Evening diversions, week beginning 25 March, Cambridge City Centre

I've tried to capture the essence of this post in the title!

Starting on Monday 25 March, there are diversions after 21.30 each evening affecting Bridge Street and Magdalene Street in Cambridge City Centre. This means that the Round Church St and Jesus Lane stops won't be served by the last couple of "B" services of the day in each direction.

How long does this last, I hear you asking. Well, I wish I could tell you for certain. According to boards "on the ground" there are four nights of works. According to the Stagecoach website diversions are in place from Monday to Friday. Perhaps Stagecoach have learned from experience that all roadworks take longer than originally expected...

According to the County Council website the works continue until Friday (but they're overnight works, which suggests that "Thursday night" is the last one. But according to the County Council, the works are scheduled to commence at 20.00.

Who knows? How many possible variants of what should be the same information is it reasonable for the passenger to digest? How important, in the scheme of things, is providing accurate, reliable information to potential passengers? Why are the simplest things so hard to get right?

Cambridge Half Marathon - Sunday 4th March

Stagecoach has published an update on itsCambridge bus routes, many of which will be diverted on Sunday 4th March, due to road closures for the Cambridge Half Marathon.

 Bus B will be unable to serve Shire Hall, Jesus Lane/Round Church Street and New Square befor 1pm.

Towards St. Ives buses will serve the first stop on Histon Road (The Grapes). Customers in Central Cambridge should use Drummer Street bay 12. Towards Cambridge buses will serve the first stop on Victoria Road instead of Shire Hall

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/service-updates/serviceupdatesarticle?SituationId=ID-24/02/2017-14:31:57:474

Whippet bus route C will also be diverted. See http://www.go-whippet.co.uk/diversions-and-known-disruptions/

Upcoming diversions

There are two sets of Busway diversions coming up soon.

The first one concerns only the "B" route and comes into effect tomorrow, Saturday 21 October. The Orchard Park East and West stops in both directions will be closed until 6pm on Sunday week. This will allow repairs at Iceni Way, Chariot Way, Chieftain Way and Graham Road to be carried out. The maintenance track will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists though. A replacement for the Orchard Park West stop will be provided at the regular bus stop on the Cambridge Road, just round the corner. Orchard Park East would-be passengers aren't quite so lucky. Presumably they will have to walk to the CRC.

The other diversion affects "A", "B" and "C" routes, and applies this coming Sunday, 22 October. It's caused by another road race. Route A services won't serve New Square until 1 pm. Passengers should go to Drummer St Bus Station (Bay 12) instead. Until 1 pm Route B services can't serve the stops from Castle Street (Shire Hall) through to New Square, in either direction. Additional stops are being made on Victoria Road (inbound) and Histon Road Grapes (outbound). Route C services aren't using the St Ives-bound New Square stop until 1 pm

The County Council announcement about these diversions doesn't even mention the Whippet service. And provides incorrect information about the "A" change. And incomplete information about the "B". The information in the preceding paragraph is based on information provided by the operators, whom I'm inclined to trust more than the County Council.

Finally, I feel like there should be a special prize to anyone who can explain why inbound C services still stop at New Square, but B services don't...

Cambridge - diversion to end of August

Busway route B services are being diverted Monday to Friday until the end of August in Cambridge city centre. The stops in Round Church Street and Jesus Lane are not being served and buses are being routed via Mitcham's Corner. No alternative stops are being provided, which means that the nearest stops are those on Castle Street and Drummer Street Bus Station.

At least that's the theory. One service (almost certainly the 1745 from Drummer St) was observed today on its normal route in Bridge Street.

There's nothing about this diversion on the County Council website.

Bus route changes on Sunday 7th May

I've received this message about changes to the busway service B during part of Sunday 7th May:

Disruption to Busway on Sunday 7th May 2017

Dear Busway user

Due to an event taking place in Cambridge on Sunday 7th May, the Busway B will need to use a different route between Histon and Cambridge between approximately 1130 and 1320

During this time we will use the "A" route, which means we will not be able to serve any of the Orchard Park Stops, Jesus Lane and Shire Hall.

Customers in Orchard Park should use the Busway stops at CRC during the closure. Customers can also use the Citi 1 from Kings Hedges Road to/from Central Cambridge or the Citi 8 from Histon Road to/from Central Cambridge/Histon

Normal service is expected before 1130 and after 1320

Please note that other Stagecoach services within Cambridge will also be affected. Please click HERE for details

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause due to the factors outside our control

Best wishes

The Busway Team

Bus diversions 13-21 February

Due to utility work taking place the Busway B will be unable to serve the following stops from Saturday 13th February until after the last bus on Sunday 21st February:

Shire Hall (both directions)
Jesus Lane (outbound)
Round Church Street (inbound)

Customers are advised to either use New Square, Drummer Street Bus Station or the stop on Histon Road, outside "The Grapes" public house for buses towards St Ives.

Please note journeys towards Cambridge will also call at the stop on Victoria Road (near Histon Road corner) so customers can access Shire Hall.

The utility work is expected to be completed by 22nd February 2016.

Please note other Stagecoach services are also affected by this. See here for more information.

Bus diversion on Sunday 25 October

Due to the Town and Gown 10k race Busway service B will be diverted and will not call at Shire Hall, Round Church Street/Jesus Lane  or New Square on Sunday morning up until 1pm.

Use Drummer Street Bus Station instead. Details here.

