Fastway (bus rapid transit)

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, Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse 2 and Wright GB Kite Hydroliner 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 approximately every 20-30 minutes during the day, and every 30 minutes in the early morning, late evening and all-day Sunday. Service 20 does not run 24-hours.

Decision making process
Bus rapid transit was chosen to minimise start-up 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.

By July 2005, West Sussex County Council's share of the project's cost had increased five-fold from £6.2 million to almost £30 million, resulting in external audit and probe into the programme. The inquiry found no wrongdoing by a single employee of the council when it concluded in December 2005, however did state that the council had "ineffective accountability, complacency, ineffective risk management and a lack of clear ownership of the financial management responsibilities".

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 10 minutes during daytime 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 20-25 minutes during daytime on weekdays and Saturdays, every 30 minutes on Sundays and approximately every 45 minutes 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.