New St Ives bus stop causing town centre congestion

A NEW bus stop – designed to help relieve congestion on the St Ives bypass – looks to be causing its own congestion in the town centre.

The Station Road bus stop, which was installed for passengers using service A buses to Cambridge, was built by Cambridgeshire County Council before the new timetable for the area’s buses went into operation on July 22.

Buses collecting passengers from the stop are causing traffic to queue – sometimes in both directions, according to one onlooker.

It was a problem that St Ives Town Council believed would happen when councillors first saw the plans.

Colin Saunderson, a former councillor who campaigned earlier in the year for the stop to be placed in a different position, said it the stop was causing mayhem.

“I’ve been down there a number of times and the road has been chaos. On market days, people who don’t know St Ives come into the centre, try to turn round and get stuck in a gridlock,” he told The Hunts Post. “It’s another county council shambles.”

He added: “It seems some Stagecoach drivers have given up trying to pass because they think it’s too dangerous.”

Vehicles parked on the double yellow lines opposite the stop are adding to the problem.

A CCC spokesman said: “We have been monitoring the situation. We have had no complaints and we are not aware of any problems at the location.”