Cambridge Guided Busway - ongoing discussion and updates

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Fewer busway passengers after speed limit lowered

[Image from here is not available to guests]

Fewer passengers have been using a guided busway since speed limits were lowered as part of a raft of new safety measures.

The limit on Cambridgeshire's network - where three people have died - was reduced to a blanket 30mph (48km/h) in October while permanent fencing works were carried out.

Meeting documents sent to Cambridgeshire County Council's highways and transport committee stated passenger numbers were "down due to the increased journey time".

While bus companies Stagecoach and Whippet said they were "supportive" of the fencing works, they "expressed concern over the longer-term impact of the current works," the papers added.

The guided busway takes a modified bus along a dedicated track - in some sections previously up to a speed of 56mph (90km/h) - and serves Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon.

Jennifer Taylor, Steve Moir and Kathleen Pitts were killed in collisions on the Cambridgeshire Busway between 2015 and 2021.

The county council was fined £6m earlier this year after the deaths, and a judge criticised the authority for its "rigid and blinkered response" to the fatalities.

In meeting documents, the authority said speed monitoring was currently underway, and on-bus equipment also governed speed. "The increased journey times can have an impact on the attractiveness of busway services and have resulted in operational difficulties for the bus companies," it continued.

David Boden, commercial director of Stagecoach East, said: "We are fully supportive of works to ensure safety, but, in delivering these works, every effort needs to be made to minimise as far as possible the impact on busway customers. At our most recent data, we are down 6.8% year-on-year on Busway A customers and 8.6% on Busway B customers. This is a result of the significantly increased journey times caused by the works. This increase in journey time, of between 40 and 50 minutes, has seen us introduce three extra buses, and our team put in huge efforts, to try and offer a guaranteed frequency where we can, and also to ensure that Trumpington Park & Ride to the Biomedical Campus has sufficient buses."

He apologised for the impact on customers and said it was working with stakeholders to ensure the works were delivered as quickly as possible. He also asked other infrastructure providers to think about the scheduling of their work while the fencing was being installed.

The Tiger T1 service run by Whippet, which takes passengers from Huntingdon to Cambridge, "has been able to largely maintain the previous journey frequencies", but passenger numbers were down, council documents said. "However, both companies are supportive of the fencing works and welcome the safety benefit it will bring."

Whippet has been contacted for further comment.

[eightonedee]

Here's an idea - why not convert it to a railway line    >

[grahame]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Fewer busway passengers after speed limit lowered

But surely if the speed limit is lowered, journeys take longer and the number of passengers on the busway at any one time will be maintained?

Here's an idea - why not convert it to a railway line    >

It took Sheffield from 1960 until 1994 to loose and regain their trams.   It took Galashiels from 1969 to 2015 to regain its trains.   St Ives (Cambs) station didn't close until 1970 ... it may be a few years yet. If the trains were to return to what is now the busway up to St Ives, a continuation to Huntingdon and the onwards towards Beford might solve several issues ... just sayin ... must hold on to that idea until 1st April 2026

[TonyK]

The old maxim applies - use it or loose it.

[grahame]

From https://www.route-one.net/news/cambourne-to-cambridge-guided-busway-gets-government-nod/

The government has given permission for a new guided busway route between Cambourne and Cambridge by making the necessary Transport and Works Act (TWA^▸ (Transport and Works Act 1992)) order, awarding legal authority to proceed with the scheme.

[grahame]

And from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

After years of uncertainty, permission has now been given to build a new busway between Cambourne and Cambridge.

Known locally as the C2C, it has been in the planning for more than a decade and has been the subject of a lot of opposition.

Opponents said the route over greenbelt land and through an orchard was the wrong route to choose. Supporters say it will provide a direct route to Cambridge for thousands of new homes being built in the area.

Cambridgeshire already has a guided busway between St Ives and Cambridge. A shorter one also links the main Cambridge rail station and the biomedical campus.

Oh look - a new standard incompatible with the old one?

The existing busway is constructed of concrete guideways which require special buses with side guide wheels. This means bus companies have to invest in the specialist vehicles and train their drivers to use them.

However, the Cambourne to Cambridge route will use different technology. It will look like a normal road but will use lane markings and sensors on buses to guide the vehicle. It will work much in the same way as the lane sensors in modern cars.

Private cars are prevented from accessing the existing busway with car traps, which prevent vehicles from travelling onto the guideway.

Details of how cars will be prevented from accessing the C2C busway will be decided during the detailed design stage. Whilst car traps remain an option, so do gates and ANPR cameras.

To some extent it's right that technologies move on and modern systems are used, but the fragmentation of vehicle and trackway standards is unfortunate.

[Mark A]

**snip**
Details of how cars will be prevented from accessing the C2C busway will be decided during the detailed design stage. Whilst car traps remain an option, so do gates and ANPR cameras.

Bus-only roads are hardly exotic and standard road signage covers this. Also, since it's a road, and the bus has a driver aboard...