Revised timetables for Stagecoach busway services starting 23 July

The new busway timetable for Stagecoach's services A and B can now be viewed on Cambridgeshire County Council's bus timetable pages. Click here for details in 'print format'. Unfortunately the format does not make viewing easy as the current times and the new times are not separated out into two independent tables. However, there is a useful list of SMS codes for stops served by the A and B.  Wyton Camp gains a half hourly service  (route A)to/from St Ives and Cambridge for most of the day Monday-Saturday.  The other two route A service each hour terminate at Burrel Road in St Ives. Hinchingbrooke Hospital gets two service B per hour, and Huntingdon rail Station one an hour. Of course, the Hinchingbrooke buses wil stop on Brampton Road just outside ths railway station.For details of what those services are, click here. The revised times are not yet available on the Stagecoach website.

Busway botany

Anyone travelling the busway during the last week or two cannot fail to have noticed the stunning display of wildflowers, and especially the millions of Ox Eye Daisies. My friend Andrew Brown took this picture and has kindly allowed me to use it here.

Chesterton railway station

Plans for the new railway station at Chesterton, which will be linked by an extension to the guided busway, have been revealed by Cambridgeshire County Council, according to the Cambridge News (12 June). Government approval for the station, which will open in 2015, has now been granted. The Cambridge News article has an annotated aerial view of the new station site and its surroundings.

Continuing saga of Station Road bus stop and congestion at Harrison Way

There is a cracking letter in this week's Hunts Post (13 June, page 6) about several of the on-going issues to do with the busway in St Ives. First, the proposed bus stop in Station Road, close to what the writer describes as a 'dangerous junction'. He recommends viewing the junction on the Fink Creative webcam. The webcam only refreshes every minute, so you may have to wait a while to see a bus coming round the corner. It is a sharper-than-90-degrees corner, and buses have to swing right out to make the turning. He is certain that extending the service A into the town centre will reduce congestion on Harrison Way, but questions why the County Council thinks it must provide a bus stop near St Ives Bus Station when at Cambridge the A does not stop at Drummer Street Bus Station. The existing bus stops at East Road and The Quadrant are being ovelooked as alternatives to Station Road. The letter also discusses the lack of a car park at Swavesey, concern about the extra £2m of government money to ecnourage traffic off the A14, the extra traffic on the A1096 due to motorists coming off the A14 to St Ives Park & Ride, and proposes peak-hour traffic lights at the Meadow Lane roundabout linked to measures to prevent rat-running through central St Ives.

Compensation for loss of gardens at Trumpington

One little known side effect of building the busway is that some land had to be bought from 34 householders in Trumpington, who lost a strip off their gardens. Apparently these people have not yet been paid their compensation money. The affected streets are Lantree Crescent and Cranleigh Close, Trumpington. The County Council says there has been no undue delay on its part, since it deliberately waited to value the land until after the busway was built - this was meant to ensure that not more land than was needed was acquired. (Cambridge News website.)

Extension of busway across Stourbridge Common

The Cambridge News reveals that environmental campaigners are concerned that the guided busway might be extended to run across Stourbridge Common, and ancient meadow on the north-east fringe of Cambridge city. In fact, the proposal is merely to ensure that a strip of land adjacent to the railway line is safeguarded for possible future use, though no specific plans have been made for a busway extension at this time. A County Council spokesman has said that the plans to open a new station at Chesterton will reduce the need to extend the busway across the Common. However, plans are going ahead to create a cycle route (the Chisholm Trail) alongside the railway.

St Ives Park & Ride

The park & ride site at St Ives is to be doubled in size thanks to a Department for Transport grant of £2m. The site will expand from 500 to 1000 car spaces and will hopefully attract even more car users off the A14. (Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier, Jun7, page 33 and Cambridge News website)