Cambridge will go backwards unless local transport problems are tackled, Cambridge Labour Parliamentary Candidate Daniel Zeichner will tell an expert audience at ‘The Future of Cities’ discussion in Cambridge tonight.

He will give examples of the frustration felt by passengers unable to get on over-crowded guided buses from St Ives as an example of the market failure which needs to be tackled:

“The last Labour Government provided the funds for a huge investment in the guided busway -; highly controversial, but whatever one thinks about it, we now have miles of dedicated road space for buses. Yet just a couple of years on, passengers are frustrated because private bus operators aren’t putting on enough buses to meet demand at peak times.

Not only uncomfortable journeys, but people unable to board buses, left standing at stops, making them late for work, missing appointments and so turning back to using cars. Better bus services are at the heart of plans to tackle Cambridge’s traffic nightmare, but at the moment all the local authorities can do is provide the road-space -; they now need powers to ensure that bus operators actually provide the services needed.”