Cambridge Tries Its Hardest To Discourage Visitors
I changed trains in Cambridge yesterday and as it was a convenient time for a meal, I took the opportunity to go into the centre to have a late lunch in Carluccio’s.
Every time I go to the city, these days, it would appear that the bus stop layout is different and further from the main entrance to the station. And there’s no simple information, which has a map of the various stops and go to bus stop X for the city centre.
The first stop you come to, tells you all about the Cambridge Busway, but I know that the bus-way at the station goes to Addenbrooke’s and not the city centre.
After waiting at the wrong stop for a couple of minutes, only to see a couple of buses I could have taken, go past. So I waited ten minutes, when if there had been proper information, I’d have waited one.
When a bus did arrive, it was the usual scrum at the single door used for all entrance and exit. Visitors from London, who use the capital’s buses must really fume at the slowness. It’s even worse for people like me with a Freedom Pass, as you must take it out of your London folder to put it flat on the reader on the bus. Surely, we could have a touch and enter system based on Oyster technology all over the country now, as it’s been working in London for several years.
I knew where I was going, but I didn’t know exactly where the stop I needed was. I guessed wrong, as Cambridge buses don’t display the stop names or announce them as all sensible buses do. It must be a nightmare if you’re blind!
Coming back it was a repeat of the process; guess the stop, ask the driver, fight your way through the scrum and then walk farther than you used, to get to the train station.
It really is rather Kafkaesque and how much does it cost the city in lost visitors?
I suppose the only beneficiaries are the taxi-drivers, as those probably get a lot more business.
When Are The Hackney Eight Going To Be Reinforced?
The latest news, as reported here, that London bus routes 9 and 390 are the two next routes to be taken over by New Buses for London is good news for some. The trendy areas beloved of the chattering classes, like Notting Hill, Hammersmith and Archway, will now be targeted by the Boris buses.
But as East London is one of the areas of London with the highest level of bus use, isn’t it about time, that another route in the East was converted, or the much-loved Hackney Eight were reinforced?
At least though LT7 is back on the day job after it’s few days as a television star on Top Gear.
And what about my friends in South London, who have no routes, either converted or scheduled to be so?
One Of The Hackney Eight Appears On Top Gear
The seventh New Bus for London,LT7 has appeared on Top Gear tonight, driven by James May.
This link points to a picture of the actual bus, waiting at Victoria.
This is probably the only time, I’ve ever sat in an actual vehicle featured on television.
You Don’t Get Behaviour Like This On The Dalston Omnibus!
This tragic tale from Biggleswade, shows what you get when you mix two men of my age, shopping and an argument over parking.
You certainly don’t get any behaviour like this on the Dalston omnibus to or from Waitrose at the Angel. The most outrageous behaviour I saw, was a guy laughing at two ladies sitting beside each other who were probably about fifty years old; one black and one white, who’d both hurt a leg and their hospitals had furnished them each with one crutch. Everybody saw the funny side! Especially the ladies!
I do wonder sometimes, why people bother with driving. I miss it like a hole in the head!
I’ve actually never been to Asda and if you get killed in their car parks, I doubt I will now!
An Attempt To Find The New Olympic Park
On Monday, I attempted to find the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which the BBC announced had opened.
After a very unwelcoming walk from Eastfield, I found the entrance and it was crawling in security, who said it opened later.
Information and maps were also a bit lacking about the buses, but eventually I got a 588 to Hackney Wick, from where I got a 30 home.
London’s Hydrogen Buses
London has a few hydrogen-powered buses that run on route RV1 from Tower Gateway to Covent Garden via the South Bank of the Thanes.
I used this route to get back to North of the Thames, so I could get home, after visiting the Tate Modern.
There’s more about the technology between these hydrogen buses here. The buses would appear to be powered by fuel cells from Canadian company, Ballard, running on a Volvo chassis with a body by Wrightbus from Northern Ireland. There’s a lot of independent hybrid vigour there to go with the conservative bit from Volvo.
Children Should Go Free On The Buses
This story from the BBC says that the Liberal Democrats want all children to go free on the buses.
Not having been a child for many years and having no contact with any now, I thought that as in London, all children do go free.
But they don’t!
I think it will be a good idea, especially as reports in London recently have shown that this policy has cut the number of children getting injured on the roads.
It is interesting that the BBC illustrates their story with one of the Hackney Eight.
Are The New Bus for London’s Overheating Problems Fixed?
According to this article in the Standard, Sir Peter Hendy says that the overheating problems on the New Bus for London are fixed.
But don’t just take his word for it.
Today I went with a friend from Trafalgar Square to Warren Street on one of the new buses on Route 24.
It was very pleasant despite it being a very hot day.
I do have a slight reservation about route 24, in that, when the Hackney 8 on route 38 were running double-crewed, the atmosphere did sometimes catch a bit of a party mood. But probably, that’s because Hackney is the East End with all its bustle and humour and Hampstead is a lot more posh and sedate. I’ve even been chatted up by a widow some years older than me on a 38! That certainly wouldn’t happen on a 24!
An Accident On A Bus
I’ve travelled on public transport for something like sixty years and I’d never been involved in any accident until yesterday.
I was on a 6 bus, coming back from the Truscott Arms, when it got hit by a skip lorry.
Does this show that public transport is actually rather safe, as one non-injury accident in sixty years doesn’t seem bad odds.
I Didn’t Think They Used Buses In Hampstead
You can easily make the assumption, that those upmarket people in Hampstead don’t use buses, as why would they travel with their inferiors, when you can drive or use a taxi. So this story from the Ham and High is very surprising. The headline in the paper says it all.
C11 bus driver asks passenger ‘Where’s Hampstead?
For those unfamiliar with the C11, it’s one of a series of single deck buses that meander all over London boroughs to provide local transport and fill-in for the Underground and the major bus routes. They’re almost like rural buses in Central London.
The Anonymous Widower 