Crawley Fastway

Fastway is a bus rapid transit network in Surrey and West Sussex, United Kingdom, linking Crawley with Gatwick Airport and Horley, 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 buses along a specially constructed track. Fastway is operated by Metrobus, using Scania OmniCity, Wright StreetLite and Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse 2 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)

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. 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, 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 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 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

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 and Gatwick Airport via Broadfield, Crawley Town Centre and Manor Royal. 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 and Langshott via Broadfield, Crawley Town Centre, Three Bridges, Gatwick Airport and Horley. 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 and Redhill via Three Bridges, Crawley Town Centre, Manor Royal, Gatwick Airport, Horley and East Surrey Hospital. 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, Surrey County Council, Crawley Borough Council, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, BAA Gatwick, British Airways. 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, 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

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.

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 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
* List of bus operators of the United Kingdom
* 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