Bob Menzies says prepare to be surprised.

The arrival of Cambridgeshire’s guided busway onto our streets has been anything but efficient. But its creators say its tarnished reputation will quickly be overturned once it transforms the lives of Cambridge’s commuters and residents in just seven weeks. Charlotte Orson reports.

There is international interest in Cambridgeshire’s guided busway and transport chiefs say be prepared to be wowed by the route which opens on August 7.

While the beleaguered busway – two years overdue and potentially £71 million over budget – is commonly the butt of jokes and frequently referred to as the ‘misguided busway’, transport bosses say its reputation will turn itself around in a matter of weeks.

It is easy to forget the busway is the world’s biggest project of its kind and cities across the globe are watching with eager eyes to assess its effectiveness in tackling congestion and reducing commuter journey times.

While there are existing guided busway schemes in Leeds, Bradford and Ipswich, Cambridgeshire’s is by far the world’s largest and most ambitious.

Its tracks – which stretch from St Ives to Orchard Park and the Science Park and then from Cambridge Station through to Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Trumpington – cover a distance of 16 miles or 25km.

This dwarfs the globe’s second biggest busway which can be found in Adelaide, Australia, and boasts just 10km of track.

After months of speculation, Cambridgeshire County Council finally announced the guided busway would open on Sunday, August 7.

This follows the contractor BAM Nuttall handing the route back to the council – more than two years late – in April.

And the message from Bob Menzies, head of busway delivery at the council, is be prepared to be surprised.

He said: “The busway will sell itself and there’s a lot of interest – not just from around the UK but from Sweden and America.

“Once people get a chance to experience it for themselves they will see what we have been talking about for years and why we have been so enthusiastic about the project.

“There will be a lot of interest in what we’re doing here and there will be people switching from driving on the A14 to using the busway.”

It is hoped 3.5 million trips will be made on the busway each year and Andy Campbell - managing director of one of its operators Stagecoach - says congestion will be eased on the A14 by people leaving their cars at the Longstanton and St Ives Park and Ride stops en route.

And Mr Campbell said theories that any improvements in commuter times outside the city centre would be scuppered by the buses becoming stuck in traffic in central Cambridge – where they will operate like regular buses – would soon be dashed.

He said sets of rising bollards introduced to the city had proved successful in preventing buses crawling along in traffic jams.

Mr Campbell, who has selected 43 full-time drivers to work on the route, said: “We are already aware of the average running times in the city because of other buses and are confident that the journey times expected are achievable and will be reliable.”

Between now and August 7, outstanding defects on the route will be fixed and driver training will take place.

Busway services will run seven days a week and from 7am to 7pm Monday to Saturday there will be buses running between St Ives and Cambridge every 10 minutes.

Services to Huntingdon will be every 20 minutes with an hourly evening service running until midnight.

Both Stagecoach and Whippet are running their own ticketing systems and, on the tracked section of the busway, passengers will be required to buy tickets before they board.

On the road, people can pay when boarding the bus as they would do on a regular bus route.

Concessionary bus passes will be valid on the busway and the council says it is aiming to introduce a multi-operator smartcard for commuters.

For more information and timetables, visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/around/thebusway

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The final battle to fight is the cost of paying for the vastly over-budget busway.

Taxpayers were promised they would not be required to pay for what was hoped to be a £116 million scheme paid for by cash from central Government and developer contributions.

But as the cost of the busway is now predicated to reach £187 million after its late handover to Cambridgeshire County Council by contractor BAM Nuttall, there is a question mark over who will pick up a bill of up to £71 million.

Cllr Kilian Bourke, Liberal Democrat spokesman for highways at Cambridgeshire County Council said: “A string of Conservative leaders promised not to spend one penny of taxpayers’ money on the project but now they are only promising to get ‘the best deal for taxpayers’.

“The watering down of the original promise is ominous when there is £71 million at stake. I suspect this is one ‘best deal’ that local taxpayers could do without.”

Head of busway delivery at Cambridgeshire County Council Bob Menzies’s final world on the subject was: “Our view is that it should not cost any more than it was going to cost and that remains our view.

“We will have to sort out the cost with the contractor BAM Nuttall.”