Cambridge News, Thursday December 4th 2008.

Guided bus in 'critical' cash defecit ... - Front Cover

"Guided bus off the rails?" - The future of the guided bus hangs in the balance because of a 23.7 million credit crunch shortfall ... - Page 2

"Government must plug busway gap" ... - Opinion, page 6

It seems that developers who were planning to build extra houses to the North of Cambridge have pulled right back on their plans ... leaving the guided busway significantklyu short of funding they were supposed to provide, and perhaps leaving the busway as a route into Cambridge for buses from green fields where it was once hoped that houses would be built.

What a crying shame that the much cheaper "Cast Iron" rail option - which would have allowed for other tarnsport needs such as a passenger rail link into the Science Park and Business Park, and a service on all the way to St Ives - was abandoned in favour of an expensive busway that will be spewing its buses out onto the road in the outskirts of Cambridge so that the buses can help add to the congestion inwards from there to the city centre ...

It's, frankly, too late to re-instate the rails beyond the Science Park now. But there is still the opportunity to take whatever money remains in the coffers and do something sensible like extend the Liverpool Street to Cambridge train on to "Scince and Business Park" station. And ... if the government DID have the money to fund the gap ... to have the government spend it instead on something that's going to be more effective that providing a bus service to the green fields that were supposed to become Northstowe.

I'm posting this on the FGW forum as ... "there, but for the grace of God, go I" comparative reasons.  There are some busways planned in this area, and also some darned good railway schemes to enhance existing infrastructure and services that it could buy instead.  How about TransWilts, Portishead, and some of the extra stations that FOSBR are suggesting?

 
Sort of good news bad news story. Good news it's thit he buffers bad news so much money has already been spent and a rail line ruined.

Suggest our Bristol and Bath users waste no time in ensuring their relevant transport authorities are passed this info.

Now's the time to plug tram trains Portishead to Severn Beach with a circuit via the docks, town centre and BTM.

 
My view on guided bus routes whereever they are is that they are a very poor second to trains and/or trams.  This is a view that would appear to be shared by many posters on this forum.

Why then are the powers that be so keen on guided buses insted of trams/trains?  It is a genuine mystery to me?

A possible reasons might be cost - but guided buses are not cheap and are sometimes more expensive han the steel-wheel alternatives, so why are guides buses so popular with decison makers.  The only other reason I can think of is that guided busways are seen by councils as quick and simple whereas rail is seen as complicated.  It that is the case then the rail industry and its structure of franchising and regulation itself must be partly to blame for that perception. 

The Bath BRT plans are awful but I expect that someone (perhaps First Group?) has offered the scheme to the council as a complete package with a fixed (albeit expensive, but fixed and certain and therefore amenable to binding for money from central government) price tag. Lacking in imagination, the council has agreed to it.  Contrast this to the efforts to get more trains running to Severn Beach.  That project has been fraught with difficulties over pathing, sourcing stock, adjusting franchises
 terms etc.  I would not be surprised if the council is put off trying something similar just because of the hassle factor.

It is a sad fact that Councils seem to be more interested in buying off the shelf solutions than geting involved in complicated details , but if that is the way things are I do think that the rail industry needs to get better at offering packaged solutions to transport problems to Councils. 

This is just my musings.  Any thoughts on whether I might be right or other explanations for our infactuation with deisel buses?

 

The following are official reasons given ... only a guided bus gives

* Availability to "roam" away from the track
AND
* Ability to have vehicles in opposite directions pass each other at speed and with minimal clearance

I also heard an argument yesterday (in Cambridge, from one of the protagonists) that the guided busway promises a cycle track alongside which wouldn't have been possible (or wasn't proposed) with the rail equivalent as it would have had safety implications )"too dangerous".  Perhaps to do with stopping distances??

I do suspect, behind the headlines, that funding will be found to finish the system; I'm expecting to be working in Cambridge again next year, and it'll be interesting to see what happens ... whether it opens in the Spring, is delayed, or indeed gets crunched to a halt.

