Crawley Fastway

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A Fastway bus in the guided bus lane on Southgate Avenue, Crawley
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A Fastway bus in the guided bus lane on Southgate Avenue, Crawley

Fastway is a bus public transport service linking parts of Crawley with nearby Gatwick Airport and Horley. It is the first bus rapid transit system to be constructed outside a major city. It uses specially adapted buses that can either be steered by the driver or operate as "self steering" guided buses along a specially constructed track.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Construction work began in May 2002, and was scheduled to be completed by 'early 2005'. In February 2006 work is not yet complete, but buses are running on the section of the scheme from Bewbush, south of Crawley, to Gatwick. The revised estimate for completion date is October 2006.

The Fastway project aims to improve bus services in the Crawley, Gatwick and Horley area. The project includes

  • the provision of new bus lanes, including guided bus lanes
  • the construction of new bus waiting shelters
  • electronic real-time passenger information
  • a fleet of new low-floor buses

[edit] History

Phase 1 (Service 10) of the Fastway service commenced in September 2003 between Bewbush and Gatwick, £50,000 over budget and four months behind schedule. The opening was attended by Tony McNulty MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, and local dignitaries. The service was extended from 21 to full 24-hour operation in May 2004, and now runs every 10 minutes during the day and every 20-30 minutes in the early morning, evening and Sunday.

In July 2005, West Sussex County Council leader Henry Smith said the project was then more than £6 million over budget and nearly two years behind schedule. He announced that an inquiry had been launched, led by a task force from a different county council. The inquiry's findings were that the cost overrun was mainly due to an increase in construction costs due to high inflation in the industry and major delays to work that needed to be done by utility companies.

On 27 August 2005 Fastway service 20 was introduced, running between Broadfield, Three Bridges, Manor Royal, Gatwick Airport, Horley and Langshott. On Mondays to Saturdays it runs every 20 minutes during the day, and every 30 minutes in the early morning and late evening. It runs every hour on Sunday, although this is expected to be improved once the service has become established.


[edit] Decision making process

Bus rapid transit was chosen to minimise startup costs, and remove the need for public consultation exercises. "The relative costs of Fastway-type schemes as opposed to tramways are very attractive, and they can be constructed under existing Highways Act powers." - West Sussex County Council Fastway project director Paul Wreyford, September 2004. As stated by the www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk website, Fastway is the first in the world to be built:

  • outside a major city
  • by a partnership of local authorities and private companies
  • from the start with automatic vehicle location, pre- and in-trip passenger information and automatic traffic signal priority

Other guided bus operations in the UK are in West Yorkshire, Ipswich and Edinburgh.

[edit] Funding

In June 2002, the official Fastway website was updated to show a cost of £27 million in total, with just under £10 million provided by the government[1].

In the 'Local Transport Plan Settlement 2004-05' published by West Sussex County Council on their website, increased government funding for the Fastway project was stated as £16.642m:

In September 2003, the Government agreed to increase its contribution by £3m because of the decision by the Go-Ahead Group to withdraw its financial commitment to the project following the reduction in the anticipated length of its rail franchise. The Government will now be providing funding of £16.642m towards a total scheme cost of £28.864m, the only qualification being that this level of support is subject to satisfactory progress and costs remaining on track. All of the allocation for 2004-05 will be given in the form of grant.

[edit] Route

The Phase 1 service (route 10) runs from Bewbush via Breezehurst Drive and Pelham Drive to Broadfield; then via Coachmans Drive, Broadfield Stadium and Southgate Avenue to Crawley town centre (Bus Station and Broadway); then via High Street and London Road to Manor Royal industrial estate; then via Gatwick Road and City Place business park to Gatwick Airport North Terminal.

Service 20 runs from Broadfield via Creasys Drive, Coachmans Drive, Broadfield Stadium, Southgate Avenue to Crawley town centre; then via Haslett Avenue East and Squareabout to Three Bridges station; then via Hazelwick Avenue, Gatwick Road and as route 10 to Gatwick Airport North Terminal; then via Perimeter Road North, Povey Cross Road, Brighton Road, Massetts Road and Victoria Road to Horley town centre and station; then via Balcombe Road, Smallfield Road to Wheatfield Way (Langshott).

[edit] Construction Works

Works on the Phase 1 route included:

  • A new bus-only short cut at Broadfield Stadium, protected by raising bollards to block other traffic
  • New bus lanes along sections of Southgate Avenue
  • Conversion of three town-centre roundabouts and two on Southgate Avenue to traffic lights, plus the addition of new traffic lights on Southgate Avenue
  • Blocking off connecting roads from Southgate Avenue
  • New bus lane on High Street to avoid the one-way system
  • New bus lanes at the London Road/Crawley Road roundabout
  • Traffic lights on dual carriageway to provide access from City Place business park to Gatwick Airport.

