Luton to Dunstable’s new guided busway has attracted less than half the number of expected passengers in its first three months of operation, council figures have revealed.

Between October and December last year there were a little under 347,000 journeys made – only 41% of the 828,000 journeys predicted for the first quarter.

It had been hoped that 9000 passengers per day, or 279,000 a month, would use the busway, according to a business case submitted to the Department for Transport in 2008.

A spokesman for Luton Borough Council said the lower patronage was partly due to the recession, which had restricted the number of planned development sites being built. Passenger forecasts had relied on economic growth, he added, that assumed major development sites would have been largely built.

But he claimed that local busway service operators and the council are pleased with initial patronage figures.

Services on the busway began on 25 September and the £91M scheme was opened by the former Transport Minister Norman Baker. It makes use of disused railway corridor and provides a 15 minute journey time between Luton and Dunstable town centres. Core services between Luton and Dunstable operate up to every seven minutes at peak times.

The busway is 10km long and includes a 7.5km section of concrete guideway into which small wheels on the front of the buses engage, allowing vehicles to travel safely at up to 50MPH.

(Photo: ATP Media)

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