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.