Busway's first birthday - report in News & Crier

Today's  Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier (9 August, page 19) includes a full page devoted to the busway's first birthday. Chris Havergal asks whether the celebrations are justified. Although the number of journeys ( 2.5 million) in the first year is above target, it includes journeys made in guided buses off the busway, and bus operators do not expect fully to recoup their investments until Northstowe new town is built. Has the busway been 'value for money'? What evidence is there that the busway has reduced traffic on the A14? Finally there is the court case between Cambridgeshire County Council and BAM Nuttall still to be resolved - the case will not start until January 2014.

A similar article can be viewed on the Cambridge News website here.

There are two letters in the News & Crier ( 9 August, page 6) about the Station Road bus stop in St Ives.  Note that this bus stop is still unfinished : the top layer of tar hasn't been added, and there is no shelter.

Comments from readers of this blog welcome. What have been your experiences of the busway?

Threat to St Ives market

The Hunts Post reveals that Andy Campbell of Stagecoach wants to run Service A right through the centre of St Ives via Market Hill and Hill Rise. Market traders fear that his will displace up to a third of market stalls from their regular places. Mr Campbell has been invited to the next meeting of St Ives Town Council (14 March). Mr Campbell's view is that re-routing buses through central St Ives would improve the service by preventing them getting stuck in the St Ives one way system at peak times.
Hunts Post (29 February, page 13)

Traffic jams continued

This week's Hunts Post has three letters about the delays caused by the conflict between cars and buses at traffic lights where the busway crosses over Harrison Way, St Ives. Fears are expressed that when the Service A buses are extended to run in and out of St Ives, the number of interruptions to traffic will increase. However, the extra buses should mean that fewer pedestrians will be using the crossing crossing, so the number of red lights may actually drop.
Hunts Post (29 February, page7)

New buses and more frequent service

Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier has revealed that, in July, Stagecoach will acquire eight new buses enabling them to increase services to every 7 or 8 minutes (or eight buses an hour instead of the present six).

Once the new bus stop in Station Road, St Ives, is built, services can be extended into St Ives Town centre.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Huntingdon-St-Ives-St-Neots/Busway-services-to-grow-21022012.htm

Busway news in this weeks Hunts Post

The exchange of views between Tim Phillips of Cast.Iron and Sawtry resident Roger Cox about whether reopening the railway would have been better than constructing the busway continues in this week's Hunts Post ( 25 January, page7).

Another letter from Mary Hodge of St Ives (same page) complains about the busway's poor timekeeping during the morning peak. On 18 January her bus from Ramsey Road at 07.45 did not reach Shire Hall until 08.55. The delay appears to be due to the traffic lights on Harrison Road causing a back-up of traffic through central St Ives. In fact, all car traffic to St Ives Park & Ride has to use the Harrison Road/Meadow Lane roundabout, which must surely have the effect of adding to the problems. A work colleague of mine today mentioned that it had taken longer to get through central St Ives ( by car) than it took to drive from St Ives into Cambridge. That is perhaps a measure of the traffic congestion within St Ives, which the busway cannot alleviate. I worry that if the service A is extended to start from Ramsey Road, its punctuality heading onto Cambridge, which has up to now been good, will be compromised.

On page 10 of the Hunts Post ( 25 January), it is reported that the new bus stop  for guided buses in Station Road, St Ives,  has been approved by Cambridgeshire County Council's Traffic Management Joint Area Committee. It will be outside Hyperion auction house. St Ives Town Council will seek a traffic management order to enable police to fine drivers stopping opposite the new bus stop. the stop will enable the doubling of bus service frequency from St Ives Park & Ride to Ramsey Road. A proposal to introduce extra angled bus bays in the bus station was rejected.

New bus stop in St Ives Town Centre

Cambridgeshire County Council is proposing to build a new bus stop in Station Road, St Ives. (Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier, 12 January, page 32)

This will be used by Cambridge-bound busway services, and by reducing pressure on St Ives Bus Station, will make it possible for Service A buses to terminate at St Ives Bus Station. At present most service A buses run to/from the Park & Ride and do not serve the bus station. Many passengers (including me) have to walk the quarter mile from the Park & Ride to the town centre.

Hopefully, the extended bus route will cut down on the number of pedestrians crossing Harrison Way and so minimise delays to motorists on the A1096. The change will also stop Cambridge-bound buses from having to loop around the bus station. This will cut 2 minutes from the journey time. Cambridgeshire County Council cabinet meets on 17 January and is expected to recommend the project to the Council.

More about delays to motorists

Two letters this week in the Hunts Post ( 30 November, page 6) about delays to motorists caused by the Harrison Way traffic lights.

Suggestions by these correspondents for solving the problem:

1. have the guided buses terminate at the park & ride and not come right into town
2. build a pedestrian bridge over harrison way
3. the Highways department should do a proper survey
4. shorten the pedestrian phase on the lights to 5 or 6 seconds
5. have a flashing amber phase

It seems that some motorists see it as their right to have priority use of the roads, and any road use that is more environmentally friendly ( e.g. buses, walking and cycling) must give way to their needs. Point 1 above illustrates a thorough lack of understanding of who uses the guided buses and where they start their journeys from. Point 4 is probably constrained by legal/ health & safety rules. The other suggestions  have some merit.