 
Thanks Grahame for passing on the official reasons, but I not sure that they make sense.

reason 1 is true but if most of the "roaming" happens in the city centres where there is congestion, I don't see it as an advantage.

reason 2 puzzles me.  I can see it as an advantage over non-guided buses (and perhaps a necessary one if routes are narrow ex-railways) but surely it is an advantage that applies to all guided systems including trams and trains

 
I think the reasons were <b>both</b> requirements of the scheme ... in other words, it vehicles have to both be able to pass each other very rapidly when they're on the central backbone, and yet be able to spread out widely at the ends of the route(s).   Rather like an uprooted tree  network - with a trunk along which the sap can travel quickly, yet lots of obscure leaves and root ends.

Mind you, you are correct to pick up on "OFFICIAL" reasons.  I've also heard it said that the reason for the guided trackway is more to avoid a future political decision to open the route as a conventional road too - to avoid them first adding access for long distance buses like National Express, then taxis, then disabled people's cars ... then have it turn into a toll road. It's very interesting to listen to the South Hampshire people about "guided v unguided" on the Gosport to Fareham project that has replaced the tram option now that the price of a tunnel under Portsmouth Harbour entrance has rocketed with the Navy wanting to deepen the channel.

 
I am against any trams/ bus routes on old rail lines.

e.g. The Midland Metro scuppered any hope for reopening the second route to Wolverhampton from B'ham Snow Hill.

Chiltern could have run Wolverhampton to Marylebone, the ATW services could have been diverted, as well as the Shrewsbury train, taking the pressure off the saturated New Street to Wolverhampton line. W&S, freight, charter and route diversions could have used the lines also.

How useful would the route have been during the WCML works and the New Street redevelopment?

In short: reopen the rail line - it costs the same, journey times are quicker, and there are millions MORE benefits.

If you have to build a busway, just open a Dual Carriageway - there are more benefits with a new road than a stupid busway!

 

Agree with you 100% regarding buses on old rail routes.

However, trams can operate successfully on heavy rail. Agreed it is probably too late for WM Metro to be put back to heavy rail with the trams sharing the tracks. However, their are absolutely no technical issues with the Portishead and Severn Beach lines being shared by trams which operate through central Bristol, heavy rail units and freight.

Just go to Kassell or Karlsruhr. Even the Harz metre gauge system runs steam, diesel railcars, ED tram/trains and freight on a single line with loops for 12kms North of Nordhausen.

 

Yeah ok the WM tram has failed. But just look at merolink in manchester. Ok rail has suffered but if you ask me the chester-manchester line via Northwich ought to be tram train operasted and ought to be the trail of the tram-trains in the UK.

 

Excuse my ignorance in these matters, but I was under the impression that trams were cheaper than rail because they used a "light" system with thinner rail and rail vehicles that can not stand the impact of a conventional train crash.  If one uses "heavy trams", what is the difference? What makes these cheaper than conventional rail?

 
Basically tram trains are more or less conventional trams. the main difference is a special wheel profile to run on tram  tracks on teh road with built in groove and heavy rail track. They run on street with 600 DC overhead. On heavy rail it's either 15KV 162/3 standard DB or diesel. The ED trams will be slighly more expemsive than the all electric because of the diesel engine.

Crashworthiness is not an issue DB trust their Indusi trainstop mechanism.

 

Toll roads often (sorry i mean always) fail. Look at the M6 toll. Money spent on that would have been much better spent on improving the west coast main line.

 

The M6 toll fails because of the way it is funded with the private builder allowed to set the tolls.  This means that they price the toll road to maximise profit rather than maximise congestion releif on the M6.  the tolls for lorries are hugh amd designed to discourage HGVs which wear out the road much faster than cars but which contribute dispropostionally to congestion on the M6. (A road engineer I know says that when they were specing the A74(M) upgrade he worked on they put the predicted number of small lorries and the number of big lorries into their calculation to decide how thick to make the tarmac.  The number of cars didn't enter the equation)

 
With the M6/M6 Toll the big mistake was that the tolled the wrong road!

If you want to ease congestion at a junction, do you: (a) Toll the road bypassing the junction, thus causing the traffic to use the road leading to the junction; or (b) Toll the road with the congested Junction, thus causing the traffic to use the bypass!

Doh! The best thing they could do now is to scrap the tolls altogether (although the company will want paying).

I'm for TOLL FREE ENGLAND (the Scots have done it - why can't we?).

 
For interest the number of vehicles using the M6 Toll is falling significantly. I'm not surprised at ^4.70 each way (from this weekend). 

