Stagecoach Busway vehicles no longer use 100% biofuel

The briefest of stories on the Cambridge News website reports that Stagecoach is no longer fuelling its Busway vehicles with 100% biofuel. As part of a change which Stagecoach seems to applying across the whole of the local fleet, they're to use a fuel with contains only 30% biofuel in its mix. Of course, biofuels and bioenergy are themselves hugely controversial, but that's a whole different story!

Bus passenger survey 2013

The Bus Passenger Survey 2013 has just been published. It includes the results of survey of  the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. To view it please click here.

Withdrawal of Stagecoach bus route 20

Stagecoach have announced that they are withdrawing their service 20 between Fenstanton and St Ives Park & Ride as from February 10.

I imagine this route was put on in the hope of attracting Fenstanton residents onto the busway service. Occasionally when passing through St Ives Park and Ride on the bus, I have seen the service 20. I don't think I have ever seen anyone boarding or alighting. In fact, sometime the 20 has arrived just as an A or B heads off to Cambridge, or leaves the Park & Ride as an A or B comes in. So the 20 hasn't really been providing an adequate connection to Fenstanton.  In addition, it probably cannot compete on time or price with the Whippet services 1A and 5 which run through Fenstanton.

(Hunts Post, 30 January, page 9)

Letters in Hunts Post about flooding

The Hunts Post ( 30 January, page 6) has two letters about flooding. Although neither mentions the busway directly, both examples of the flooding described affect busway users.

The floods at Earith cause congestion in St Ives as drivers seek alternative routes to Cambridge and other destinations, and there is a knock-on effect on guided buses trying to pass through St Ives. The flooding in Low Road, Fenstanton, affects cyclists who have to divert off the busway due to flooding between St Ives and Swavesey.

Solutions discussed in the letters are: raising the level of the A1123 at Earith, raising the level of Low Road, dredging the Hundred Foot river to increase flow, and ensuring that the drain flaps in Low Road are working correctly.

Accident at Longstanton

This week's Hunts Post has a short report about the accident  on 20 November in which a bus was derailed and the track damaged. See Hunts Post ( 28 November, page 15). Stagecoach are conducting an investigation. There are comments from one of the  passengers in the damaged bus. Passengers had to walk to the longstanton bus stop to board another bus which was then diverted via Ramper Road.

Delays

In the last week or two, timekeeping of the Stagecoach buses on the busway at peak times has got worse and worse. It's not been helped by the roadworks in Hills Road, Cambridge.

Today I boarded an A at Parkside at about 17.05. This was heading for Marley Road, and although it was running more or less on the schedule of the Chatteris service, it must have been the previous Marley Road service. So it was running a full 30 minutes late.

While waiting for this bus to arrive, I noticed that three As were show as getting close - in 11, 12 and 13 minutes respectively. By the time I whipped my camera out, the display had changed to buses due in 8, 11 and 12 minutes.

Anyone else with tales of late running buses this week?