Cambridge Guided Busway
It’s not long now before the Cambridge Guided Busway comes into operation. It will be the longest guided busway in the world and will have six services an hour between Huntingdon and Cambridge.
Cambridge Guided Busway
I took this picture where the busway goes under the A14. Note the track at the side, which will be a cycleway.
The cycleway will definitely be a success, but can that be said for the busway. After all, when it was planned, it was thought that there would be a lot more housing on the route to generate revenue, but the recession has put that into touch. So will it be a financial disaster.
But overall, I think that the busway is typical of lets-get-something-cheaper British thinking.
As an example, if you want to go to Manchester on a train from Cambridge, the route meanders through Ely and March, when the disused Huntingdon-Cambridge railway line used for the busway could have been reinstated to provide both short and long distance travel from and to Cambridge. One could argue, that this was one of the lines that should never have been removed in the first place.
I wish the busway well, but I have a feeling it could be a rather expensive and underused white elephant.
The Anonymous Widower 
Fair comment. Although I very much doubt that the busway is cheaper than rail reinstatement.
During periods of congestion, the busway is entirely dependent on the conventional roads into the City Centre so schedules will be similat to existing buses.
Come to think of it, I do not wish this particular busway well. That might lead to threats to other rail services.
Comment by Brynley | July 26, 2009 |
I don’t think it will threaten other rail services. A lot of busways seem to have failed. One thing this recession will do is suggest to people that they are better working at home. I’ve done that since 1972 and it’s not done me any harm.
Hearing local girl Victoria Pendleton on the radio this morning, I suspect that if they build the cycleway it would make a great and safe training track! I’ll certainly be trying it out on my bike, by parking at the Cambridge Park and Ride by the Science Park.
Comment by AnonW | July 26, 2009 |
From reading the original scope of work the track at the side is for maintenance. I am sure if it was a cycle track, health and safety would require a fence?
Comment by Ben Oldfield | August 27, 2009 |
No! I read somewhere that it will be a cycle track.
http://www.transportbriefing.co.uk/portfolio/project?id=40
If it ever gets finished that is!
Comment by AnonW | August 27, 2009 |
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I beleive that the over-run of costs beyond the original budget ( and I repeat, the over-run on its own ) has now
risen to a sum that would have allowed the upgrading of the then existing track, at least to a standard to provide a diesel rail-car commuter service into Cambridge Main Line station, likely terminating in the north end bay. I accept that a replacement bridge would have been needed over the Ouse, and that would have been an additional cost. but then haven’t the bus way done this anyway? One could maybe then have had direct services to London – as once was the case. The busway is a very bad mistake, and a vastly expensive one at that. Driven by people with bus industry interests in the D of T. Just watch and see where they get jobs when they leave that Department!
Comment by j stafford baker | October 26, 2009 |
Fair comment. I really have no experience of running or planning buses, but the whole project seems to have quite a whiff about it. There is just not enough joined-up thinking!
If they had done a proper rail-link and it could have joined up with the East Coast Main Line at Huntingdon, then it would have been really worthwhile. The only trouble with that would have been that car parking at Cambridge Station would have been more inadequate. Perhaps it should have incorporated a station at Addenbrooke’s and another at the Science Park.
Comment by AnonW | October 26, 2009 |
Rail proponents seem to have forgotten that the rail line was only single track, and there was not enough land to upgrade it to a double track.
I’m not sure how useful a single track line would have been.
The busway may be one of those things which everyone hates when it is built, but then ends up being a success (like the Sydney Opera House). Or maybe it won;t, but best to wait and see before condemning.
Comment by Steve | November 2, 2009 |
It probably wouldn’t need to be double track all of the way. After all Ipswich-Felixstowe and Ipswich-Lowestoft are mainly single track and carry quite a bit of traffic.
Like you I hope it works, but so much of the detailed planning of the busway seems to have been muddled, that it may not get a good enough start to overcome the problems caused by the recession.
The biggest fiasco is the ticketing. Cambridge park-and-ride works because the buses are frequent. Here, because of the two independent services, effectively you will have to wait too long for the bus you require.
Comment by AnonW | November 2, 2009 |
I don’t care that much about the guided busway. Especially as they’ve dropped the Milton road stop, but the cycleway is very important to us- we live in Chesterton and all three of my children go to school on their bikes in Histon. I worry about them on the Kings Hedges Road/ Histon Road and A14 roundabout especially as it’s getting darker now. The cycleway will be completely safe; away from traffic, and more direct.
Does anyone know when it will be completed and what sort of lighting they will have along it?
How will they police people on motorbikes, and if an accident happens, say a broken leg for instance, how will the emergency services get to them?
Comment by Penny | November 5, 2009 |
Perhaps they’ll have guided police cars and ambulances!
Seriously though, I suspect they’ve thought of accidents. But surely the cycleway should be adequately lit or well-marked. The cycleway probably also doubles as the emergency track.
Comment by AnonW | November 5, 2009 |
Actually, I phoned the County Council up yesterday and asked them directly. The cycleway is primarily for emergency vehicles so they can cope with that. It’s lucky as there will be no lighting along the route except at the bus stops, so accidents are bound to occur as cyclists pelt along in opposite directions in the pitch dark with no lights on!
Comment by Penny | November 6, 2009 |
It’s funny, I’m in Holland today, where everybody uses bikes a lot. But they are very strict about lights and give even the kids on-the-spot fines. On the other hand no-one wears a helmet on a bike.
I don’t do that either, as when I learned to ride they didn’t exist. I’m also a bit deaf and need every bit of hearing and visibility I can get.
Comment by AnonW | November 7, 2009 |
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It looks to me from some of the photographs that extra land has been taken presumably borne out by the reports of Land Tribunals taking up to two more years to settles disputes over compensation, which means the final cost wont be known until then. A big fault to me is the lack of through running to Addenbrookes Hospital. I did see some of the old line before it was lifted and I believe passing loops could have been put in. Currently groups are working to re-establish a Oxford to Cambridge service and currently working to have passenger services on the complete stretch between Oxford and Bedford. An obvious possibility would have been to reinstate the line to Sandy and onto Cambridge via Huntingdon to Cambridge line which could link with Stansted Airport which will expand considerably providing many jobs etc. I also agree with the concerns over the cycleway, I am sure it wont be just pedal bikes using it
Comment by R Morris | November 20, 2009 |
My apologies, I didnt realise I had written so much
Comment by R Morris | November 20, 2009 |
You didn’t write too much at all. The more the merrier, when it’s constructive.
What you say shows the lack of joined up thinking about public transport. I agree very much with an Oxford-Cambridge line and this could give all sorts of benefits. Especially, if it was coupled with a proper service to Ipswich from Cambridge.
The current Ipswich-Cambridge service is very poor with clapped out trains and I doubt we’ll see any improvements. I think it is true to say that the line from Newmarket into Cambridge would probably need some serious work, as you often get delayed waiting for a platform in Cambridge.
Wouldn’t to, a decent rail infrastructure round Cambridge be capable of getting a proportion of the container traffic off the A14? After all they are improving Ipswich-Felixstowe for the same reason and rail traffic from the port is increasing. So will it get through/round Cambridge with ease?
Governments love simple bold solutions that they can shout about. Often though small amounts of well-thought out infrastructure can give the same benefits for a lot less money.
As an example of this, I drive north on the A1 a few times a year. A dramatic improvement in journey times has been brought about by just removing the roundabouts. Others were calling for a complete new motorway to replace the road.
We must think what we are doing, a hell of a lot more.
Comment by AnonW | November 20, 2009 |