Diversion Tuesday 12 November evening and overnight

Bridge Street in Cambridge will be closed to traffic from 20.30 on Tuesday 12 November until 06.00 on Wednesday 13 November. Buses will not be able to call at Round Church Street and Jesus Lane, and will be diverted via Victoria Avenue.

Delays due to traffic congestion in Cambridge

Today (Sunday 28 July) the buses from Cambridge to St Ives and Huntingdon were running very late and out of sequence. This appeared to be due to tail-backs of cars in Jesus Lane queuing to get into the Park Street car park.

I caught what I think was the late running 12.40 from Cambridge, which picked us up at Jesus Lane about 13.20. Running only a few minutes behind us was another St Ives-bound bus (probably the 13.00 from Cambridge running late), which overtook us at Longstanton. A Huntingdon-bound bus was running only 7 minutes behind us (and only 3 or 4 minutes behind its schedule).

Ever since the busway opened, the buses have been subject to delays by traffic conditions on the ordinary roads. The conflict of interest between the busway route in Jesus Lane and cars heading for Park Street car park is a recurring problem which needs to be addressed by the Council.

One solution would be to divert the route B away from Jesus Lane - via Victoria Avenue and Chesterton Lane - which was worked well while Bridge Street was closed due to road works.

Guided bus approaching Jesus Lane bus stop behind traffic turning right into Park Street

Cycle track and busway closure near Histon and bus diversions

Thanks to David Parish for emailing about the closure of the cycle track between Histon and Orchard Park over the weekend of 20-22 July 2013. I'm assuming this is due to repair works to the uneven section of track east of Histon. The buses will be disrupted also.

Photo by David Parish

Official notices of the bus diversions

Stagecoach have posted a bulletin on their website here . The busway will be closed completely between Histon and Orchard Park East.
This is copied from the Stagecoach website:

Due to maintenance works on the Guided Busway, buses for Cambridge City Centre located atOrchard Park will board on the St. Ives-bound side of the track.

Buses towards St. Ives will board on the Cambridge-bound side of the track within Orchard Park.

On 20th July 2013, all buses towards Cambridge will be Service A buses only.

On 21st July 2013, all buses towards Cambridge will be Service B buses.

In conjunction with this, we will be unable to serve stops located on Castle Street, Jesus Lane orRound Church Street on Sunday 21st July 2013.

Passengers are advised to use stops at Drummer Street as an alternative.

In fact, the unavailablity of the Jesus Lane and Round Church Street bus stops is due to road closures in connection with Race for Life. A list of road closures on Sunday 21 July  from 7am to 1pm can be found on this page . It looks as if the New Square bus stop will be in use as normal on 21 July.

Whippet buses on route C will also be diverted via Orchard Park on 20 and 21 July, according to the Twitter feed on their website. Whippet buses are affected by diversions on 
Sunday morning due to road closures in Central Cambridge because of 'Race for Life'

Thanks to David and Hugh for alerting me to the changes. [Updated 19 July].

Busway closed at Histon. 20 July 2013

View of work site from Impington overbridge. 20 July 2013.

The busway was extremely busy with people travelling to Race for Life crowds travelling in to Cambridge today ( Sunday 21 July). Here is a photo of the crowd waiting to join the bus at St Ives Park & Ride.This particular trip was so full it did not pick up passengers at Swavesey,and Longstanton.

St Ives Park & Ride. 09.23 service B to Cambridge. 21 July.

Jesus Lane diversions

The diversions in Jesus Lane due to works on the underground sewage pipes continue until 7 April, although it appears that the work has finished.

From 8 to 30 April, Bridge Street will be  (partly) closed for similar work, and the diversion for Huntingdon-bound buses remains in place. However, Cambridge-bound buses on route B will revert to their usual route as from 8 April.

See announcement on Stagecoach website here.

Diversions due to Cambridge Half Marathon - 10 March

Cambridge Half Marathon takes place on Sunday 10 March and  between 10am and 4 pm,  services on route B will be diverted.

There are notices up at some bus stops saying that the B won't call at Castle Street (Shire Hall),  Round Church Street, Jesus Lane, and New Square .

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything on either the Stagecoach or Busway websites with the information. Buses will definitely be serving Drummer Street Bus Station throughout the day.

Diversion to busway service B

Due to essential repairs to a collapsed sewer in Jesus Lane, Cambridge, busway service B  is being diverted and will not serve the bus stops at Round Church Street and Jesus Lane. These stops will be out of use  from 7 January for 10 weeks. Passengers are advised to use either Castle Street or New Square bus stops instead.

Details of the diversion can be found here.

Other bus routes affected are Citi 1, 2, 5, and 6,  Red Park & Ride and Stagecoach X8 and some Whippet services.

Traffic congestion in Jesus Lane, Cambridge

Yesterday (Sunday) I travelled into Cambridge on the B route. My return journey was on the 1220 departure from Drummer Street. This bus was late arriving at Cambridge, and so was also late departing. It had to make a diversion via Victoria Avenue and Chesterton Lane because Jesus Lane was nose-to-tail with cars, I guess trying to get into the Park Street Car Park. I've experienced delays to buses due to Park Street traffic before, but  his was the worst I've seen. As a result of the diversion, the bus did not call at Jesus Lane/Cloister Court - which I was quite pleased about, but any passengers waiting at Jesus Lane would not be so happy. It's an example of how busway services can be adversely affected by traffic conditions on the normal roads.

Race for Life - alteration to bus route B

On Sunday 1 July Stagecoach route B will be unable to call at bus stops in Jesus Lane and Round Church Street until 2pm. This is due to the Race for Life which is taking place in Cambridge that day. Click here for details of alterations.