 

Good, so hopefully plans will be drawn up for tolls to be scrapped. Let toll roads remain in Europe where they belong!

 
http://www.m6toll.co.uk/newsdetail.asp?id=94

if anyone is interested. At least the stats don't get published annually , over a year after the end of the period, as station footfall stats are.

 
A view from a county councillor on the delay to the southern part of the scheme, the costs and the regrets that the rail option wasnt chosen instead (link below.)
http://geoffheathcock.mycouncillor.org.uk/2009/01/14/guided-bus-further-delays-are-slammed-as-project-runs-into-more-problems/

 
I suppose it's too much to expect the DaFT, SWRDA and Bristol City Council to take note of these problems before they rush headlong into wasting millions on a similar fiasco for the Bristol area.

 
They arent taking heed in my part of the world, with the first steps towards turning the disused Fareham-Gosport line (which formed part of a cancelled supertram scheme) into a Bus Rapid Transit route being taken (link below.)
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Transformation-on-track.4879730.jp

 
I have received this from Mark Ranger of CAST.IRON (see http://www.castiron.org.uk/) :


Mark has registered as a member of the forum, and I look forward to reading his future contributions.

 
Is there anyway now for this scheme to be scrapped?

It angers me - yet another perfectly good rail line being destroyed for good!

 
I am afraid the scheme will not be scrapped now. There is so much political capital (as well as taxpayers money) invested in this scheme, that there is no way they will let it go until such time as it comprehensively collapses.

I see now though that they are working on the northern station for Cambridge - another ^20m (www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn%5Fnews%5Fhome/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=389533)

The irony about this is that our (CAST.IRON's) plans to keep the railway would have offered much of what is now being proposed. Even after the go ahead was given for the so called misguided bus, we approached Network Rail to see about keeping the mainline connection at Chesterton Junction and running through to a small station by the Cambridge Science Park. But they made it quite clear that they had no interest - as usual, we seemed to be a thorn in their backside. After all, we were wanting to expand and improve the local rail services. Stupid idea eh?

 
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=393813

It seems the misguided busway has some use now, by criminals as a get away route.

 
Who would have thought this dreadful plan would lead to a 23% increase in theft!

I suppose another stat that will go up is vandalism - vandalism of a railway line.

 
Hi, I live in Cambridge and regard the Guided Busway as a missed opportunity to re-instate the rail services. Instead they have ripped up the track and replaced it with a concrete plank trackway. One ton of concrete is worth around 3,000 car miles and there are 15 of them in each plank. There are hundreds and hundreds of planks, probably several thousand. This is aa scheme that keeps re-stating its "green" credentials!

To answer a few questions -

Why do local authorities like them? - I don't know, there was no public opinion in favour of this - local people think it was someone's pet project.

Why is it important that vehicles can pass each other at speed - this was a throwaway line by those that don't understand trains - the line replaced was a single track line. Trains passed each other in stations, but then anyone who is over 50 doesn't really have to have this explained.

The sad thing is that the railway was never properly evaluated - it was bundled in with a non-optimal road scheme and the guided busway was bundled with the preferred road scheme, the rail and preferred road scheme were never evaluated together. Now the two schemes have been de-coupled - they are no longer interdependent - surprise surprise, Do I smell a rat? Yes.

Having said all that, I hope it is a success - it is the only hope of improving my local bus service.

Regards Norman

 
Welcome to the forum, Norman

 
Well, thanks for such an impassioned first post, Norman - and welcome to the Coffee Shop forum!  

 

While offering my apologies for resurrecting this rather old topic, I thought it worth mentioning this rather interesting development - from the BBC:

 

Nimby clutches at any straw she can reach... 

Edit: 

The inspector's report into the Reading remodelling seems to consider that without the support of the big wildlife agencies little credence will be paid to a single local complaint, If I'm reading it correctly...

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/twa/ir/nr_reading_land_acquisition.pdf

Paul

 

What continent is the UK part of then?

 
Ok, "Let toll roads remain on the continent where they belong."

 

Case was thrown out:

'Miss Morge, 57, of Wych Lane, Gosport, said: 'I'm disappointed that the decision didn't go my way, but it has not deterred me... 'After all the work we did, we aren't just going to give up ^ we've got to fight. 'My barrister is going to the Court of Appeal and I'm just not going to let this beat me. 'The wildlife is being disturbed by this and I don't want a bus route that is going nowhere right by the side of my house and others." 
...the judge 'indicated that there was no prospect of success at appeal'.