From my perspective, the busway has actually cut my average travel time to/from work.

The traffic delays do, however, indicate that St Ives has a very poor road infrastructure which can barely cope with the level of commuter traffic in and out of our town. I am well aware that for many people, there is no viable public transport alternative - St Ives has good bus services only in the Huntingdon and Cambridge directions, and minimal bus services to other places. Cycling is an option for commuting locally e.g. between St Ives and Hemingford - but that would require a shift in mindset. 

There are also a couple of positive letters about the busway, both from the local rep of the Cyclists Touring Club (Hunts Post, 30 November, page 6 and News & Crier, 1 december, page 7) commending the council 

Peterborough to Cambridge via the guided busway?

Stagecoach has announced plans to run buses from Peterborough on the busway.  ( See link to Cambridge First below). They hope  this will provide a less expensive alternative to the train for commuters. The buses would join the busway at St Ives, presumably using the A14/A1M for the northern section of their route. Extra vehicles will have to be purchased.

But will it be viable timewise? Andy Campbell, of Stagecoach describes the train as 'going round the houses'.  This is the pot calling the kettle black. The train takes about 45-50 minutes between Peterborough and Cambridge, usually with two stops - March and Ely. The guided buses, on the other hand, go all round the Oxmoor, the Hill Rise loop, call at all the villages between St Ives  and Cambridge, then if it's a service B, trundles through Orchard Park and squeezes through the narrow and congested Magdalene Street.  

We know the  guideway buses are taking longer than they used to by the old route - so how does Stagecoach imagine it can offer a fast service from Peterborough, when they can't offer a fast service from Huntingdon?

It's 29 miles from Peterborough to St Ives. That's going to take 45-60 minutes, then add on another 36 minutes from St Ives into Cambridge, and you're talking about well over an hour. Plus there is the added complication of traffic delays on the A14 near Huntingdon.

I watch this proposal with interest.

I think they'd be better concentaring on how to provide an all day, frequent service to Cambridge from places such as Godmanchester, Houghton & Wyton, Ramsey,  Warboys, Somersham, Earith, Fenstanton and, of course, Huntingdon.

In the same article, there is a comment about the four fast journesy from Huntingdon to Cambridge that were introduced a few weeks ago. Unfortunately they haven't been well used, and Stagecoach might have to review them. There are probably two factors to this. First, most people joining the service B in Huntingdon and travelling to Cambridge, do so in the Oxmoor, rather than the town centre. Second, the fast buses are still pretty slow when you consider that Huntingdon is only about 17 miles from Cambridge. So perhaps not a very attractive proposition for commuters

http://www.cambridgefirst.co.uk/news/guided_busway_could_link_cambridge_with_peterborough_1_1116357

This this story also appears in the Hunts Post (9 November, page 27) and the Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier (10 November, page 31).

Park and ride

In the The Hunts Post of 21 September was a letter complaining about people using St Ives Park and Ride to park and then taking the bus into St Ives town centre in order to avoid paying town parking charges.

A follow-up letter (28 September, page 7) points out, correctly, I think, that this is a legitimate use of the park & ride, and it's not so much to avoid parking charges, as to actually find a parking space on market day. There is a supplementary point - about whether 'old age pensioner' should get free parking.

Evening service

Yesterday was my first evening shift of the academic year, so my homeward journey was on the 21.35 Service B from Drummer Street.

Before the busway opened, this journey nearly always left on time and the got me back to St Ives between 22.00 and 22.05. Journey times that I have noted for this departure undvia the old route of Huntongdon road and the A14 ( 2, 16 & 23 November  and 9 December 2010) took 26, 24, 26 and 26 minutes respectively.

But yesterday the 21.35 was late arriving in from Huntingdon. It left Drummer Street at 21.42 (7 minutes late). We reached the guideway at Orchard Park East at 21.55 (11 minutes late) but gained a few minutes to arrive in St Ives Bus station at 22.14 (7 minutes late).

A journey which generally took 24-26 minutes via the A14, takes 32 minutes via the busway. So much for a fast, and efficient transport system.

The eastbound service was also running late, and I noticed passing Swavesey that the eastbound buses were showing as due in 7 and 75 minutes.

Is the evening the timetable is unrealistically tight ? I shall be monitoring the timings for evening journeys that I make.

Before the busway, the evening service could be run by two vehicles (just) and in my experience they could keep to time. They now have to do a loop round by Huntingdon Rail Station, as well as contend with the longer route and more stops via the busway and Histon Road. Hence the delay, which migh prove to be cumulative as the evening progresses.

This was my first trip on the busway in the dark. I was amazed at the number of rabbits on the track. 

Footpath from Longstanton to the busway

When you live in the centre of St Ives, it's easy getting to the guided bus. But not so for residents of Longstanton. The busway stop is a good half mile from the edge of the village, and for people who want to walk or cycle to the bus, there is a roadside footpath.  This week's Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier (8 September, 2011, page 19) draws attention to the poor state of this path which is 'bumpy, and covered with shale, road planings and large stones'. It is unsuitable for pushchairs, mobility scooters or cycles.  A spokesman for the County Council is reported as saying that a path from Longstanton to the busway was never part of the Northstowe (new town) plan, but, as Northstowe has been delayed, the path was laid in the meantime - at a cost of £100,000.