The University of Cambridge has announced it will subsidise a new cross-city bus service, which will be open to the public.

The service, which will be called ‘Universal’, will operate from 23rd July and will be the first frequent service between West Cambridge with Cambridge Railway Station. Operated by Whippet Coaches, Universal will replace the Uni4 service, which runs between Addenbrooke’s and West Cambridge.

It will be opened up to the public as part of a ‘green’ transport initiative and will provide connections between Addenbrooke's Hospital, the city centre, West Cambridge, and the Madingley Road Park and Ride.

Universal improves upon existing service by offering more frequent journeys and a service on Saturdays, with the promise of further improvements once the service starts running.

The University’s travel plan manager, Jess Cunningham said: “The Universal service includes simpler fares, a stop at the railway station and use of the Busway,” referring to Cambridge’s guided busway, the longest of its kind in the world, which extends to the north and south of the city and facilitates a regular schedule even during rush hour.

“This will make a much more reliable, accessible service which the university in partnership with the bus operator will be monitoring”, Cunningham went on. “Connecting the places that people want and need to get to is a vitally important part of our travel planning, not just for university staff but also the wider Cambridge community.”

The service will operate approximately every fifteen minutes between 7am and 7:30pm on weekdays. A twenty-minute service between Madingley Road Park & Ride and Cambridge Railway Station will also be available on Saturdays.

By the end of the calendar year, the bus’s route will make use of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, travelling south from Cambridge Railway Station to Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

The Universal route will be further extended in 2017, when the service will begin operating from Eddington, the central district of the new North West Cambridge Development.

North West Cambridge is the University’s largest single capital project, will create a new district, home to around 8,500 residents, providing much-needed affordable accommodation for University and College staff.

Heather Topel, acting project director for the West and North West Cambridge developments, welcomed the proposed bus services, saying: “With ambitions for a long-lasting and sustainable place on the new development, creating connectivity to local destinations and to strategic employment and public transport hubs is important”.

She added that: “The eagerly awaited connection from this part of Cambridge to the rail station is a benefit for the local community and the service will be running in advance of the arrival of the residents of the North West Cambridge Development”.

All single journeys along the new route will be charged at a flat £2 fare, or £1 for University cardholders. Since the Universal service will operate entirely within the City & Bar Hill ticket zone, unlimited travel on the route will cost £3 a day or £10 a week. Whippet Coaches, a Cambridgeshire-based company established in 1919, also hopes to offer other low fares as well as introducing mobile phone ticketing.