Why Guided Bus?
Go to the Guided Bus page in Wikipedia and there is a list of guided bus systems around the world.
There aren’t many and what you notice is that about half have been discontinued; Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Mannheim for a start. So why were these systems discontinued? You can’t be sure, but some were short distance systems to get round bottlenecks, but probably they just didn’t get the ridership they needed, that justified the system.
So why is the government pushing guided bus?
I don’t know.
If we take the Cambridge system, it is now so over budget and late that no matter what happens, it will not be a financial success. It is a classic project that really has failed because of poor specification and bad project management. I would love to have one of my Artemis mates look at all the details. Big George would have a field day. But then so did Atkins.
Perhaps with hindsight, we should have designed a completely different system.
Cambridge’s biggest transport problem for those like me, who live outside the city is Addenbrooke’s Hospital. I have gone a lot recently and although the multi-story car park usually has spaces, it is expensive. But how else can you provide space for everyone who works there and has to visit?
However, the railway passes to the rear of the hospital on land that will eventually be developed as a large medical campus to compliment one of the best hospitals in the world. So why haven’t they for a start created a proper transport interchange there with a new Addenbrooke’s station and lots of parking for the hospital, park and ride to the city and those that want to catch the train.
Note that, it is virtually impossible for people like me to catch the train to London from Cambridge as car parking is bad in the city. So I usually drive to London. That is bad for all sorts of reasons. Remember too, that with the completion of the Hitchin flyover and other measures capacity on the Cambridge London line will be increased.
I have also been an advocate of another station at Chestert0n Sidings to serve the Science Park and the north of Cambridge. The two stations should probably be linked by a tram, or dare I say it a guided bus, going through the city. The trouble is that fitting it through would be difficult unless it ran with all the other traffic. But it has been done successfully in other cities all over the world. On the other hand if a tram run through the city every five to eight minutes from large car parks how many people would still want to take cars into the city?
But it won’t be done! Certainly not now!
Blunt from Bluntisham
I don’t normally print articles in full from other publications, but this one from Fred King in the Hunts Post deserves to shown almost in full.
Maths was never my strongest subject but I do know what two plus two equals, and judging by the figures for the Guided Bus that have been banded about by Cambridgeshire County Council finance officers, I have my doubts that they do.
The original estimate for the Busway was £116million, £92m from the Government and £24m from the developers of Northstowe (don’t hold your breath as no houses have been built yet).
There is an overspend – all parties agree on this – and the council is set to borrow £40m this year to cover this. What was not widely published is that they will borrow a further £10m next year to pay the contractors, and I understand that the final bill for the Busway will be £161m. Bearing in mind that none of the predicted £24m from the developers has materialised that leaves £69m to recover.
I am not conversant in commercial law but it seems strange to me that a client pays a bill in full and then has to resort to legal action to recover part of that sum back from the contractor.
However robust the council thinks its contract is, I have my doubts.
Despite the council saying that the Busway will cost the ratepayer nothing it will be interesting to see how much the rates increase in the future.
The letter writer was from Bluntisham.
And the government is thinking of building some more of these busways. Surely, if they were that good, there would be busways everywhere.
The Busway Makes the BBC
At last, the row about the Cambridge Busway seems to be getting serious.
It’s made the BBC.
Standoff on the Cambridge Busway
Cambridgeshire County Council has now blamed the contractor for the delays to the Cambridge Busway according to this report. Independent inspector Atkins have also been called in.
Atkins points to several defects which must be fixed before the busway is handed over. They include the St Ives Park and Ride site being built at the wrong gradient, the River Great Ouse viaduct leaking water and the maintenance track which runs alongside the busway being constantly flooded.
It would appear that the contractor disagrees.
I’m glad that this project is not needed for the London Olympics.
No Cambridge Busway but Council Pays
This would appear to perhaps not be the best news for the taxpayers of Cambridgeshire County Council, who seem to be paying for the busway.
Millions of pounds will be handed over to the team building the guided bus – and then council chiefs will claw the cash back.
Cambridgeshire County Council has borrowed £40 million in order to pay for the work up front.
But it insists taxpayers will not be a penny out of pocket on the £116 million bill originally agreed with contractors BAM Nuttall.
As I said in an earlier post, this is looking more and more like one for the lawyers.
But we still haven’t got an opening date for busway.
Will I Be On The Busway Soon?
This slogan is now displayed on all the new Stagecoach buses bough for the Cambridge Busway.
At least someone hasn’t lost their sense of humour.
www.cambridgebusway.co.uk
I have registered the domain name, www.cambridgebusway.co.uk, and have pointed it to all of the posts on the Cambridge Guided Busway.
I Hadn’t Missed Anything
I wondered a couple of days ago, if I’d missed anything on the Cambridge Guided Busway. Now in the Hunts Post there is a detailed article on the standoff between the council and the contractors.
Most of this concerns the viaduct at St. Ives and there are also concerns about flooding on the maintenance track. I had pictures of the latter on this blog in November in an article called, Paddling the Cambridge Busway.
I like the last sentence – The legal profession is licking its lips. I warned of this too in December.
No Date for the Guided Busway
Have I missed something?
It all seems exceptionally quiet on the busway front!
The Anonymous Widower 