Is the Cambridge Busway Britain’s Worst Transport Project?
It may not be Britain’s as the Edinburgh Tram will take a lot of beating. But it is certainly England’s, especially if you read this report in the Hunts Post.
Here’s a flavour of the report.
Building the St Ives-Cambridge guided busway is now expected to cost nearly two-thirds more than the target price – an overrun of well over £50million.
Cambridgeshire County Council, which is promoting the scheme, expects construction to have cost £142m.
When the cost of land, the county council’s own costs and those of its engineering consultants Atkins are added, the total cost of the project looks set to reach £170m before the High Court decides who pays the final bills.
When originally proposed in the early 2000s, the scheme was costed at £56m. After a few modifications, a lengthy public inquiry and Government approval, the bill had risen to £116.7m. The Government promised to chip in £92.5m, with the balance coming from developers who would benefit from the project.
As with many of these fiascos, it’ll be the lawyers who make the real money.
The Sting in the Tail
There always is, isn’t there!
I’d decided that the best way to get home from the hospital, would be to take a bus to Haverhill and then take a taxi.
As I left the hospital the 13 bus was there, so I ran to get on it. I may have had a stroke, but I can still run ande walk a few hundred metres or so.
I assumed that the bus would go straight to Haverhill Bus Station, as the previous one had done a couple of weeks ago. But this one did an unguided tour of all the delightful estates and I ended up being dumped in a place I did not recognise. It hadn’t helped that because of the rain I couldn’t see out of the bus in the dark.
So it was a long walk to the Bus Station and then I couldn’t get a taxi without half-an-hour’s wait.
So something that should have been easy, made me late!
I get more fed up with the countryside every day.
Cambridge Bus Chaos
After lunch I had to virtually walk halfway to Addenbrooke’s as Cambridge city centre is all dug up and the buses have been diverted. I was nearly at the station before I found one going to the hospital.
Let’s hope it all gets better when and if the Busway opens!
The Last of the Bendy Buses
I’ve only travelled on a bendy bus once in London.
Route 29 Bendy Bus
As a passenger I don’t like single decker buses, as wherever you sit, you usually find that there is a lot of junk on the floor like cases, buggies and children. So when your eyesight like mine isn’t 100%, it’s better to get out of the way on a double-decker and only come down, when you want to get off.
So I sometimes wonder why Ken introduced these buses, if passengers don’t like them.
I’ve heard two theories.
In the first, the length is ideal for blocking junctions and slowing motorists.
And in the second, because they have multiple entrances, it means that a lot of revenue is not collected and that helps with reducing the cost of public transport to the general public.
I don’t know enough to judge why these buses were introduced. I don’t think many except fare dodgers are mourning their passing. As I took the picture, several people did get on the bus through the wrong door.
There’s a detailed article on the BBC about their problems.
Incidentally, I used to use the route 29 to get to school and sometimes to my father’s print works in Wood Green. But those buses were good old-fastioned RT‘s.
Stagecoach’s View on the Cambridge Busway
I took this picture yesterday.
Will I be on the busway soon?
A Slow Bus from Cambridge to Ipswich
After the film, I did a bit of window shopping in Cambridge and then had lunch in Carluccio’s before catching the four o’clock bus to Haverhill, where I was going to get the coach at six o’clock to Ipswich for the football.
The weather was atrocious and it was almost pleasant to be at the front on the top of a warm 13 bus, as it meandered its way through the villages to Haverhill. At least, I had a little shelf in front of me, which allowed me to do the Sudoku.
Haverhill though is not the place to spend an hour at five ‘oclock on a very wet Tuesday afternoon. There was no cafe open and the one or two pubs that were looked very much like the places I would only visit in direst need. The rain looked friendlier! I walked up to Tesco’s as I needed a banana and a juice with which to take my Warfarin. They did have single bananas, but I couldn’t find any small drinks of juice or smoothies. As everything was in litre bottles or larger, I decided that it would be better to try elsewhere. I got what I wanted in the Co-op. But they didn’t have a gluten-free section, so my thought of buying a packet of suitable biscuits went out the window. Tesco’s did have a gluten-free section, but it was rather poor, with no nice biscuits. I did ask in the Co-op about gluten-free and they said it had been successful, so they stopped it.
