Fastway is a
bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
network in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
and
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
, United Kingdom, linking
Crawley
Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...
with
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...
and
Horley
Horley is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England, south of the towns of Reigate and Redhill. The county border with West Sussex is to the south with Crawley and Gatwick Airport close to the town.
It has its own ec ...
, the first 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 bus
Guided buses are buses capable of being steered by external means, usually on a dedicated track or roll way that excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of schedules even during rush hours. Unlike trolleybuses or rubber-tired tra ...
es along a specially constructed track. Fastway is operated by
Metrobus, using
Scania OmniCity
The Scania OmniCity is an integrally constructed transverse-engined low floor city bus that was available from Scania on the European market between 1997 and 2012.
The OmniCity was introduced in September 1996 as the first product based on t ...
,
Wright StreetLite
The Wright StreetLite is a low-floor midibus introduced by Wrightbus in 2010. It was originally available in only one body style (wheel forward) before the door forward and StreetLite Max variants were introduced in 2011 and 2012 respectively. ...
and
Volvo B7RLE
The Volvo B7RLE is a low-entry single-deck bus chassis manufactured by Volvo. It was superseded by the Volvo B8RLE in 2013.
Specifications
The Volvo B7RLE is similar to its predecessor, the B10BLE. In essence the B7RLE is the front section of t ...
/
Wright Eclipse 2
The Wright Eclipse is a low-floor single-deck bus body that was built by Wrightbus between 1999 and 2019. The second-generation Eclipse 2 was launched in 2008, followed by the third-generation Eclipse 3 in 2015. The Eclipse, and its sister desig ...
buses.
Overview
Fastway aims to improve bus services in the Crawley, Gatwick and Horley area. The project included construction of new bus lanes, including guided bus lanes, construction of new bus waiting shelters and provision of electronic real-time passenger information and a fleet of new low-floor buses for Metrobus (part of the Go Ahead Group)
![Metrobus 550 YN05 HCF and Crawley London Road A23 guided busway](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Metrobus_550_YN05_HCF_and_Crawley_London_Road_A23_guided_busway.JPG)
Construction work began in May 2002, and was scheduled to be completed by June 2005. In October 2006, major work stopped, having completed around 60% of the planned work - 1.5 km guided and 5.8 km unguided bus lanes were constructed, of the planned 2.5 km guided and 8.8 km unguided lanes. The planned 24 traffic lights and 11 roundabouts were changed to 40 traffic lights and 2 roundabouts.
History
Phase 1 (Service 10) 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 24-hour operation in May 2004 and now runs every 7 minutes during the day and every 20–30 minutes in the early morning, evening and Sunday.
In July 2005 the project was more than £6 million over budget. An independent inquiry was launched to investigate the losses, led by a task force from
East Sussex County Council
East Sussex County Council is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex.
East Sussex is divided into five local government districts. Three are larger, rural, districts (from west to east: Lewes; Wealden; and Rother). T ...
. The results of the inquiry were published in December 2005. ESCC concluded West Sussex had shown a pattern of "ineffective accountability, complacency, ineffective risk management and a lack of clear ownership of the financial management responsibilities".
On 27 August 2005 Fastway service 20 was introduced, running between
Broadfield,
Three Bridges Three Bridges may refer to:
England
*Three Bridges, West Sussex, a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley
**Three Bridges F.C., an association football team
**Three Bridges railway station
**Three Bridges depot, a rail depot
* Three Bridges, Linc ...
,
Manor Royal
Manor Royal is an industrial zone within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Manor Royal is in the north of the town near to Gatwick Airport. The area is devoted to light industry and offices and was designed for industry as part of t ...
, 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 and Sunday. Route 20 is not 24 hour operation
The first bus Departs Orchard Drive In Langshottt at 0327 and Pease Pottage Services at 0327
Last Buss through to Pease Pottage is at 2321 from Orchard Drive
The last bus to Orchard Drive from Pease Pottage is at 2337
Decision making process
Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
was chosen to minimise startup costs, and remove the need for public consultation exercises.
Fastway is the first bus rapid transit system in the world to be built outside a major city by a partnership of local authorities and private companies with automatic vehicle location, pre-trip and in-trip passenger information and automatic traffic signal priority from the start.
Funding
In June 2002 the official Fastway website was updated to show a cost of £27 million, with just under £10 million provided by the government.
In September 2003, the Go-Ahead group withdrew their £3 million commitment to the project. The government increased its contribution to cover this as well as other rising costs, raising its contribution to £16.642 million.
Services
![Au Morandarte Flickr IMG 2871 (14679031557)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Au_Morandarte_Flickr_IMG_2871_%2814679031557%29.jpg)
The Fastway system is currently formed of three bus routes, all of which are operated by
Metrobus:
Route 10
Route 10 is the most frequent service on the network. It operates between
Bewbush
Bewbush is one of 14 neighbourhoods in Crawley in West Sussex, England. Bewbush is located in south west Crawley and is bordered by Broadfield to the south, Ifield to the north, Kilnwood Vale to the west and Gossops Green to the north east. ...
and
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...
via
Broadfield,
Crawley Town Centre and
Manor Royal
Manor Royal is an industrial zone within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Manor Royal is in the north of the town near to Gatwick Airport. The area is devoted to light industry and offices and was designed for industry as part of t ...
