Works planned for Station Road

The contractors for the guided bus have provided notification of some road works and traffic management from 3 May for two weeks for the new bus/rail interchange at the station:

As part of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway scheme BAM Nuttall are building a new bus interchange at the Railway Station.

The final phase to complete the interchange is to carry out work to tie in the new interchange area with the roundabout outside Cambridge Railway Station entrance.

To carry out this work safely traffic management will be put into place on the night of Monday 3 May 2010. The works will commence on Tuesday 4 May and last for approximately 2 weeks, including working at the weekends.

The traffic management restrictions will be in place and operated 24 hours a day with works taking place between 7am and 8pm. The traffic management cannot be removed at night as it would leave the road in an unsafe condition.

Please find attached a detailed sketch of the proposed traffic management that will be in place for these works.

To explain in more detail. There will be traffic lights controlling the roundabout for the duration of the works. Buses will not be using the roundabout; instead they will carry out a U-turn in front of it when they are given a green light by the temporary traffic signals.

All other vehicles will use the roundabout as normal although the carriageway width will be restricted. Access to the car park, disabled parking, taxi ranks, cycle park and other buildings will remain as normal.

The footpath on the south side of the road will be closed, but access will be maintained to all buildings, part from the Railway Station. People wishing to access the Railway Station should use the path on the north side of the road.

Please expect some delays due to the volume of traffic in the area and allow some more time for your journey.

Should you have any queries regarding the works please contact BAM Nuttall on 01954 785200.

A14 plans move forward - slowly...

The glacial pace of progress on the A14 upgrade continues.


The consultation on the proposals to rebuild the A14 closed on the 6th of January 2010 and a public enquiry will be held (as is usually the way with such large transport schemes).

In March, full details of all the objections received should be made public. The Inspector is likely to hold the first meeting with objectors in mid May.

The full enquiry which is likely to take 10 /12 weeks is be in two parts, the first in June / July and the second in September / October.

During this period the Highways Agency and their contractors will continue to seek to resolve objections. One of which could come from Cambridge's new MP, if we are unfortunate enough to have a Lib Dem elected - their candidate is an opponent of the A14 upgrade, and is also an opponent of the Guided Bus. At least their position is clear when it comes to transport - a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote against every planned significant improvement to transport infrastructure in the sub-region!

Guided Bus Update

Last night was a meeting of the Guided Bus Southern Section Liaison forum. Sounds like there is still plenty of activity going on and required to get the project finished - particularly in the Trumpington cutting.

I asked when approximately we can expect the Guided Busway to open. There was a distinct lack of willingness to commit to anything, but the rough answers were: Northern Section, weeks rather than months, Southern Section, autumn... maybe...

More Railways

In my previous post about Guided Bus vs Rail a commentator suggested I had carefully selected my rail case study. Actually, I had just picked one of the claimed successes at random.

If I really wanted to make the point that the problem with rail is that you have to find someone to fund the ongoing operating costs, the Cairngorm Funicular Railway would be a strong contender - from p30 of this week's Private Eye...

The funicular railway was finally taken into public ownership by HIE (Highlands and Islands Enterprise) last year to save it from going bust. "Although HIE hopes to find a new operator... that might prove difficult in the current economic climate" auditor-general Robert Black told the committee, warning members: "If HIE cannot establish a viable business model for the funicular, and it ceases to operate, HIE might have to reinstate the land, repay the EU's money and meet any other costs

Yes I know, there aren't that many hills between Cambridge and St Ives...

Reviewing the case for the Guided Bus

I have always supported the County Council’s decision to build the Guided Bus – by applying some very simple principles. The Guided Bus is conceptually much simpler than rail, therefore it has always seemed clear to me that it would cost significantly less to build than rail, and will require significantly less ongoing operating subsidy (in fact, it is expected to make a surplus), whilst being more flexible as buses could use both the Guideway and normal roads. All the huffing and puffing from CAST IRON never really came up with a reason why this high level assessment of the options was fundamentally wrong.

CAST IRON supporters are currently letting off steam on Richard Normington’s blog (for some reason, I think the suggestion that they are akin to a flat earth society might have riled). But one commentator said the following:

“so, beware the people of Ebbw Vale, Bathgate and all the other non-successful rail reopening schemes that have otherwise exceeded expectations. You'll be closed down soon, no doubt. But, hang on a moment, none of these succesful schemes are in England. Is that the problem?”

