The Cambridge guided busway

[mchunt]

They should have reinstated the railway instead of the busway but now its built the cycle track alongside the busway is a good example of the kind of track that should be built alongside all trunk roads and motorways. The only problem on the Trumpington - Cambridge Station section is the number of dog walkers yesterday which stopped me topping the Strava segment.

 

[potsy]

Interesting comment today in an article about the Leigh guided bus way that has just started to be built

“The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway has been successful way beyond expectations and I look forward to seeing the same success enjoyed here.”

Mmm, not sure they've been reading the threads on here

 

[fabregas485]

The main reason this is not used everywhere is so that if a bus breaks down, they can just drive past it on the road. In this case it will just block it up.

I do however like the thought of it :P

 

[ASC1951]

... Where is the logic in this [HS2]? Who wants to go to Birmingham very quickly anwyay? I think the trains heading London bound will be full and almost all those going toward Birmingham will be empty .

How could that be? After a six months London would be so full of one-way Brummies that it would explode.

 

[TheDoctor]

How could that be? After a six months London would be so full of one-way Brummies that it would explode.

Almost the dictionary definition of win-win!

 

[thom]

Forgive me if this has been covered before - I've heard a lot about this from various people on here, but earlier in the week I got to see it for myself, and I just didn't get the point of it. It seems to have cost a vast amount of money, and to have covered a huge amount of land with concrete, but my expectation that the buses would trundle up and down it driverless was sadly misguided (haha).

Cambridge probably needs more of such schemes - I've seen indices placing it as the best city in the UK in average economic & wellbeing terms, well placed for growth but doesn't have swathes of cheaper ex-manufacturing industry era housing. It's road infrastructure is just tricky to adapt to increasing volumes - if it finds a way to grow and accommodate more people in newer housing built on it's green spaces, there may well be a few more similar schemes of light-weight public transport infrastructure.

 

[thom]

You haven't really said what's so good about the guided busway though @thom. Why is this better than a normal road or lane in an existing road that is for buses only?

I know - this is the cafe and I was quite content to make a tangential post ;-)

To be honest I have not seen it but I imagine the sequestered route is quicker than a road because there is no interference from other traffic as well as due to the guided bus wheels. Quite possibly it is less expensive to maintain than a road as well - only buses can use it so wear and tear is reduced, the surface is not full tarmac as well. It also shows the commitment of the local council to make public transport work around Cambridge.
I see this as a potential alternative to a light railway but more flexible because the vehicles can slip round the narrow streets of Cambridge as well. Given it runs along an old railway route, I don't quite see how you would have augmented the existing road and made use of the structure.

I'm maybe a bit more up for schemes like this than you are though - infrastructure projects have important experimental value too.

Do you know feedback from users as to whether they like it ? I think the one person on this thread who is a user seems quite positive about it.

In terms of the train infrastructure, I think Cambridge will have a 2nd station soon, north of the current one, across the river on the way to Ely. That should make it a realistic possibility to commute to London from more bits of Cambridge and perhaps reduce central town traffic too.

 

[MisterStan]

I think I may be that user! I personally think that both aspects of the Busway work well - certainly see lots of cyclists using the track for both commuting and leisure.
The buses generally run to their timetable, at least from St Ives in to Cambridge, sometimes the return buses can get snarled up in traffic however. When all is running as it should be, the travel time from St Ives to Cambridge Science Park is 20 minutes, which is feasible on the roads, but unlikely. I had to use the bus this morning as i'm off to London - the single decker was pretty much full before leaving St Ives, and they are often that busy at peak times.

 

[2Loose]

As far as I remember, there is a 'new' (as in, new town) conurbation in the middle of nowhere not that far from Cambridge, is it called Bar Hill? I don't think the guided busway serves it though.

Cambourne. The busway doesn't service it, quite right.