyclists for the accident saying that they had caused the driver to swerve to avoid them. They later deleted those tweets, apologised to the cyclists and dismissed the driver for causing the crash by travelling above the speed limit on the entry to the busway. In addition to services C and U, in February 2019, Whippet launched a service P (for ''Pedigree''), using the B7RLEs which previously operated on the C, between Cambridge City Centre and Addenbrooke's via the Guided Busway, thus duplicating Stagecoach's A and D services on this section. Service P lasted six months before being withdrawn in August 2019.

References

External links

*
Official website

{{Transit Systems Bus operators in Cambridgeshire Transport companies established in 1919 Transport in Cambridgeshire 1919 establishments in England Coach operators in England