Yes the fact we are in England probably is a factor against rail - Wales and Scotland do get more taxpayers cash lavished on them, often in the name of economic regeneration, and therefore they are more likely to be able to afford the extra costs of rail. That said, I thought I would take a look into one of these schemes, the Airdrie to Bathgate link in Scotland, to see how the numbers stack up against the Cambridgeshire Guided Bus (CGB). Both seem to involve about the same length of new, two-way running track (23km reopened rail line vs 25km new Guideway).

First point is - I’m not sure how this can be described as a ‘rail reopening scheme that has otherwise exceeded expectations’ - the new railway in Bathgate isn’t open yet (due the end of 2010, subject to all the same risks of late opening as the Guided Bus…) - you get used to this kind of 'economy with the actualité' from rail supporters. But lets do a comparison on the basic figures:

Time taken to build

CGB: Construction started: March 2007

Almost complete – say opening mid-2010, it will have taken just over 3 years from start of construction to opening.

Airdrie-Bathgate Rail line: Start of construction: June 2007 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airdrie-Bathgate_Rail_Link)

End of construction: ‘End of 2010’ (http://www.airdriebathgateraillink.co.uk/)

Total time 3.5 years, but remember that like the CGB, there is significant political pressure not to reveal any delays or cost overruns and always present the most optimistic picture (see press report - including tales of woe of Scottish railway cost overruns)

So the initial estimate for the railway is that it will take longer to build than the likely actual time for Guided Bus construction.

Approximate Construction costs

CGB – approx £120m

Bathgate railway - £300m (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airdrie-Bathgate_Rail_Link)

Rail approximately twice as expensive to build as Guided Bus – as expected. The Bathgate project costs, again just the initial estimate liable to increases later in the project, are broadly similar to what the real experts thought it would cost for CAST IRON's rail proposals on the Cambridge-St Ives line.

Cost benefits ratio

Initial estimates in both cases to compare like with like – higher the better.

Guided Bus – 2.26

See Cost benefit analysis report, page 2.

Bathgate Railway – 1.62 to 1.92 depending on options used.

See Design Development Appraisal Report, Fig 4.1.14

Bear in mind that the Bathgate Railway is in an area with considerably more economic deprivation to start with, so it is much easier to build a case around the number of extra jobs created, but Guided Bus still gives a better ratio, thanks to its lower costs.

Operating costs

Guided Bus – “operating costs are estimated as £2.2 million in 2006, increasing to £3.1 million in 2016” – however these are just the costs – “on the basis of the forecast patronage and expected operational costs, operations are estimated to move into surplus at an operating level after the first few years of operation.”

(Reference as above).

I.e. the Guided Bus is designed to not require an ongoing operating subsidy.

Airdrie-Bathgate railway – net costs of £9m per annum

See Design Development Appraisal Report, Fig 4.1.13

And this is the real killer to the rail argument - they will need to find a taxpayer funded public body prepared to stump up huge amounts of cash every year in ongoing operating subsidy - the same problem that caused small branch lines to close in the first place. There was no body prepared to stump up that cash, and therefore no-one prepared to fund the capital costs - so the real choice faced by decision makers was not Guided Bus or Rail, it was Guided Bus or nothing.

I would love to have seen a better case made for rail on the St Ives line - that encompasses the widely held view that rail is qualitatively better than a Guided Bus. Unfortunately the great weakness of CAST IRON is that almost every claim they make is literally incredible – starting with their suggestion that a railway could be reopened for £2m by a few volunteers with pick axes, but at every point their story changed, the message to decision makers was that their analysis was all wrong, CAST IRON was right, and only a fool could believe otherwise - not very helpful.

The delays in opening the Guided Bus have been regrettable – but the case behind the decision still stacks up far better than rail. The County Council should be congratulated for having the courage to make this scheme happen – it will bring long term benefits to Cambridgeshire.

Hill Road Bridge to fully reopen Sept 7th

The County Council have confirmed that the Guided Bus works on Hills Road bridge will finally be completed on 6th September. The County Council will then work overnight to implement a trial road layout to help cyclists across the bridge, that will be in place from Monday 7th. From their press release:

The safety trial will segregate cyclists and motorists using the bridge with temporary kerbs and a raised white line, known as a rumble strip. The trial is expected to be in place for up to four months."

