ONLY a handful of hardened devotees from Fenland (step forward Councillor Martin Curtis from Whittlesey) believe the guided bus from St Ives to Cambridge has relevance to the north of the county.

The majority of Fenlanders seem unmoved by the triumphalism attached to the long awaited opening of the world’s longest guided bus way.

We ought not to be. This is a project that will either bedevil the county council for years to come or be regarded as a visionary achievement to which was added, in the run up to its opening, an unfortunate set of circumstances which caused it to run ruinously over budget.

Whilst we would love for a trickle of cash through to Fenland to re-open the Bramley Line from Wisbech to March, we ought in the meantime to associate ourselves with a superb feat of engineering and a positive contribution to removing traffic from the A14.

It has also opened up endless possibilities for those in various parts of the Fens who might wish to avail themselves of this curious but uplifting passage into Cambridge, Huntingdon or St Ives. Plenty of stops en route to park your car and enjoy the ride in either direction.

High Sheriff Richard Barnwell was the only Fenlander to be on the inaugural trip but we hope his pioneering ‘voyage’ becomes one of discovery and delight he will share with many.

The splendid chap from the council who cut the ribbon described as “old, tired and in the past” and on this occasion he was right to do so.

The bus way will attract global devotees who will beat a path to Cambridgeshire to marvel at the ultimate simplicity which has evolved from the complexity of over burdened roads. In all honesty the public should lap it up.

Heaven help us all, however, if the county council has misjudged the public’s appetite and passenger numbers decline but without risk you only ever achieve blandness.

And we wouldn’t want that, now would we?