Monday early afternoon: Busway Update
Nov. 16th, 2009 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
suzyscottdotcomCambridge Evening News have this as an exclusive today - I wouldn't quite say "exclusive" - remember where you heard it first, thanks to other members of the Anglia Bus Forum... additionally, the "busway opening soon" message has now been removed from the Stagecoach Cambridge webpage...
Guided bus facing new delay
CAMBRIDGESHIRE’S trouble-hit guided busway is unlikely to open in two weeks’ time – and may even be held up until January, Cambridge News Online can reveal.
The news was disclosed today by leading councillors, one of who said the planned November 29 opening date was no longer “realistic”.
Cllr Roy Pegram, the county council’s cabinet member for growth and infrastructure, told the News: “Talks are still going on between the council and the contractors BAM Nuttall, but I don’t think the planned opening date is realistic.
“The bus companies have trialled the route, but it is not going to be possible to train the drivers in time.”
A county council spokesman said a full statement on the situation would be released later today.
The latest hitch in the delay-dogged project has been condemned by Liberal Democrat councillors in the county.
They fear the postponement will cause chaos for bus travellers because the launch of the guided bus was to have coincided with changes to other service timetables.
A spokesman for the party said local councillors understood the guided bus could be held up until January.
He said: “New timetables with sharply-reduced service levels on other routes come into effect at the end of this month. This could lead to considerable difficulties for schoolchildren, commuters and shoppers in the run up to Christmas.”
City councillor Clair Blair said: "We have spent a considerable amount of time over the past week gathering the best part of 1,000 signatures against the cuts being made. Residents are increasingly angry, and rightly so."
St Ives Lib Dem councillor Colin Saunderson added: "Residents of Huntingdonshire and South Cambridgeshire have suffered endless service changes, the inconvenience arising from construction and are, one of these days, due to get a Guided Bus project way below the specification originally promised.
"A nine-month delay on such a simple project is completely unacceptable."
County councillor Kilian Bourke, the Lib Dems’ highways spokesperson, accused the Conservative-run council of “a lack of transparency”.
“This is completely unacceptable when millions of pounds of taxpayers' money have been spent on the project," he said.
Guided bus facing new delay
CAMBRIDGESHIRE’S trouble-hit guided busway is unlikely to open in two weeks’ time – and may even be held up until January, Cambridge News Online can reveal.
The news was disclosed today by leading councillors, one of who said the planned November 29 opening date was no longer “realistic”.
Cllr Roy Pegram, the county council’s cabinet member for growth and infrastructure, told the News: “Talks are still going on between the council and the contractors BAM Nuttall, but I don’t think the planned opening date is realistic.
“The bus companies have trialled the route, but it is not going to be possible to train the drivers in time.”
A county council spokesman said a full statement on the situation would be released later today.
The latest hitch in the delay-dogged project has been condemned by Liberal Democrat councillors in the county.
They fear the postponement will cause chaos for bus travellers because the launch of the guided bus was to have coincided with changes to other service timetables.
A spokesman for the party said local councillors understood the guided bus could be held up until January.
He said: “New timetables with sharply-reduced service levels on other routes come into effect at the end of this month. This could lead to considerable difficulties for schoolchildren, commuters and shoppers in the run up to Christmas.”
City councillor Clair Blair said: "We have spent a considerable amount of time over the past week gathering the best part of 1,000 signatures against the cuts being made. Residents are increasingly angry, and rightly so."
St Ives Lib Dem councillor Colin Saunderson added: "Residents of Huntingdonshire and South Cambridgeshire have suffered endless service changes, the inconvenience arising from construction and are, one of these days, due to get a Guided Bus project way below the specification originally promised.
"A nine-month delay on such a simple project is completely unacceptable."
County councillor Kilian Bourke, the Lib Dems’ highways spokesperson, accused the Conservative-run council of “a lack of transparency”.
“This is completely unacceptable when millions of pounds of taxpayers' money have been spent on the project," he said.