Busway contractor, BAM Nuttall, has informed the Council they will finish all the work on the bridge this Sunday. Currently there are around 4,000 cycle trips each day over the bridge and it is hoped the new scheme will help cyclists and motorists as well as encouraging more people to use their bike.

Mike Davies, Programme Manager for Cycle Cambridge, said: "The aim of the trial is to show how the new cycle lanes could improve the safety of this busy route. Each day 4,000 people ride their bike over the bridge and by making it safer even more people will choose to cycle, rather than drive. Less cars on the road means good news for everybody.

"During the trial we will assess traffic flows at the junctions at either end of the bridge, queue lengths and driver behaviour before making a decision whether to make the cycle lanes permanent."

During the trial the bridge will return to two lanes in each direction, however the uphill sections will be reserved for cyclists only. We do not envisage the set-up of the trial causing any delays as we will be doing this overnight and the bridge will remain open.

If the trial is successful, the new cycle lanes could be made permanent as early as next year to coincide with the Cambridge Gateway construction, a £3 million project to improve public transport and safety for pedestrians and cyclists travelling to and from the station area.

Anyone with comments on the Hills Road Bridge cycle lane trial and the Cambridge Gateway project is encouraged to attend one of the consultation events. These are being held on Tuesday 8 September at Hills Road Sixth Form College, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm, and Thursday 10 September at St Paul's Church (Lower Hall), Hills Road, from 4.30pm to 7pm.

Further information on both projects, including a plan of the layout of the new cycle lane and a feedback form, is available by logging on to www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/cambridgegateway

I hope this trial is a success - it is excellent news for the many cyclists on the bridge, and indirectly for pedestrians who are less likely to encounter cyclists on the pavements, and car drivers who could benefit from fewer cars if more people cycle! I am also particularly pleased that the County Council has arranged for the trial to go in immediately rather than having another separate set of works shortly after the Guided Bus works finished - this was something I had been asking for for a long while, and should give the trial the best possible chance of success.

Guided Bus Update

There was an update meeting this evening for the Guided Bus project. The main cause of delays in the Southern section (Station - Addenbrookes - Trumpington Park and Ride) remains the gas main in the Trumpington cutting, where getting agreement with the gas company over what (if anything) needs to be done to protect the gas main has proved tricky.

The rest of the southern section is now progressing, and is expected to be completed around the end of January/February next year. There is some possibility that the route from the station to Addenbrookes can open prior to the Trumpington cutting work being completed (which could be Feb/March time).

All dates are still provisional, but the really exciting news is that they on the final phase of Hills Road bridge work - reinstating the road as it was - and it could be fully re-opened without any traffic management by the end of this week. Fingers crossed...

Station Guided Bus works to start next Monday

Confirmation that the station guided bus works will start next Monday:

"Construction of a new bus terminal to give guided bus passengers easy access to the rail network will begin on Monday (20 July).

The new bus terminal at Cambridge Railway Station will allow passengers to leave the train and get straight onto a guided bus. Using the purpose built guideway passengers can then glide smoothly to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in four minutes. It will also provide a direct link to and from St Ives, and the villages in between, to Cambridge Railway Station.

To build the new stop the short stay car parking at the station will be permanently moved to the opposite side of the entrance roundabout. The marking out of this parking area has already begun so station users will not be affected."

Guided Bus Update

This week there was a meeting of the Guided Bus Southern liaison forum, with a few topics of interest to Coleridge raised.

The mobile CCTV on the bridge was discussed. This was hard fought for, and a lack of communication between the Guided Bus team and the City Council nearly meant it didn't happen, but in the event turned out to be as good as useless. The cameras weren't appropriately positioned to monitor the types of problems we wanted to monitor, and the warning signs were all but invisible rendering it useless as a deterrent. I am still trying to get to the bottom of these issues. There was also an incident on the bridge at the start of June in which a young person was seriously injured - currently subject to a police investigation, but when that is concluded, there will be more questions to answer...

