The Cambridge Gutterway
This letter to the local paper talks about the green credentials of the Cambridge Busway. In fact the writer is not very impressed, but as he is the chairman of CAST.IRON, which is a group that campaigns for a real rail service on the route, this is probably to be expected. On the other hand, it certainly looks like that group may well have been right on a lot of things, including costs.
But what I like is his use of the term “gutterway” for the busway. After all it’s effectively a long concrete channel, that has generated large amounts of cardon dioxide and absorbed lots and lots of money.
Only on the Cambridge Busway
The news today just adds to the shambles of the Cambridge Busway.
How can you trust an organisation that can’t spell only?
Cambridge Busway – The Real Winners
It is starting to be obvious, who are going to be the real winners from the Cambridge Busway – The lawyers! This article in the Cambridge Evening News opens with the following.
A major court battle is looming over the cost of Cambridgeshire’s guided bus project after contractors claimed it could cost millions more to build than originally budgeted.
Cambridgeshire County Council and the builders have been at loggerheads over the guided bus contract for years.
When they say major battle, that will probably be true as the busway was budgeted to cost £118.2 million and the contractors say it will cost upwards of £30 million more.
The lawyers are going to love this one.
I’m also glad I don’t live in Cambridgeshire, as I suspect the council taxpayers of that county will be footing the bill in the end.
Can this be one of the reasons why the busway was built? If it had been heavy rail, then the excess costs would have fallen on Network Rail, which would actually mean the government. Here Cambridgeshire get that toxic parcel!
And there is still no opening date for the busway.
Dangers of the Busway
This was the heading on a letter in the Cambridge Evening News.
The last two paragraphs are repeated here.
The track was being well used by walkers, joggers, cyclists, fishermen, bird-watchers and horse-riders.
Many of them, including children and a couple of cows which had escaped from the neighbouring field, were on the bus lane. As it seems to be de rigueur to be plugged into an iPod and oblivious to external sounds, I wonder how long it will be before we have an accident on it?
I hope the writer is wrong.
Oxford
I went to Oxford today to play real tennis for Cambridge University Real Tennis Club against the old enemy.
I’m afraid that the captions aren’t up to the usual standards, as I don’t know Oxford very well.
I did win the tennis though!
Someone is Using the Cambridge Busway
Busway stories seem to be like buses; you wait ages for one and then another comes straight after it.
So here’s one about free runners using the busway.
Cambridge Busway Builders Take a Break
It’s late and now it’s going to be two weeks later as now the builders of the Cambridge Busway are taking a two week break over Christmas!
The Hats are Still There
I went into Cambridge this afternoon and the hats I mentioned earlier are still there.
So I took some pictures of Kings College Chapel and Senate House.
Note that the hats are quite small, so enlarge the pictures to see them on the four spires.
Students will be Students
When I was at Liverpool University, I had a friend on my course called Alvin John Slasser, who was known as Shaun. He was an experienced climber and climbed everything in site, including the giant crane that was being used to build the Catholic Cathedral.
So when I heard on the news this morning that students had put Santa hats on Kings College chapel I was amused. It was just students following the tradition of Shaun and others. It would appear though that the college authorities are not amused.
The article in the Telegraph also notes this student prank.
In 1958 a group of Cambridge engineering students hoisted an Austin Seven onto the roof of the Senate House at night and left it balancing there.
A few years after this happened, I remember them showing how they did this on the legendary Tonight program with Cliff Michelmore. On the previous night they’d hoisted beams to make a crane and then the car with its back axle removed was lifted, followed by the axle.
I sometimes wonder what happened to the students who did that stunt.
I got a lot of that wrong, when I originally wrote it. The full tale is here.
Sadly, Shaun, my friend at Liverpool University died when abseiling down a rock face in Snowdonia.
Life can be cruel.
The Busway Slips to the New Year?
There is a video on this article, where it would appear that the long delayed busway will start services in the New Year.
They should have used some of my software to get it right.
The Anonymous Widower 