Service area Cambridgeshire Website www.go-whippet.co.uk Headquarters Swavesey | Service type Bus services Parent organization Transit Systems Founded 1919 | |
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Slogan The community's local bus company Motto The community's local bus company Destinations Cambridge, Huntingdon, Peterborough, St Ives, St Neots | ||
Go Whippet, officially Whippet Coaches Ltd, is a bus operator based in Swavesey, Cambridgeshire. It is a subsidiary of Australian public transport company Transit Systems.
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History
Whippet Coaches was founded in Huntingdonshire 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 (by the A14) in 1977. In 2009 the company sold these buildings to Stagecoach in The Fens and moved to a modern depot at Swavesey. In November 2014, the family business was sold to Transit Systems.
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, Lowestoft, Felixstowe, Clacton-on-Sea and Southend-on-Sea.
Current operations
They currently operate a fleet of over 50 vehicles, a mixture of single and double deck buses with around 8 coaches. Local buses are run throughout north Cambridgeshire, including town services in St Neots, and the company also operates a number of school and college contracts.
Contracts
In 2014 it became a contractor for the National Express Group as well, and in 2016 also for the University of Cambridge's Universal service. It also used to operate Tesco Bar Hill Free buses but Tesco stopped funding them and they stopped operating.
The Busway
Since 7 August 2011 Whippet run service C on The Busway from Somersham to Cambridge centre on the section between St Ives and Cambridge Science Park of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. This is being run in conjunction with Stagecoach in the Fens (who run routes A & B) who jointly with Whippet have exclusive use of the route for a period of five years in exchange for providing a minimum service frequency between the times of 07:00 and 19:00 each week day. Whippet spent a total of £420,000 on three Plaxton Centro buses that have been sold since, being replaced by four Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7RLEs.
Whippet launched a new bus service route U (for Universal) in Cambridge in July 2016, running from Madingley Road Park & Ride via West Cambridge to Addenbrooke's Hospital. It is subsidised by the University of Cambridge and replaced the Uni4 service, formerly operated by Stagecoach in Cambridge. The service was rerouted between Cambridge railway station and Cambridge Biomedical Campus via the southern part of The Busway, starting 5 December 2016, after delivery of seven more Wright Eclipse single-deck buses fitted for use on the guided busway.