Another long-term Busway B diversion - yes, seriously!

Busway B passengers have had to put up with more than their fair share of diversions, stop changes and the like over the past year or more. Well, guess what - there's another long-term diversion due to come into operation on Monday 29 June.

This one is in connection with Phases B & D of the Greater Cambridge Partnership's Histon Road project, which covers the whole road between Kings Hedges Road and Victoria Road.

So... from Monday 29 June, Histon Road will be completely closed inbound. The B service will effectively follow the A route between Histon and Cambridge New Square, omitting Orchard Park,Shire Hall and Round Church St (currently closed anyway, but due to reopen in early July). Passengers who would normally alight at Shire Hall will find themselves with a significant problem, as there's no diversionary route available - you simply have to carry on into the City Centre and then catch an outbound service.

How long will this diversion last? Well, the GCP's announcement was noticeably vague on this - saying nothing more specific than that the closure would last "for the duration of the construction". Stagecoach say it will be for "several months". The GCP's project page, though, is more helpful - Phase B will last until spring 2021, and Phase D until summer 2021.

For more information go to:

• Stagecoach announcement and revised route map
• GCP's Histon Road Construction web page

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?

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 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.

Bonfire night diversions

A reminder that some roads near Midsummer Common will be closed between 6.00 and 8.30pm this evening and guided buses on routes A and B will be diverted. Bust stops at New square/Short Street and Round Church Street will not be served during the period of the diversion. Please see the following web page for full details.

http://www.stagecoachbus.com/tis-service-update-details.aspx?id=3383

Cambridge City Council has posted this notice about the road closures https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/fireworks

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.

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.

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.