Other works finished by May 2005 include:

  • Guideway down the centre of London Road
  • Dedicated bus lane through the heart of the Tushmore roundabout
  • Re-routing traffic lanes on Tushmore roundabout
  • Dedicated bus lanes within the existing carriageway in Manor Royal
  • Improvements to the footways and cycleways in Manor Royal
  • Upgrading the existing road surfaces in Manor Royal
  • Improvements to the Manor Royal/London Road junction and the Fleming Way/Faraday Road junction.

Construction underway in May 2005 included:

  • Widening of the carriageway on Haslett Avenue East to provide dedicated bus lanes
  • Replacing roadway with bus guideway on Haslett Avenue East on the eastbound approach to Three Bridges Road.
  • A new traffic-light-controlled junction on the western arm of the Squareabout.

[edit] Construction errors

A number of humorous construction errors were highlighted by local papers early during the construction process. These include:

  • Misspellings on large roadsigns
  • Misspellings on road painting
  • Back-to-front characters in road painting

Critics of the project pointed to safety concerns raised by the low quality of construction work.

[edit] Routes Problems

Fastway suffers from some congestion problems at Broadfield Shopping Centre where many buses present at the same time cause congestion at the roundabout.

[edit] Promoters

The Fastway project is promoted and funded by a Public-Private Partnership. The consortium includes West Sussex County Council, Surrey County Council, Crawley Borough Council, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, BAA Gatwick, British Airways, Metrobus and the Go-Ahead Group. There is also support from the UK Department for Transport.

The projected cost started at £27 million and was later revised to £32 million, then £35 million, with between £7.5 and £10 million from West Sussex County Council. The final cost of the scheme is still unknown, but has risen from the original estimates and was described as £6 million over budget

Metrobus, the bus operator, has stated that passenger figures are up 10%, with 35% of all journeys being to and from Gatwick. One million passengers were carried in the first seven months of operation. It has also indicated that delays have been reduced by the new bus lanes and bus gate.

On the Fastway website, it states that Metrobus anticipates that by 2008 Fastway will increase daily bus use by 29%.

[edit] Opposition

The Fastway project has sharply divided opinion in the local area. Concern has focused on a number of areas:

  • Design of the new bus lanes, notably with regards to safety
  • Low coverage area - most of Crawley is not covered
  • Low use of guided bus sections
  • Impact during construction
  • Schedule - Phase 1 completed four months late, Phase 2 already overrun
  • Loss of green areas, cycle lanes, road space and pedestrian routes to bus lanes
  • Failure of the project to meet any of the positive predictions made by the promoters.

For example, Eddie Reay, Liberal Democrat Candidate for Pound Hill, said in April 2005:

"It should be noted that Pound Hill has no decent public transport service to either the Airport or the Industrial Estate. These are the main centres of employment in the town and it is scandalous that Pound Hill is not being properly served."

"With a fraction of the promotion being given to Fastway we could have a regular and frequent service. This would certainly take a lot of the pressure off the Balcombe Road and the junctions with the roads into the Pound Hill residential areas. The Balcombe Road is a road that Tory run West Sussex County Council has done little to improve over the years and a better public transport service along it should be a priority."[2]

[edit] Breezehurst Drive accident

- At 7.40am on 31 October 2005 a Fastway bus travelling along Breezehurst Drive at well above the posted 30mph limit left the road and ploughed into the ground floor of a terraced house. Rescue services said the elderly couple asleep in the room above were 'lucky to be alive' after the £150,000 bus crossed a footpath, destroyed a six-foot brick wall, crossed a garden and crashed into the living room of their house. Six adjoining houses were evacuated, and the damaged house will have to be knocked down and rebuilt. - - *Crawley Observer - Bus Crashes Into House - *Ocean View Blog report on the accident.

[edit] Other guided busways

  • Ipswich (Kesgrave)
  • Leeds (Scott Hall Road)
  • Leeds (A64 York Road and A63 Selby Road) - The East Leeds Quality Bus Initiative ‘Elite’
  • Bradford (A641 Manchester Road Quality Bus Initiative)
  • Edinburgh (West Edinburgh Busways (WEBS) "Fastlink" - Stenhouse to Broomhouse)
  • Essen (Germany)
  • O-Bahn Busway Adelaide (Australia)

[edit] Sources

  • Official site from November 2002 on Archive.org [3], retrieved 5 August 2005.
  • Edmund Nuttall Ltd (fastway contractor), September 2004 news [4], retrieved 5 August 2005.
  • Local Transport Plan Settlement 2004-05 (PDF) [5], retrieved 5 August 2005.
  • Fastway is £6 million over budget [6], retrieved 5 August 2005.
  • Fastway will use £19 million public money and £14 million private money, and will used untested technology.[7], retrieved 5 August 2005.
  • House of Commons Answers 16 July 2001, "All 3 Phases to be completed by 2005" [8], retrieved 5 August 2005.
  • Project overspends £6.2 million, IC Surry Online [9], retrieved 5 August 2005.
  • Fastway protest 'snowballs' [10], retrieved 5 August 2005.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/r/a/Crawley_Fastway_2073.html"