Michaelmas Fair in St Ives

This year, for the first time, bus traffic in St Ives was not plunged into chaos by the  Michaelmas Fair.

The Fair takes over the main market square in St Ives and in past years the regular Monday Market has been moved out onto the bus station. As a result buses have had to use a very inadequate bus stop in The Quadrant, with all the ensuing inconvenience for bus passengers, gridlock and delays.

This year was different. The Monday Market (well, a small remnant of it) could be found in a corner of the car park between the bus station and Waitrose.

And buses were running as normal, via the bus station and Station Road.

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.

Michaelmas Fair

Every year at the beginning of October is the Michaelmas Fair, when the centre of St Ives is taken over by a giant funfair. It lasts three days - Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday poses a bit of a logistical problem - the space used by the regular Monday market isn't available.

So what happens? The market moves into the bus station.

And what happens to the buses? They run to and from the bus stop in The Quadrant. This is the notice that appeared in the Bus Station - but no dates or times are given.

It does appear to implicate the District Council as the cause of the chaos

This bus stop is on a one way giratory road system, so buses bound for Huntingdon have to go right round the loop, which only adds to the traffic problems.

This year nobody had though to cancel the usual car parking on The Quadrant - so every time a bus called at the stop, all other traffic ground to a halt. The Quadrant bus stop really isn't designed for buses terminating or waiting for extended periods. Here is The Quadrant on Michaelmas Fair Monday.

So why is this crazy situation allowed to happen? Not easy to answer. But maybe its because markets, buses and roads are controlled by different bits of local government and nobody has thought to look at the problem as a whole.

The delays caused by The Quadrant situation must have contributed to delays on the busway.

As I had to travel in to Cambridge about 12.45 I decided not to risk catching a bus from The Quadrant, but instead walked to the Park & Ride for the 12.48 Service A - which left on time and got me to my destination on time.

St Ives Markets

Last week's Hunts Post highlighted the conflict between bus services and the markets in St Ives, specifically the fact that the Bank Holiday Monday market takes over the bus station, and buses have to load and unload in  a narrow street nearby. A letter in this week's Hunts Post ( (7 September 2011, page 7) takes up the theme.  The Michaelmas Fair happens in a few weeks' time, when again the bus station is usually closed to buses.The writer notes that over 80 buses  are timetabled for a Bank Holiday Monday, and more than 100 on the Michaelmas Fair Monday. He challenges Huntingdonshire District Council, which runs both the markets and the bus station, to clarify their intentions about use of the bus station.