Why delays are expected on the Cambridgeshire guided busway

A bus company boss says maintenance works on the guided busway that will cause disruption and delays in the coming week are “hugely frustrating”.

Stagecoach East operations director Ross Barton apologised to users in advance of the works, which he says will have a “significant” impact on services.

“This work is hugely frustrating at a time when the busway is seeing such an increase in popularity and passenger numbers. Congestion already makes it so difficult to run services to schedule in Cambridge and we do appreciate that this maintenance work is essential, but that does not help our passengers.

“We apologise to our loyal busway customers for any delays to services that will be caused by this council’s upgrade work,” he said.

Cambridgeshire County Council said the work to rebuild the northbound Histon and Impington busway stop was “vital”.

The work will take place between 6 and 18 November, with buses diverted in both directions along Station Road, Histon High Street, Park Lane and Gatehouse Lane. Stagecoach anticipates that this will add 15 minutes to journeys at peak times.

Passengers should use the temporary stop opposite The Railway Vue pub on Station Road, Histon.

Mr Barton continued: “The busway is an essential part of the transport infrastructure and we hope that this work will be completed as soon as possible, because disruption looks set to be significant.

“We expect that the council will be putting up appropriate communications at the busway stops to inform customers.”

The move follows work which closed the busway on Orchard Park from 28 October to 5 November. This followed the closure of the southern section of the busway for two years, only reopening in April this year.

Congestion throughout Cambridge also remains a significant challenge for bus operators, particularly for the busway and several other services along Hills Road.

Each week, Stagecoach East measures the distance that its buses actually run compared with the total they are scheduled to run – producing a ‘lost miles’ total.

Last week, in Cambridge, congestion and other external factors accounted for 60 per cent of all lost miles.

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said the maintenance work was ‘essential’ to ensure the busway can continue to operate.

The spokeswoman said: “This is vital work to ensure the busway can continue to operate and enable Stagecoach to provide their service on the busway.

“As the highway authority, we have a duty to ensure all our roads and the busway are maintained and work is carried out when needed.”