Stagecoach East has welcomed plans for the southern section of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway to be reopened on 30 March.
One direction of the route between Cambridge Railway Station and the Cambridge Biomedical Campus has been closed since February 2022 to allow a temporary fence to be installed for safety reasons. Yesterday, work began on the installation of a new fence.
The diverted journey between the station and the campus has been taking more than 30 minutes at peak times due to congestion, but the Busway allows the trip to be made in less than five minutes.
A safety review into the Busway had been ordered following the deaths of two pedestrians and a cyclist on the route, which runs alongside a mixed-use path and maintenance route, between 2015 and 2022.
Stagecoach East last year installed pioneering intelligent speed assistance (ISA) technology on board buses used on the Busway, which at 16 miles is the longest of its type in the world. The system use geofenced “gateways” to curtail speed to maximum limits via the retarder and throttle.
Darren Roe, Managing Director of Stagecoach East, which operates on The Busway along with Whippet, said: “The Busway provides a rapid and convenient way to get to work or meet friends and family in Cambridge, so we are pleased for our customers that this important piece of the local transport network will soon be reopened. It will help to cut journey times and reduce the congestion that is such a blight on our city centre.
“However, of course safety must be our highest priority so we will continue to work with the relevant authorities to ensure that we abide by the highest standards of safety. For example, our ISA is a world-leading safety system that automatically reduces a bus’s speed in line with speed limits. This is already in operation on our Busway buses.
“While the new fence is being built, our buses will be on diversion, so customers will need to leave more time for their journeys. We will keep customers up-to-date with the changes through our website, Twitter and signs at key bus stops.”
