Public invited to comment on Fenland transport plan - days after Stagecoach axes 18 bus routes

People in Fenland have been invited to comment on the proposed local transport plan for March, incidentally just days after 18 bus routes are being axed in Cambridgeshire.

Stagecoach have said some routes were costing as much as £85 per passenger journey.

Cambridgeshire County Council is hosting one public engagement event for the March Area Transport Study (MATS) – which is being held to support traffic improvements in the area.

Councillor Alex Beckett, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Highways and Transport Committee, said: “We are committed to helping market towns like March develop greener and more people-friendly transport links that really serve the community, improving public areas, and giving space for walking and cycling.

"We want to make it easier for people to travel in and around March. We'd like to encourage people to share their thoughts with us to inform this much needed work.”

Members of the public are invited to discuss elements of the designs with representatives from both Cambridgeshire County Council and their design consultants, Atkins, before plans are completed towards the end of the year.

The event will be held at March Library from 2.30pm until 6.30pm on Thursday, 29 September.

Funded by the Cambridgeshire Peterborough Combined Authority, the March Area Transport Study aims to identify potential traffic improvements for the town with the design phases and a Full Business Case (FBC) finalised in December.

The FBC will then be presented to the CPCA for technical assurance review early in 2023, to inform a decision as to whether to award construction funds.

It comes as metro mayor, Dr Nik Johnson, has put forward a plan to save the bus routes by forking out £1.7m – using two sources of funding.

The majority of which is from savings arising due to reduced amount of Cambridgeshire Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) payments to bus operators caused by Covid-19.

A smaller amount is from the Bus Recovery Grant offered by Government to help keep some services going.

Any decision to keep bus routes going will be put to the Combined Authority Board for approval when it meets on October 19, and after the three-week process has worked out all options.