There was an estimate of the final date for the removal of the roadworks on Hills Road Bridge - mid September. It is obviously very disappointing that these works have overrun, but hopefully the end is now in sight. A more interesting question is how the bridge is re-instated. I made it clear that residents will be expecting a high quality finish to the road (some contractors seem to think it is acceptable to fill trenches with blobs of plastercine after they have been working on the road - I don't want this to happen here, although the Milton Road re-instatement does seem to be of high quality). More controversially, the County Council is considering trialling a scheme on the bridge to include only one lane going on to the bridge in each direction, widening to two lanes coming off the bridge, to allow space for a wider cycle lane. I think this idea has a lot of merit, (particularly to help cyclists who are currently very vulnerable on the bridge), but could be controversial. If the Council are going to trial this measure, the best time to start the trial is when the roadworks are finally removed, but I would be interested to know what any local residents think about these plans.

Finally, there are some major changes about to happen outside the station to allow the Guided Bus works up to the station to be carried out. The short stay car park will close on 20th July, and move to a new short stay car park. Works for the guideway in the signal box area have commenced, and road construction is underway.

No word yet on final opening date for the southern section - it sounds like there are still major engineering challenges in the Trumpington cutting, where a high pressure gas main under the route needs to be protected by shielding it with concrete, before putting the guideway on top, so full opening will be next year. There is however a good chance of buses running from the station to Addenbrokes earlier, in which case I will be pressing for as much of the cycle route as possible to be open as soon as it is ready.

Interesting Meeting later today

I'll be very interested to see the outcome of the County Council Conservative group AGM on Friday, in particular who the new Matt Bradney in charge of transport in the City will be. Whoever he or she is can expect a phone call - I have a little list...

UPDATE: Sounds like it will be a little while longer before we can see the white smoke...

Spot the camera

The problems are continuing on Hills Road bridge. The hope of the single lane working finishing by Mon 18th has been dashed by technical problems and the weather. The hope had been to place 10 piles into the bridge in 5 days. Unfortunately the first pile took four days, after the steel reinforcement cage got stuck in the concrete and had to be drilled out. There was more progress last weekend with 4 piles placed, but high winds stopped the rig being used on Monday (so the road stayed open in both directions). The work may be finished by the end of the week, subject to no further delays.

The mobile CCTV that had been asked for for the duration of single lane working has been even more of a Saga. The intention when I requested this was to deter dangerous driving, and look out for dangerous traffic infringements to encourage more effective policing of the situation. 

On Monday 11th, the promised CCTV hadn't been put in place. Despite months of reminders and specific assurances I received only a week earlier that is was in hand, nobody from the County Council had spoken to CCTV at the City Council. A few phone calls later and this was fixed. Its tempting to say they shouldn't have bothered. In terms of deterrent, here is the photo from a similar angle to that for a driver from Cherry Hinton Road, about to turn right and mow down a bike on the bridge. The little yellow sign is the only warning that they are caught on camera (assuming they hadn't noticed the camera itself higher up the lamppost).

There are two cameras, at each end of the bridge. These may or may not be able to spot problems on the bridge - we may never know. The City Council CCTV operators don't believe that dangerous overtaking (or doubtless anything short of a serious injury accident) is a problem worthy of police involvement, and they are currently refusing to allow anyone to look at the tapes to understand what incidents of a lesser nature are occurring, so there is no prospect of using the cameras to help drive an enhanced police response to the problems. Not impressed, I just hope nobody is seriously injured during the rest of these works...

Hills Road Single Lane working to start Monday

The Guided Bus team have confirmed that the final stage of single lane working on Hills Road bridge on Monday, saying:

"Cambridge Water Company have completed their water main diversion as planned. BAM Nuttall are now preparing for the piling which will start on Monday 11th May as previously discussed.

Single lane working will be introduced from Monday morning.  BNL will be probing to check for obstructions on Monday. The Piling rig will be delivered on Monday evening after 7pm and will be set up on Tuesday with a view to starting piling on Tuesday afternoon. BNL plan to finish on Monday 18th May and will work through the weekend if required. The traffic management will be as before albeit on the opposite side of the bridge."

Following my request, supported by other local Councillors, the City Council is making available CCTV to cover the works, so if any cyclists etc are involved in incidents on the bridge, please be in touch if you would like me to ask the Council to review tapes. Fingers crossed that this work will finish on time, and the traffic nightmare will finally be behind us.

Exclusive: My First Ride on Guided Busway

Huge excitement today as I was allowed to ride on a section of the County Council's Guided Busway. The brand new Stagecoach bus, complete with small guide wheel picked us up from the County Council's new park and ride site on Butt Lane, Milton, and we had a couple of runs from Cambridge Regional College on Kings Hedges Road to Park Lane, Histon and back.

