Jokers in Cambridgeshire have hung up cardboard cut-out skeletons to highlight the fact that the guided busway in still not open.

One of the skeletons had a sign saying: "How long do you have to wait for a bus round here?"

Another said: "There's been no buses, only a white elephant. April Fool!"

The 70-acre concrete busway, which now looks like costing £180 million, is already two years behind schedule.

The busway was created by ripping up the 12-mile-long Cambridge-St Ives railway which could have been reopened for an estimated £50 million. Trains would have provided a four-minute journey time from Cambridge to the Science Park, compared to 30 minutes by guided bus.

At the same time as the busway was being built in backwoods Cambridge, Scotland was rebuilding the 12-mile-long Airdrie-Bathgate rail line at a cost of £300 million. It reopened in December and is already highly successful.

The cost was high because the Airdrie line was completely re-laid with modern track and signalling as well as being electrified. Two new stations were built from scratch, three were upgraded and two other relocated.

Keith Brown, Scotland's Minister for Transport and Infrastructure said: “Armadale, Airdrie, Blackridge, Bathgate, Caldercruix and Drumgelloch are once again fully connected into Scotland’s public transport network with all the advantages and benefits in communications, employment, tourism and in tackling climate change by reducing carbon emissions”.

Skeleton

Airdrie rail link