THE Capital's £10 million guided busway has been closed for repairs after just seven months - to protect passengers from a bumpy ride.
The pioneering bus lane - Britain's longest stretch of guided busway - has been shut down so the tracks can be smoothed out.
Buses using the route on their way to and from the Gyle are being forced to use traditional bus lanes while work is carri
ed out.
The scheme promised to offer a "fast, modern bus service that will sweep past traffic congestion" when it opened last December. It will remain closed until Monday as workmen grind away bumps on the concrete track.
The work was ordered after a routine maintenance inspection revealed wear and tear on parts of the track, causing a few bumps for passengers.
The Fastlink bus service uses a system also employed in cities such as Leeds, Adelaide and Essen in Germany. Similar problems have been identified in these schemes.
A council spokesman said the local authority had always been aware this kind of work might be necessary in the first year. He stressed that the repair work is covered in the terms of the original construction contract and will not cost the council any extra cash.
The buses have specially adapted wheels, which fit snugly between rails on either side of the bus lane so they can slip on to the guided busway, running between Hermiston Gait and Stenhouse Road, avoiding traffic jams on the adjoining roads.
The service was expected to slash up to 15 minutes from journey times between the city centre and Edinburgh Park.
But it has not been without its problems. A disastrous trial run saw VIP guests, including Transport Secretary Alistair Darling and his Scottish counterpart Nicol Stephen, as well as city transport leader Andrew Burns, continually bounced around in their seats.
After their bumpy ride, workmen for Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE), the council-owned company running the scheme, were dispatched to smooth out kinks in the tracks. This process, known as "grading", is the same as the work being carried out at the moment.
Keith Bell, secretary of Sighthill, Broomhouse and Parkhead Community Council, said: "While it hasn't caused any great delay to commuters, there is a general concern about exactly why the council need to carry out maintenance work when the busway is barely seven months old.
"If they knew this could be a problem, why wasn't anything done to avoid it before the busway opened?
"People will worry that the busway will need to be closed for maintenance every six months, and they will want to know what the cost of that could be."
A council spokesman said: "This work was identified by routine maintenance and, as far as I'm aware, we've not had any complaints about the quality of the ride. We need to smooth out certain sections of the track, mostly on some corners, where wear and tear have made it quite rough, which leads to a bumpy ride.
"This is about improving the quality of service we are offering to passengers in Edinburgh.
"From examining other schemes, it was clear that if we had to do this, it would be in the early part of the Fastlink programme, and it is unlikely this kind of work will be needed again."
The full article contains 562 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