So what were the first impressions? Uneventful would be one way of describing it - like a bus only better. The ride was very smooth, and fast. The top speed is around 55mph, which we reached on the journey. It took just under 5 minutes from Park Lane (just past Histon) to Cambridge Regional College on Kings Hedges Road (even after slowing down to avoid some children playing on the line that probably weren't expecting a bus to be running!)

The tracks were complete, but there is clearly still some work to be done on the stops and other areas like CCTV, bike racks and landscaping - and obviously it is still early days in terms of knowing how much of a success the Guided Busway will be. One thing is for sure, the Guided Busway will open, and Cambridgeshire will have a significant addition to its public transport infrastructure. Making any significant public transport project happen is always difficult and always controversial, the County will deserve the credit when the Guided Bus proves to be a great success.

And a final treat - a video of the journey from Park Lane, Histon to CRC:

Scores on the doors

The police were out this morning from 8.15 to 9.30 policing the traffic situation around the Hills Road bridge roadworks. Scores on the doors for tickets issued:

6 cyclists on the pavement,
2 cyclists contravening a red light,
8 vehicles turning right Brooklands Ave on to Hills Road.
No vehicles turned from Hills Road to Brooklands Ave although 10 cyclists were seen to commit this offence and given advice where possible.

I wonder what was observed with regard to overtaking on the bridge...

Guided Bus Delays Detailed

There was a Guided Bus southern section local liaison forum this evening where the current status of the project was presented and heads up given on some potential problems on the horizon.

Overall, it has become necessary to delay the project opening by six months. The idea had been to get the busway open while some of the other parts of the infrastructure (eg the Longstanton Park and Ride, CCTV) were still not fully operational, but with a few late construction difficulties in the northern section, the delivery date has been put back until the whole northern section of busway should be ready, expected now to be this Autumn.

There is a more significant engineering problem in the Southern section. A high-pressure gas main runs under the guided bus route through the cutting between Shelford Rd and Hauxton Rd. Despite being in contact with the County since 2002, the National (gas) Grid only informed the County last week that they might need to carry out further maintenance work before the busway can be laid. Potentially this could introduce a six month delay to completing the southern section, although the County Council are trying to find ways to limit the impact of any work on the schedule.

The Hills Road bridge works have also proved problematic in engineering terms - tunnelling through the bridge whilst keeping the road open involves installing concrete pillars through the road, building a concrete platform and tunnelling under it, whilst avoiding the utilities pipes and gas pipe under the pavement, which has proved trickier than first thought.

However after several delays, the last phase of single-lane work on the Hills Road bridge has now been rescheduled for 6-15 April (including Easter weekend). It is hoped that the works on the bridge should be complete by mid-August.

Finally, after continued complaints (from Cambridge Cycle Campaign, ourselves and others) about road safety during the works, the police will be out on Hills Road bridge tomorrow (Wed 14 Jan). In theory they are supposed to be there to ticket cars who overtake cyclists aggressively, but in the past they have been just as keen to ticket cyclists cycling on the pavement so be warned. As ever our advice is that if you can't face cycling over the bridge on the roadway, then you should always walk with your bike on the pavement.

Overall it is disappointing news, but services should still be running long before the housing developments the system was designed to support are built.

Guided Bus Stops

With the Guided Bus system due to open in Spring 2009, the County Council is currently consulting on proposals for new bus stops for the Guided Buses in the centre of Cambridge. More details of the plans are available on the County Council's website here: http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/projects/cambridge/guidedbusstops.htm.

Any comments should be sent to: cambridge.projects@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Hills Road Bridge updates

Courtesy of Trumpington e-cops (bizarrely I don't think it has made it to Coleridge e-cops UPDATE: Has now been sent out on Coleridge e-cops as well), the police are finally taking action on the Hills Road Bridge situation:

"On the 12th & 13th of November 2008 we will be enforcing traffic regulations at the Hills Road / Cherry Hinton Road junction, between the hours of 17:00 -21:30. This is due to concerns from members of the public that motorists are ignoring the NO RIGHT TURN onto Cherry Hinton Road and carrying out inappropriate manoeuvres through the road works on Hills Road Bridge.
There are also concerns for cyclists who are cycling on the pavement and cycling without lights during the hours of darkness (sunset is around 4.10pm. You will need your bike lights on from then).
Our ultimate aim is to ensure the safety of motorists and cyclists and to ensure they are driving and cycling to the correct traffic regulations."

