Stagecoach Director Expresses Frustration Over Upcoming Busway Maintenance

Ross Barton, the operations director for Stagecoach East, expressed significant frustration regarding essential maintenance work scheduled to cause disruption and delays in the upcoming weeks. He issued an apology in advance to guided busway users in Cambridgeshire for the impending works, which are being carried out by the county council. The county council stated that the maintenance activities on the busway at Histon and Orchard Park were deemed “vital.” A spokesperson for the authority confirmed that while bus services would be rerouted, they would remain operational. Stagecoach announced that from November 6 to November 18, reconstruction work would be undertaken on the northbound Histon and Impington busway stop. “In both directions, busway buses will need to divert along Station Road, Histon High Street, Park Lane and Gatehouse Lane,” a spokesman stated. “It is anticipated that this will add 15 minutes to journeys at peak times.” Mr. Barton further commented: “This work is hugely frustrating at a time when the busway is seeing such an increase in popularity and passenger numbers.” He continued: “Congestion already makes it so difficult to run services to schedule in Cambridge and we do appreciate that this maintenance work is essential, but that does not help our passengers.” “We apologise to our loyal busway customers for any delays to services that will be caused by this council’s upgrade work.” He also stated: “The busway is an essential part of the transport infrastructure and we hope that this work will be completed as soon as possible, because disruption looks set to be significant.” The council’s spokeswoman responded: “This is vital work to ensure the busway can continue to operate and enable Stagecoach to provide their service on the busway.” She added: “As the highway authority, we have a duty to ensure all our roads and the busway are maintained and work is carried out when needed.”