Although work on Histon Road improvements continues to divert southbound traffic, Stagecoach has deemed buses from the Milton Park & Ride site into Cambridge to be non-essential and is suspending the service and diverting buses to other routes.
Histon & Impington residents who depend on the Milton Park & Ride bus into Cambridge are being left high and dry by the decision by Stagecoach to prioritise other routes while pandemic restrictions apply.
Buses from the site are being suspended from 10 May to allow for extra services elsewhere, initially on Route 13 from Cambridge to Haverhill, and then on other routes with greater demand.
Covid restrictions mean the number of people who can travel on each bus is currently limited and Stagecoach, which runs the Park & Ride service, is facing a shortage of buses as lockdown restrictions are eased and more people use them to get to work and education.
Passengers who use the Milton Park & Ride service are being advised to use Newmarket Road or Madingley Road Park & Ride services until the limit on passenger numbers is increased.
Stagecoach has apologised for the inconvenience, saying the shortage of vehicles is “being experienced on a national scale and each local operation must do everything they can to ensure the resources they have are used to ensure essential local bus services are maintained.”
Roadworks continue
Meanwhile, efforts to make Histon Road into Cambridge safer for cyclists and quicker for buses continue to hamper attempts to reach Cambridge by car from the village.
The next stage of the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) Histon Road improvement scheme is about to begin. Roadworks to construct a new junction layout that will prioritise cyclist safety at the Gilbert Road junction are due to start mid-May. The work will include digging out the existing kerbs and footpaths, laying new services, including drainage and cables, and widening the road.
Improvements continue to the north of the Gilbert Road Junction through to Carisbrooke Road. The trees in this area are being preserved and works are planned around them.
Footpaths have been laid from opposite Hazelwood Close alongside the new fencing up to Kings Hedges Road and both sides of the road are open for pedestrians use. Floating bus stops are being installed to provide a cycleway behind the passenger boarding area on the southbound side.
At the Blackhall Road junction, a new ‘tabletop junction’ will allow pedestrians to cross the road on the flat, promoting access for wheelchair users and cyclists. It will also slow traffic entering and exiting Histon Road, making the junctions safe for all users.
Outside the Esso garage the pedestrian pavement is being dug up to make room for the widened cycle lane in this area and the bus stop shelter has been relocated to its new permanent position outside the Co-op. Work is beginning on a new pedestrian crossing near Akeman Street, providing safer access to shops. When this and the work on the Gilbert Road junction is complete, the road from Murketts garage to the junction will be resurfaced.
Full details of this project can be found at the GCP website here.