A BUS route could be built alongside a stretch of Colchester’s railway.

A bus lane linking Colchester Town Station and Hythe Station is being assessed, a council report reveals.

Buses could also be prioritised, or given their own lanes, on busy routes, such as East Hill and Military Road, as part of congestion-busting plans.

A £1million bus-only extension of Recreation Road, which runs past the Old Heath Recreation Ground, to link up the Colne Causeway Roundabout is also recommended.

Colchester Council and Essex County Council have drawn up a feasibility study into public transport improvements that could reduce congestion in areas, including the Hythe and New Town.

Options considered in the East Colchester Rapid Transport Link study include more trains, replacing trains with buses, and running buses alongside the trains.

The report concludes running buses alongside trains would be the most favourable solution in the long-term.

Before that happens, the report says buses should be prioritised along Military Road, down Magdalen Street and Barrack Street, Hythe Station Road, and along East Hill and Greenstead Road.

In the medium-term, Recreation Road could be extended to link with the Colne Causeway roundabout to make a bus only link.

Anita Cleary, trustee at the Hythe Community Centre Association, said traffic in the Hythe is a problem. She said buses and trains needed to be cheaper and more reliable.

She continued: “It needs to be subsidised and it needs to be improved.

“They’re very expensive and they’re very unreliable, so people don’t trust them. They just want to drive.

“Colchester is a really old town, and we’ve got more and more people trying to get into it.”

The report reveals buses travelling on Hythe Hill, Barrack Street and East Hill average less than 12 mph, while car journeys are little better. Residents living in about 2,600 homes expected to be built in the east of Colchester over the next decade are predicted to make an extra 2,020 morning rush-hour journeys.

Father Richard Tillbrook, vicar of Old Heath and vice-chairman of the Old Heath Task Group, said: “We desperately need better public transport links from this end of Colchester into the town centre.

“Many of my parishioners use the bus and congestion on the roads makes it a long, slow journey.

“All I would say is local people, who would be using these links, should be properly consulted before any plans are decided upon.”

Funding would have to come from Essex County Council or Government sources.