All change on the buses

Services affected will be the 7, 8, 24, 31, 38, 61 and 70 and although most do not serve Poynters Road itself, the expected traffic congestion in the area has led to the decision being taken to revise frequencies and routes.

The main effect will be to Service 24 between Luton and Dunstable which uses a short section of Poynters Road and for which there is no acceptable alternative route. As a result, this service will run only between Luton and Leagrave High Street, requiring a change onto Service 38 buses to reach Dunstable.

Central Bedfordshire Council are funding a shuttle bus to cover part of the western end of the 24 route, running between Dunstable and Katherine Drive as Service 24A.

The full list of changes is summarised below:

- Route 8 will follow its normal route but delays are expected.

- Route 24 from Luton will terminate at Leagrave High Street and will be unable to serve Dunstable. People wishing to travel to or from Dunstable will need to use Service 38 buses to Wheatfield Road and connect there with the 24. There will be some ‘essential’ journeys on school days that will be escorted through the road works and will be able to continue along the whole route.

- Route 31 will be re-scheduled to run up to every 15 minutes. The route will not change but anticipated delays in Dunstable, especially at peak times, are expected to have an impact on punctuality. On Sundays, the 31 will run to Whipsnade Zoo only and will not be able to serve Studham.

- Route 38 will be re-scheduled to run up to every 15 minutes, but, as with the 31, there are likely to major delays across the day. The Sunday and evening variation of this service, the 7, will run via Lewsey Road instead of Poynters Road and to revised times.

- Route 61 towards Luton will leave Dunstable as close to the advertised times as possible but in Luton will run only to the temporary interchange between the Galaxy and Rail Station. Buses from Luton will leave up to ten minutes earlier than normal. It is anticipated that they will then leave Dunstable on time or late, dependent upon the traffic delays.

- Route 70 will not have time, with the anticipated delays in Dunstable, to complete the whole route to and from Luton. It will terminate and commence at Chaul End Roundabout at the junction with Oakley Road. It is intended that buses will depart Dunstable at their advertised times. For journeys from Luton, buses will depart Chaul End up to ten minutes earlier than advertised to allow for delays.

Arriva’s Managing Director, Paul Adcock, said: “I am sorry that our services in the Dunstable area are liable to suffer significant delays and disruption over a lengthy period due to the closure of Poynters Road.

“We have emphasised to Central Bedfordshire Council that closing this road will have serious implications on traffic flows around the area and that this will impact on the reliability of our services.

“However, the road closure is going ahead and we have had to put in place what we consider to be the best solution to keep our services running as reliably as possible.

“I would ask that our customers understand that the temporary changes we are making to our timetables and routes are totally beyond our control and that we appreciate that some journeys will take longer than normal or involve a change of bus. Our drivers will be doing their best to keep to time so please bear with them if they are running later than expected because of the traffic congestion.”

Full details of the changes to services are shown at arrivabus.co.uk/poynters-road-road-closure-july-2013 and in a special leaflet that will be available from local outlets.