The Cambridge Busway at Cambridge Station
I went to Cambridge on my way to football at Ipswich yesterday. The infamous Cambridge Busway is now open.
As you can see from the pictures, there would appear to be a lot of work to do, to make the walking experience between the trains and the buses a lot easier.
Cambridge Busway Gets Smart
From the day it opens, the Cambridge Busway will have its own smartcard.
It was inevitable, as having two separate operators with their own systems was idiotic, as I pointed out months ago.
Let’s hope Cambridge integrates the busway into the new universal ticketing proposed by the banks.
Kitler Finds a New Home
Enough said!
New Platforms at Cambridge
I said in an earlier post, that I will use the Tottenham Hale route more to get to Cambridge, as it is only slightly slower and the trains are better and have wi-fi.
I think though I’ll give myself a bit of time for journeys, as new platforms are under construction at Cambridge and I was delayed slightly getting into the station.
New Platforms at Cambridge
Hopefiully, when the platforms are completed before the end of the year, it will make things a lot easier. Although, there are rumours that the lifts to get to the two new platforms won’t take bikes, so getting across might not be the smooth up and down it should be.
Cambridge Busway to Open on August 7th
It would appear from this article, that an opening date has been set.
I’ll believe it when it opens!
What Should We Call the Cycle Path by the Cambridge Busway?
It would appear that the long-suffering cyclists of Cambridge, have decided to give a name to the cycle path by the much delayed Cambridge Busway.
Help them choose in this poll.
As this is a very serious matter, those that spoil their papers will be banned from using the cycle way.
Cambridge Busway Handed Over?
Well possibly according to this report. But anyway there is some progress and it is hoping that the ill-fated project will open in August.
Mackays Make the First Brass Headed Coach Screw
I did try to make one myself, but I didn’t have a strong enough die to cut the thread after I’d taken the head off the coach screw. So I took the screw and nut to Mackays in Cambridge, when I visited the city on Tuesday.
They are basically a very good tool shop, but they also have a small engineering workshop out the back.
This is what they created for me in a few minutes.
Brass Dome-Headed Coach Screw
Unfortunately, they didn’t have any of the unobtainable oversized washers.
But it installed perfectly to screw the staircase to the wall.
The Installed Coach Screw
Note the old brass-painted one at the left. I’ll now be ordering another two.
There is Still No Busway
This bus in Cambridge makes a haunting plea!
Wot No Busway!
The Cambridge Busway still shows no sign of being opened.
Some estimates have put the opening as far away as 2047. What a way to celebrate my hundredth birthday!
Surprising Barnsley
Some of the places I’ve visited on my travels like Scunthorpe and Middlesbrough could not be described as places that make the most of what they’ve got.
What I would find, as I went north on my train from St. Pancras, I did not know.
I actually travelled north with three young Millwall supporters, who were supporting their team at Sheffield. When I said, that I’d had a stroke, one of them said his brother had too. At just 16 too! So we can’t all be too careful, can we?
But the Interchange station at Barnsley was a surprise.
Barnsley Interchange
Very often, stations are badly designed and in the wrong place in the town, with poor interchanges to other modes of transport.
Cambridge is a classic example, in that it’s some way from the city centre, the buses to get aren’t obvious and also for the amount of trains that call at it, it isn’t big enough. I suspect too, that the ill-fated busway will have a terrible interchange, when surely one of the reasons for the busway, should have been to get passengers to the trains. But trains and buses operate under different budgets and compete with each other, when they should be complimentary.
There is no such problem in Barnsley in that the station lies alongside the town centre and contains not only the train station, but the bus station as well. The football ground, Oakwell, is a ten minute walk the other way.
Barnsley Signs
Signage, as so often could be better and more numerous, but then it’s difficult to miss Oakwell. But at least in Barnsley the signage is there, which can’t be said for Edinburgh, which is supposed to be a tourist destination.
You actually walk up a hill to the ground and then approach it downhill, through what is a grassed car park.
Walking Down to Oakwell
In some ways the approach is more like one you find at small non-league stadia, rather than one that incoprates 23,000 spectators.
The football was a bit disappointing in that Ipswich gave away a winning lead in the last minute.
But all-in-all, it was a good day out! I felt especially good as I walked up the hill towards the station without a hint of being out of breath. Perhaps it was the sun, that we’d enjoyed all day.
The Anonymous Widower 