Bus Station

Being a tourist in the city this week I decided to venture out towards Papworth village (the home of the infamous Papworth hospital and my place of work as of next month!)
The bus station is easily located in the centre of the city. I struggled this morning largely as I couldn’t find an information kiosk to check where I needed to be. Although I knew the number of the service I wasn’t sure of the stop but when I asked one of the bus drivers they were very helpful (even though it was run by a separate company) and pointed me in the right direction.
There are no shops or eateries within the station itself but due to its close proximity to the city i don’t think this is too much of an issue. Overall I marked it down due to the difficulty in navigating stops and it appeared a bit disorganised with one driver getting off and shouting for passengers to Ely.

Totally disagree with Ellie-​Jelly-​Bean, our coach station is easily located, and the bays are all very conveniently sited near the main complex. Local buses and National Express coaches all move regularly and efficiently through the station and town. The toilets may have paper strewn around, but they are clean and certainly not smelly, as there is a regular cleaner (male, as the sign says) who does a fair job. I often pop in during shopping to use the facilities. If you go to the ticket/​information staff and tell them (on the rare occasion when there has been a problem), they sort it pretty quickly. There are no kiosks, you have to go to the counter inside where there are usually 3 but at least 2 staff who are both capable and friendly, to help you.
The vending machines are well-​stocked and there’s a very popular tea-​shop right next door which is open during the day.

Can be rather confusing to the new arrival, as the station is spread over several streets, and although the signs are fauirly clearly marked you have to really know where you’re heading in order to find it — if you know what I mean!
The main waiting area is covered, at least, although the seating benches have to be amongst the most uncomfortable in the country.
The frequency of busses has always been pretty good on a local basis, I found. Plus I was able to travel over-​country with ease given the large number of National coaches and other firms that pass through Cambridge.
Human help-​points are not so good. I don’t think I found an open information kiosk all the times I passed through — which were several dozen.
Toilets — horrible, horrible, horrible. Often bloacked, sometimes all locked up for no reason, usually dirty and always smelly. Never an experience I’d want to repeat.
But if you don’t mind the lack of amenities and just need a useful focal point to get from A to B, then it is very well served.