No news yet on when the final phase of single lane working will happen - except that it won't be before Christmas!

Warning: Guided Bus works this weekend

Just had this from the Guided Bus team:

"We have received a request from the Guided Busway Contractor, BAM Nuttall, for single lane working this Saturday and Sunday over Hills Road Bridge to enable them to remove temporary supports to the excavation in the centre of the road. Having looked into what is involved it will be extremely difficult and very time consuming for this work to be done from within the works area, but very simple and straightforward to complete if done from the road side. We have therefore agreed to their request.

The work will be carried out on Saturday and Sunday (18 and 19 October) starting at 7am and finishing by 4pm. One lane at a time will be closed to allow a wheeled excavator access to remove temporary steel sheet piles. While this is going on traffic will use the other lane controlled by traffic signals."

This is likely to cause significant disruption on Hills Road this weekend, but will also give a chance to add in cycle lane markings that will hopefully reduce problems for cyclists from aggressive car drivers. The Guided Bus works on Hills Road are currently significantly behind schedule - this will allow some catching up and reduce the total time the roadworks are operating. I've responded to the Guided Bus team:

If we are allowing this, can we please ensure that the time of the single lane working is kept to an absolute minimum by planning to work to minimise the disruption as a first priority and ensuring such a plan is appropriately resourced.

Call for Roadworks CCTV

Following the meeting on Tuesday with the police to discuss safety issues at the Hills Road bridge Guided Bus works, I am calling for the City Council to deploy some of its mobile CCTV cameras to cover the Hills Road bridge and junctions, particularly during the final two weeks of single lane working.

Due to technical issues with the works it isn't yet clear when this final period of single lane working will occur, it was originally scheduled for the start of October, but is likley to be delayed.

The problems of the roadworks have been widely reported to Councillors, the Police, the Guided Bus team and other organisations such as Cambridge Cycle campaign, and include:
- Aggressive following and dangerous overtaking of cyclists on the bridge - which I think is the main risk.
- Illegal turning manoeuvres, particularly relating to right turns banned during the works.
- Obstruction and box marking violations at the Cherry Hinton Road junction.
- Cycling on the pavement.
- Inappropriate speed and poor control driving through junctions.

I'm hoping CCTV can highlight the nature and scope of problems to the police and the Guided bus team allowing measures to be taken and resources allocated to target specific problems, and with some publicity deter some of the more extreme dangerous actions.

I've already had support from other Councillors in Coleridge and Queen Ediths, so hopefully the Council will look favourably on the request.

Guided Bus Works Latest

On Tuesday I attended the latest Guided Bus Southern section liaison meeting. Work is continuing apace across the whole project, which is expected to open in Spring 2009.

The construction works are being planned by the County Council to minimise disruption where possible - the parapet work on the bridge to Addenbrokes is happening during a rail closure the weekend of 13th/14th September, planned so that work can be done on both new rail bridges (including the Addenbrokes Southern Access road) at the same time.




The barrier work required on Long Road will hopefully happen at night, to avoid inconveniencing motorists as much as possible.

The station area works include construction of an unguided section of roadway for buses, pedestrians and cyclists, now due to start in January 09. This will involve moving the short stay car parking to an area in the current season ticket car park, but otherwise the disruption should be minimal - certainly trivial compared to the disruption that would occur during Ashwells construction of CB1 if they are granted permission next month.

The main area of concern that remains is the Hills Road bridge works, and related traffic management. A date has now been set next week to meet with the police to try finding out why they have been so useless with regard to stopping dangerous actions from car drivers. Unfortunately the complex engineering work being carried out on the bridge has not been problem free, and works are currently 4 weeks behind schedule. This may delay the final period of single lane working, scheduled to last 2 weeks from end of Sept/early Oct - if the dates of this change as seems likely, people really do need to know in advance so alternative arrangements can be made. I am also going to request that the City Council's mobile CCTV is deployed to the area so the powers that be can monitor any problems being caused.

Finally, the meeting heard from one of the four artists commissioned by the Council to create some public art for the Guided Busway. He is planning some art that is influenced by interesting features near the guideway that people may not be aware of, and is keen to hear any suggestions from local people!