Cambridgeshire County Council is running a consultation on a new plan for managing the traffic on St Andrew’s Street – starting tomorrow. 4th March.

St Andrew’s Street is one of the busiest streets in Cambridge, and has all forms of transport – pedestrians, bikes, buses, cars, delivery vans and taxis. This often means conflict between larger and smaller vehicles, sometimes dangerous.

Taxis have a rank in a lay-by near the turn-off into Lion Yard … although there are only supposed to be six taxis there at one time, this is often ignored.

The County Council initially wanted to close the taxi rank, a proposal opposed by many people who stressed the need for a central taxi rank, so it is not too far to walk to the main shopping areas – and back, carrying the shopping. This is especially important for those who are less mobile. Thank you to the many people who made their views known.

Now they are proposing to keep the taxi rank where it is but stop taxis from queueing on the road while they wait for a space on the rank. The plan is for them to wait at the existing rank in Drummer Street until there is a space in St Andrew’s Street, with a detector alerting them to move from one to the other. The rank at Drummer Street would continue to be used, especially by people coming to the south of the City as it is cheaper than from St Andrew’s Street.

This all sounds good, though given that taxis are limited to six spaces at present it is not yet clear how the new rules would be enforced. If they can be, this will be much better for many people who cannot walk far, or who need to be able to get home quickly.

The consultation runs from 4th to 22nd March. Here is a document with full details: St Andrew’s St consultation note Feb 13 final

You can comment by email transport.delivery@cambridgeshire.gov.uk, by phone 01223 699906 or by post to Major Infrastructure Delivery Team, Cambridgeshire County Council, CC1211, Castle Court, Cambridge CB3 0AP.

Attached is my own representation.St Andrew’s St

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