Cambridgeshire County Council, which was behind the plan to replace a mothballed railway line with a much-delayed and ill-fated guided busway, has now cut existing bus services throughout the county.

A few test runs have been made on the Cambridge guided busway but so far there is no public service. The cost is believed to have risen to £180 million and the council is still involved in a dispute with the contractor.

But to save £3 million, the Conservative-run county council is phasing out bus subsidies for all 57 tendered bus routes over the next four years.

County council bosses claim the Government cuts have forced their hand.

Bus company Stagecoach axed 22 bus routes and reduced the frequency of a further 15 (from 17 April), stating that the withdrawal of public subsidies for some routes was a factor.

Three years ago, the county council defied public opinion, which by a vast majority wanted to reopen the Cambridge-St Ives railway, to promote its guided bus.

The cost of reinstating the railway was estimated at £50 million in 2008, the year work started on the council’s preferred “£116 million” guided bus plan.

Proponents of busways in Britain always quote the Essen busway in Germany as an example but at least in Essen, the unimpressive busway takes up road space and does not interfere with the railway.