So supper consisted of some sandwiches, I’d made before I left, some chocolate, a smoothie, a banana and a 5mg. Warfarin tablet.
The coach from Haverhill to Ipswich was probably the fastest part of the journey as the weather seemed to have kept the crowd very much below what I would have expected.
The Cambridge Busway Approaches the Station
As I retirned to the station on the top deck of the bus, I was able to get a good view of the busway as it approached the station from the south, alongside the railway lines to London.
Cambridge Busway to the South of the Station
If it ever gets finished it will make getting to Addenbrooke’s from the station a lot easier.
But then they have to finish the bridge, which should have been completed months ago.
More Delays for the Busway
The sign says that there will be delays until well into the New Year!
It’s not just the quality of the planning on this important project that worries me, it’s the attention to detail in the design and the defects that seem to keep arising. As I said before this project was designed for the lawyers.
Over the Sea From Skye
The bus took a more or less direct route between Kyle of Lochalsh to Arnadale with a small detour to Broadford to put down and pick up passengers.
It was my first time on Skye since about 1972. Then we had all come, with our three boys crammed in the back of our 1969 Porsche 911T. Strangely the car still exists and is in New Zealand. But a picture of the car is the only one of the holiday.
Porsche 911T on Skye
That Porsche 911T was the first performance car we had and we acquired it for £1650 courtesy of a loan from my favourite bank manager, David.
I remember for that holiday we left early in the morning from the Barbican and first stop was Gretna Green at about 7:30 in the morning. So when people say I push myself, it’s nothing new in my book.
We stayed somewhere north of Portree and I remember that we were greeted on the doorstep by a dead sheep. It was nothing against holiday homes or anything sinister, but just an inconvenient expiry. In the end we got the Police, who found who owned it and it was quietly disposed of.
I also remember we hurried off the island and I can still remember hurtling up Glencoe towards Glasgow, which we achieved at an average speed of about 80 mph. Or that’s what I claimed at the time! But it was certainly fast on an almost empty road.
The detour to Broadford reminded me that in 1975, the village had an airstrip. C said that next time we came we’d fly! I doubt I will and she sadly can’t!
I went straight to Arnadale and immediately got the ferry to Mallaig.
Arnadale to Mallaig Ferry
Bad Driving
There has been a lot of reports about the reasons why people drive badly today. Various solutions are being proposed including restrictions on young drivers.
I have driven for many years, but don’t now and I may never do again. But I’m happy to use buses and trains, with lifts to the nearest station.
I sometimes think that the reason we have a lot of bad driving is because people are pressured to use their cars, by lifestyle, family or jobs.
Let’s look at some categories, who get blamed for bad driving and accidents.
- Young drivers often have no other means, except a battered car to get to work or have a night out. It will be interesting to see if things like the new East London Line and the extensions to the Manchester Tram, actually cut accidents involving young drivers, as they take quality public transport instead.
- Elderly drivers who won’t give up their car, as they need it for the shops etc. You see quite a few round here, who should not drive. But there is no alternative.
- Company car drivers, who feel pressured to use the car, rather than perhaps take the train. How many companies refuse train expenses to people with company cars?
- And what about wives who are pressured to drive their husbands after a good meal out!
I have recently seen a change in that some people I know have swapped their cars for trains on longer journeys.
This needs to be encouraged, by more comfortable trains, better stations, more parking at stations, better connections and perks like free WiFi. I know of one person, who now commutes to his office in the nearest big city by bus because of the WiFi.
One thing that is accelerating change to rail and bus is Railcards and passes, as I found on my trip to Great Yarmouth.
By Coach to the Football at Ipswich
Tuesday’s match against QPR is best forgotten and I did think about abandoning my trip to see Ipswich host Cardiff today. But in the end I took the Supporter’s Club coach from Haverhill. And very comfortable and sociable it was too!
The only problem was crossing to Tesco’s in Haverhill after being dropped at the bus station, so that I could get my supper. You just had to brave the traffic as the crossing was in the wrong place. But then supermarkets aren’t designed to be accessed on foot, as the average person can’t carry much!
But I did come quickly in a taxi!
The Anonymous Widower 