Further delay to Guided Bus (South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats)

South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats <info@secambslibdems.org.uk>

Further delay to Guided Bus

November 20, 2009 6:21 PM

Local Liberal Democrats have received reports from informed sources that the Guided Bus opening may now be delayed until January.

However, 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. Ironically, Cambridgeshire County Council has recently been named Transport Authority of the Year at the recent UK Bus Awards.

City Councillor Clair Blair comments, "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 adds, "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, Lib Dem highways spokesperson, said: "The concrete blocks the County Council's press machine has been spinning as site security or mere 'snagging points' now appear to be more serious and far-reaching than that. How much longer will the Conservative Cabinet continue to claim that the Busway will be operational in November. Are they simply incompetent, or are they deliberately misleading the public?"

"This lack of transparency is completely unacceptable when millions of pounds of taxpayers' money have been spent on the project."