St Ives guided bus stop to be built before July

A NEW bus stop in St Ives should be built before the end of next month – in time for the changed bus routes proposed by Stagecoach.

The stop, outside Hyperion, in Station Road, is likely to be built before July after Cambridgeshire County Council officials said its trials earlier this month showed there was room for buses to pass while others buses were parked in the proposed new bay.

A CCC spokesman said: “We held trials on May 1 and found that buses were able to pass parked buses in the marked bay. Oncoming traffic was also not affected by the positioning. Subject to the last details of the design, we are looking to finish the bus stop around the end of June.”

The trials are likely to negate concerns raised by St Ives Town Council that the stop was too close to the Market Hill junction.

Councillor Debbie Townsend said she hoped the county council had taken the concerns of the town council and members of the public seriously.

“The plan worries me extremely. We already have a lot of congestion within St Ives, and I think the new bus stop will increase the congestion in the town centre,” she said.

It is hoped that the new stop will ease Harrison Way congestion by reducing the number of pedestrians crossing the road to reach the park-and-ride guideway stop as services will now pick up people in Station Road.