A vulnerable 79-year-old woman spent the night in a public toilet after her bus failed to show up, a councillor has said. 

Cllr Neil Shailer from Cambridgeshire County Council said he had been told about the incident from another councillor, who said the woman had been waiting for a bus to travel from Royston to Harston. 

He shared the story at a meeting of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority’s transport and infrastructure committee on November 16. 

The meeting was discussing the authority’s draft bus strategy to improve public transport across the area. 

Cllr Shailer said he wanted to highlight that the plans were also about “actual people”. 

He said: “This is an anecdote that we had last night from one of the county councillors. 

“I had a call from one of my parish councillors today, a 79-year-old vulnerable lady spent between 5pm and 7:30pm waiting for a bus at Royston to take her back to Harston. 

“The bus never turned up; she called the police asking for help but they said there was nothing they could do. She ended up spending the night in a public toilet.” 

He added: “These are actual people, actual lives.  

Even though we are looking at this from more of an overall strategy, I think we should not lose sight of the fact that beneficiaries of people on buses are not only those people on the buses, but its provision of infrastructure and we want to create an environment where our people can thrive. 

“In order to get them to work we need something ambitious; we need a joined-up system.” 

The draft vision for the future bus strategy says it wants to create a “comprehensive network of bus services across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough that people find convenient, easy to use, reliable and good value for money.” 

A report presented to the meeting said: “The [Combined Authority] wants to create a more connected region, which will encourage active and sustainable travel, improve health and wellbeing, and reduce private vehicle journeys. 

“The five key goals of the bus strategy are: attracts bus users; supports sustainable growth, protects and enhances the environment, supports community health and wellbeing; opens up opportunity for all.” 

Cllr Sam Wakeford, from Huntingdonshire District Council, said he was supportive of progressing the bus strategy saying it was “really important to residents” 

However, he said he thought there would be “value in greater detail” in terms of delivering on the ambitions, as well as defining what some of the key points of the vision actually mean, raising in particular the use of “comprehensive” and “convenient”. 

Cllr Marco Cereste, from Peterborough City Council, said he agreed with Cllr Wakeford, saying he was not a bus user as he did not find them to be convenient compared to trains and his car. 

He said: “One of the objectives should be to get people like me onto buses, because the benefit is not just that there are more buses available, which will make it better for everybody, but also helping the climate and the planet, getting my big car off the road.” 

Cllr Ian Bovingdon from East Cambridgeshire District Council said the draft bus strategy needed more detail, and added that he could not currently support progressing the plan while it referenced congestion charging. 

Tim Bellamy, the interim head of transport at the Combined Authority ask if Cllr Bovingdon could highlight where this reference was made in the strategy, so that he could tighten up the wording. 

He said the authority was “not in a position to comment” on the Greater Cambridge Partnership proposals for a potential road charge in Cambridge. 

Multiple councillors raised the need for the bus network to be integrated with other services in the area. 

Mr Bellamy said the committee’s feedback would be taken on board to adapt the draft strategy.  

A final version of the draft strategy is expected to be presented to the Combined Authority board later this month where they will be asked to approve a six-week consultation on the plans.