. It runs every 7-8 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, every 12 minutes on Sundays and every 30 minutes overnight.
Route 20
Route 20 operates between
Pease Pottage
Pease Pottage is a village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the southern edge of the Crawley built-up area, in the civil parish of Slaugham.
The village has a motorway service station, named after the village, ...
and Langshott via Broadfield, Crawley Town Centre,
Three Bridges Three Bridges may refer to:
England
*Three Bridges, West Sussex, a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley
**Three Bridges F.C., an association football team
**Three Bridges railway station
**Three Bridges depot, a rail depot
* Three Bridges, Linc ...
, Gatwick Airport and
Horley
Horley is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England, south of the towns of Reigate and Redhill. The county border with West Sussex is to the south with Crawley and Gatwick Airport close to the town.
It has its own ec ...
. It runs every 20 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays and every 30 minutes on Sundays. It is the only Fastway service not to run overnight.
Route 100
Route 100 is the longest route on the network. It operates between
Maidenbower
Maidenbower is one of 14 neighbourhoods within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Maidenbower is located in the south east corner of the town, bordering the M23 motorway. It is bordered by Pound Hill to the north and Furnace Green to th ...
and
Redhill via Three Bridges, Crawley Town Centre, Manor Royal, Gatwick Airport, Horley and
East Surrey Hospital
East Surrey Hospital is a National Health Service hospital in the Whitebushes area to the south of Redhill, in Surrey, England. It is managed by the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.
History
The hospital has its origins in the Reigate C ...
. It runs every 20 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, every 30 minutes on Sundays and hourly overnight.
Promoters
The Fastway project was promoted and funded by a
public-private partnership. The consortium included
West Sussex County Council
West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county also contains seven district and borough councils, and 158 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. The county council has 7 ...
,
Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...
,
Crawley Borough Council
Crawley Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Crawley, in the county of West Sussex, England. The council consists of 35 councillors, either two or three for each of the 13 wards in the district. It is currently controlled by th ...
,
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council
Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for hum ...
,
BAA Gatwick,
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
. There is also support from the UK Department for Transport.
The project initially included a £3 million contribution by
Metrobus, the bus operator, and its parent company, the
Go-Ahead Group
The Go-Ahead Group plc is a passenger transport company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Norway and Germany. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange, in 2022 it was purchased ...
, but this was withdrawn after construction had started, and the money was replaced by West Sussex County Council.
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 has stated that passenger figures are up 10 percent, with 35 percent of journeys being to and from Gatwick. One million passengers were carried in the first seven months of operation.
Opposition
![Metrobus 475 YN53 RYD](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Metrobus_475_YN53_RYD.JPG)
It has been noted that, while successful at reducing road traffic, Fastway has not tackled gaps in the existing public transport network, particularly
Pound Hill
Pound Hill is one of 14 neighbourhoods within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Pound Hill is located on the east of Crawley. It is bordered by Three Bridges and Manor Royal to the west and Maidenbower to the south.
It is the largest ...
.
Accidents
On 31 October 2005 a Fastway bus travelling along Breezehurst Drive crashed into a terraced house. Two elderly residents were evacuated, and the damage required the house to be demolished. Four passengers suffered minor injuries. According to Metrobus, the bus involved in the incident was a
Scania OmniCity
The Scania OmniCity is an integrally constructed transverse-engined low floor city bus that was available from Scania on the European market between 1997 and 2012.
The OmniCity was introduced in September 1996 as the first product based on t ...
bus number 550 (registration YN05 HCF). Another accident was reported in the same place in 2008.
Passenger numbers
A survey in 2006 showed average passenger numbers during the 7-9am peak were 5, one for each bus
By 2008 as the system became established the West Sussex County Council indicated that bus use in Crawley had increased by 25% following quality improvements.
See also
*
List of guided busways and BRT systems in the United Kingdom
This is a list of the past, present, planned or abandoned guided bus systems or bus rapid transit schemes in the United Kingdom, including segregated busways. Not included are bus priority schemes, bus lanes or local authority bus company qual ...
*
List of bus operators of the United Kingdom
:''This list is an alphabetically ordered index of current and past operators. For a structured list of current operators, see List of current bus operators of the United Kingdom''
This is a list of bus and coach operators of the United Kingdo ...
*
Fastrack - similar sized but unguided scheme in north-west Kent
References
*Official site from November 2002 on Archive.or
retrieved 5 August 2005.
*Edmund Nuttall Ltd (fastway contractor), September 2004 new
retrieved 5 August 2005.
*Local Transport Plan Settlement 2004-05 (PDF
retrieved 5 August 2005.
*Fastway will use £19 million public money and £14 million private money, and will used untested technolog
retrieved 5 August 2005.
*Fastway protest 'snowballs
retrieved 5 August 2005.
External links
Fastway - Official Site
{{coord missing, West Sussex
Transport in Crawley
Guided busways and BRT systems in the United Kingdom
Gatwick Airport
Organisations based in Crawley
Airport bus services