Monday 8 October 2012

Michaelmas Fair chaos at St Ives

Once again the centre of St Ives is subject to traffic chaos due to the lack of joined up thinking as regards the Monday Market and the Michaelmas Fair.

The main market square is mostly unavailable to the regular market, so the  market stalls are in the bus station.


This means that buses which terminate or start from St Ives Bus Station are displaced to the bus stop in The Quadrant, where there is no space of buses to lay over between trips.



Cambridge-bound guided buses are using their regular stop in Station Road, but  west-bound guided buses are having to divert via Meadow Lane, and loop round the Quadrant one way system twice.

As far as I can see there is no information about these diversions on the Stagecoach  or Whippet websites, nor on the Busway website.

6 comments:

  1. Sounds a pain but its only for 3 days? I was surprised about the Bus Station being closed today, but I guess it will open for business tomorrow?

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  2. It should have reopened by mid afternoon when the market stalls pack up, but on my return trip (Stagecoach) arriving in St Ives about 17.40, the buses were still diverting via Meadow Lane. The driver said he'd not been told to return to the normal route. However, Whippet buses were using the bus station by that time.

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  3. It is always a shambles each and every year, and the inability to display a clear notice or two always amazes me. It would damn well be signed clearly if it was central Cambridge.

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  4. I have fired off a few emails to the district councillors for St Ives, the county councillor for St Ives, St Ives Town Council and Stagecoach. Replies so far are sympathetic, though there is a sense of 'this is how it's always been'. The Michaelmas fair, after all, goes back 900 years. However, I'm also getting responses that suggest a discussion between the three councils might be possible so that a better solution for the Michaelmas Fair and Bank Holiday markets might be found.

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  5. There is a fair generator truck parked right next to the Station Rd stop. It's making it quite scary to cycle around the buses as you can't see if anyone is coming in the other direction.

    Phil

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  6. The Fair is an 'ancient tradition' so obviously (!) it has to be exempt from the usual rules!! I wonder if they have permission to flout the parking rules. Why has nobody thought to restrict parking on the opposite side of the road? Another example of lack of joined up thinking.

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