Footpath from Longstanton to the busway

When you live in the centre of St Ives, it's easy getting to the guided bus. But not so for residents of Longstanton. The busway stop is a good half mile from the edge of the village, and for people who want to walk or cycle to the bus, there is a roadside footpath.  This week's Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier (8 September, 2011, page 19) draws attention to the poor state of this path which is 'bumpy, and covered with shale, road planings and large stones'. It is unsuitable for pushchairs, mobility scooters or cycles.  A spokesman for the County Council is reported as saying that a path from Longstanton to the busway was never part of the Northstowe (new town) plan, but, as Northstowe has been delayed, the path was laid in the meantime - at a cost of £100,000.

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.

Punctuality and unpunctuality

Today was the first day of the new school term, so the buses were a bit busier than last week. We also have a new timetable.

I decide to catch the 07.40 service A from St Ives Bus Station, the new service starting from Hill Rise presumably to relieve the overcroweded service B.

The 07.35 B left on time - I saw it leave as I walked to the Bus Station.

Last week the B was always late and the A on time, but today, the A was late. It didn't leave until 07.50, dropping me at New Square at 08.25, or 9 minutes late.

Sunday evening buses

I discovered at the weekend that there are now no evening buses between Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon. Whippet's service 1A used to run  in the evening, with final departures from Huntingdon at 21.00 and Cambridge 22.05. But this was axed a few months ago when Cambridgeshire County Council withdrew bus service subsidies in the recent financial cuts.

But, the timetable display boards at St Ives Bus Station are still displaying Sunday evening departure times for Whippet buses.

How is it that we have spent millions on providing a busway, with  an intensive service during Sunday morning and afternoon - but nothing at all in the evening?

Train times to St Ives 1969-70

For anyone who likes a bit of history, here is the timetable for the Cambridge to St Ives trains. The source is the British Rail's Eastern Region Passenger Timetable 5 May 1969 to 3 May 1970.

From St Ives to Histon, the buses are quicker than the trains, though not by much. But Histon to Cambridge Railway Station is 26 minutes by bus, compared with 8 or 9 by train.

Letters about the busway in the Hunts Post

Three letters about the busway in this week's Hunts Post ( 31 August 2011, page 7). First, malfunctioning ticket machines, and a driver unable to give refunds for money lost in a machine that did not issue a ticket. And in the same letter, a comment about drivers sounding the horn as a warning to people using footpath crossings along the route - apparently it is optional, rather than mandatory, and the letter writer is rightly concerned about this hazard as the evenings get darker. My point, in an earlier posting, about bus diversions to make way for the Bank Holiday Market is raised by the owners of a business in Station Road, St Ives. Their concern is to impress on Hunts District Council, that, if the town is to attract visitors using the busway, they need to be dropped off and picked up in the town centre at the bus station. Failure to ensure this may result in 'destruction of retail trade in St Ives'. Finally, a comment about the County Council's claims that the busway would be 'reliable, fast and frequent', and especially that the timings are now slower that the old service 55 via the A14. The writer has noticed, as I have, that the Whippet 1A is often quicker on its old route than the guided buses. And what has happened to the promised extension of the service to Hinchingbrooke Hospital, which helped to justify building the Huntingdon contraflow bus lane?

Boost to St Ives shops

This week's Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier ( 1 September, 2011, page 13) reports that the busway has brought increased numbers of customers to the St Ives markets and to the town centre generally. Jane Bowd, St Ives town centre manager, hopes that this increase can be maintained. Responding to complaints that the traffic lights where the buses cross the bypass have been causing delays to motorists, Jane Bowd thinks the delays have not added greatly to the problem. Cllr Jonathan Salt thinks the problem may get worse when the school term starts. As a pedestrian user of those lights, walking from my house to catch the bus at the Park & Ride, I find the lights unbearably slow to change. They appear to give priority to road traffic rather than pedestrians. However, when a guided bus comes along, the lights change almost instantly.