Council still wants ill-conceived bus stop in St Ives

METHINKS that the county council spokesman who claims that the traffic problem on Harrison Way St Ives is no worse than planned either speaks with forked tongue or in complete ignorance of the situation.

Council officials and councillors are at the same time using the problem as justification for the ill-conceived proposal to locate a bus stop outside Hyperion in Station Road to accommodate the service A guided bus on an “improved” Cambridge-bound route.

When I carried out a survey at the Harrison Way crossing I observed the lights change to red 22 times between 0755 and 830. That is virtually one every one-and-a-half minutes. As a result the traffic is stop start for the peak time. Bringing the service A bus into town will virtually eliminate the need for pedestrians to cross to catch a bus. However, there is a much better place for a bus stop than outside Hyperion, namely near Waitrose where the road is wider.

Bob Menzies, of CCC, says that site is too far from the bus station and it would mean the loss of three car parking spaces. He has no answer to my point that the service A drops passengers off in central Cambridge at New Square or Regent Street. Neither stop is anywhere near the bus station or central Cambridge.

When the busway team visited St Ives Town Council long before construction started, the likelihood of a [traffic] problem was raised. At that time they felt that peak time traffic lights at the Meadow Lane/Harrison Way roundabout would help relieve the situation. At present Harrison Way southbound traffic has to give way both to vehicles coming through the town and also those coming off the A14 to use the park and ride site. The huge overspend on the bus way construction must have put paid to that idea.

Colin Saunderson

Cedar Road

St Ives