VIDEO: It’s open! Cambs guided bus is now in service

THE waiting is over: After a two-year delay the St Ives-Cambridge Guided Bus opened to the public on Sunday.

And there was such demand among the first fee-paying passengers that extra services had to be added to take the crowds from St Ives bus station on the journey through the countryside and on to Cambridge city centre.

Cambridgeshire County Council, which is still in dispute with the builders of the busway, BAM Nuttall, about the �70million overspend on the project, said it was a day to start looking forward and to make the most of the world’s longest busway and the reliable service it will provide.

Councillor Ian Bates, the CCC cabinet member with responsibility for the busway who cut the ribbon to declare the route officially open, said: “It is time to move forward - this busway is a world beater. It’s going to provide a journey that is a lot smoother, it’s reliable and it’s not going to get caught in traffic on the A14. It is something to celebrate.”

CCC estimates that 3.5million journeys will be made on the busway in the first year.

While the bus operators - Stagecoach and Whippet - are a bit more optimistic about the first year figures, both companies were delighted that they now have a busway on which to put their specially adapted buses and the chance to prove the service is better than the A14 - as well as the chance to start getting back some of their investment.

- Full reaction in The Hunts Post this week

- Have you been on the bus. Send us your views by e-mailing editor@huntspost.co.uk