Bus in St Ives
Guided bus good? Try using it at peak times
Thursday, February 2, 2012
12:20 PM
I KEEP reading glowing reports about the success of the guided bus and the number of passengers using it. I assume these reports were given by people who do not use the buses in the peak times or by Stagecoach’s PR office.
Yes, the busway is busy but to the detriment of the passengers. The peak time buses – I use the B route – are very crowded and usually have many people standing from St Ives park-and-ride onwards in the mornings and from Drummer Street or Jesus Lane, Cambridge, in the evenings.
The journey times are horrendous. On the morning of January 18 I caught the bus at 7.45am on Ramsey Road, St Ives, and got to my destination (Shire Hall bus stop) at 8.55am. The bus was very crowded, with many passengers standing from St Ives park-and-ride.
As has been reported by many other Hunts Post readers, the traffic lights on Harrison Way in St Ives cause the traffic to back up in St Ives, which has a knock-on effect on the progress of the buses going through to the park and ride.
Is something ever going to be done to resolve these problems or as usual are the general public just going to have to suffer while Stagecoach makes massive profits?
Surely Stagecoach could put pressure on the ‘powers that be’ to do something about the traffic and in turn they could do something about the crowded buses.
MARY HODGE
Tennyson Avenue
St Ives
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8 comments
...and in these comments you have the nub of the problem: insufficient demand for express services (otherwise they would have been operated before the busway) and inability to run expresses on the guideway (because they can't overtake). As CAST.IRON always said, "all the pain of the train but none of the gain". No one ever suggested the train would go to the city centre; but far better conventional bus services (in many ways) could have been provided for a fraction of the cost of the guideway construction AND the railway could have been reopened. Indeed, for the couincil's claimed final cost of the guideway, the claimed extra 25,000 journeys a week could have been offered door-to-door in six-seater people carriers for the next 27 years for the same £5.40 return fare! Meanwhile the residents of St Ives, Northstowe and other places along the line could be making uncongested journeys throughout the rail network and making a genuine difference to the A14 (which seems notably absent since the guideway opened). And a modern, electrified train service would take so much less time to get to Cambridge station that even with an onward bus journey, it would have been much quicker. A hell of a lot more people use Cambridge station than Drummer Street, and there's a reason for that!
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Realist
Thursday, February 9, 2012
An Express service to Cambridge once an hour is fine Huntingdon and estates ,St Ives and estate,St Ives Bus Station to Centre of Cambridge direct. Buses would be empty if you cut out so many routes which passengers use.
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Tim
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
@Realist I work in Cambridge and have used both the old 55 and the busway, I know which I prefer! All stagecoach need is more buses and adjustment to the timetable, main one being a non stop from Huntingdon and it's estate route right in to St Ives town centre, Cambridge city centre and Addenbrrokes, no stopping on the busway or St Ives housing estates. As for why your so glum about it, the train would have been pointless unless you could have built an underground rail link into the Cambridge city center!
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james barlow
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Oh, and by the way: if congestion on the A14 is indeed an 'everyday occurrence', spending that money on the guideway in the first place has been a waste of money, hasn't it?
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Realist
Monday, February 6, 2012
@james barlow: I am not aware that the A14 services are delayed daily (otherwise the timetables would have been re-cast) and of course they have only fallen to hourly because Stagecoach withdrew all its services so as not to compete with itself on the guideway. The fact remains that Mary Hodge and other previous letter-writers to the Hunts Post have seen their journeys lengthened since the guideway opened; yet the promoters regularly used the phrase 'step change' to big up The Busway. Was that really worth spending between £100 million and £200 million (and waiting eight years)to achieve?
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Realist
Monday, February 6, 2012
@james barlow: I am not aware that the A14 services are delayed daily (otherwise the timetables would have been re-cast) and of course they have only fallen to hourly because Stagecoach withdrew all its services so as not to compete with itself on the guideway. The fact remains that Mary Hodge and other previous letter-writers to the Hunts Post have seen their journeys lengthened since the guideway opened; yet the promoters regularly used the phrase 'step change' to big up The Busway. Was that really worth spending between £100 million and £200 million (and waiting eight years)to achieve?
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Realist
Monday, February 6, 2012
@Realist use the A14 SERVICE! Fine, if you have time to wait for an hourly service or don't mind being delayed when there is a crash. Yes it's quicker than the busway by 5mins, but only when there is no congestion, which is an everyday occurence!
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james barlow
Monday, February 6, 2012
Suggest you use the Whippet A14 services. Cheaper and more reliable.
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Realist
Friday, February 3, 2012