Possibly not really a bat freak after all then. 

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/fareham-and-meon/I39ll-keep-fighting-against-bus.5836675.jp

Paul

 
Back to Cambridge what's happening ?

It seems to have gone very very quite.

Maybe Hampshire Councilors should go and see what a roaring success it is!

 

Allegedly soon - see here

 

There's a key difference. The Hants scheme is just a dedicated normal single carriageway road for buses, bypassing the A32 bottleneck. It isn't a guided busway like Cambridge.

Paul

 
Just to update you all, the opening of the so called Busway, known to all but its most fervent admirers (better known as the county council) as the Misguided Busway has been put back to the New Year, although the reasons for this delay are bizarre. It has been very difficult to get to the truth throughout this scheme, the delays have been put down to inadequate driver training time, unfinished build elements and contractual rows between the council and BAM Nuttalls. I suspect the truth is a mixture of all three.

The current build cost is an estimated ^150 million....

We are trying to keep our web site more or less up to speed - www.castiron.org.uk

Cheers

Mark Ranger

 
Mark thanks for the update.

We await the opening with eager anticipation.

Keep us posted.

 
one word describes the whole project : disaster

 
Amateurs

 
Hmm. I do accept that we keep mingling the different schemes in Cambridge and Hampshire here in this topic - but, on the other hand, it does provide an interesting comparison for their respective problems with public acceptance.

For example: the latest stalling of the Hampshire scheme is as follows, from the BBC:

 
And this just in from the Daily Mail:

 
wouldn't it be funny if someone painted "mis" infront of "guided"........ what a complete waste of money..

 
So that vehicle behind the blue post that has just driven over the sign is what one of these buses looks like? 

 
Any news?

Not heared trumpets blowing and Lord Adonis saying how wonderful the busway is as he cuts the ribbon to let the buses hurtle along free of traffic at 60 mph.

 
  well well what a joke this has become - nearly March and still no sign of the mis-guided busway getting an opening date even announced ! Cambridgeshire County Council look like a complete bunch of clowns now. The bus companies that have purchased new buses for the route are not happy bunnies (Stagecoach reportedly changed a slogan on front of buses to "will I ever be on the guided busway" !!!)

 

This appears to be the current state of play.

The comments below the article are excellent.

 
Thanks for that link, Welshman.

From the comments, it appears that Cambridgeshire has a history of interesting, white elephant, public transport ideas.

Forget stringing up the knitting on the GWML, lets revive this techology:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracked_Hovercraft

 

 
Well, here's an update, relating to the true cost of the busway, now at a cool ^161 million. But, say the council, they will get all of the overspend back from the contractors in 4-5 years time.

Oh yes, of course they will.

Now perhaps some people in authority will start to listen to the 'amateurs' who told them that the busway was not the answer

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=485047

Mark

 
Announced yesterday the government will be stumping up a few million pounds for Luton - Dunstable busway (which seems is not that popular in Dunstable from the news report).  On the same day dispute over Cambridge effort between County Council and the contractor goes public - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8560413.stm and BBC Look East claim Luton will use same contractor !?!
Wonder if Cambridge will open before olympics ?

 
Unbelievable...check out the Scottish slang for Bampot on Google...says it all

 

Which Olympics?   Weren't they last month? 

Construction started in March 2007 with an opening scheduled in April 2009 - 25 months.   It's now 36 months since construction started - what is the current schedule or estimate?

 
There's a saying "When you are in a hole stop digging".

Time to scrap the whole scheme and shoot anyone whoever suggests another guided busway?

Pity so much money was spent.

 
Latest opening date is now Nov 2010 !!!

 
Whatever the merits or otherwise of the Cambridge scheme, I would just like to point out to the the members of this group that conventional rail schemes have run late. Would anyone like to deride / terminate Ebbw Vale on that basis?

 
Was Ebbw Vale 3.5 years late?

 
The main works contract was signed in November 05 and the press release talked about a completion date of 2007. The line was handed over to Network Rail in December 2007 and opened in Feb 08.

So depending on when in 2007 it was meant to open,  anywhere up to a year late, but definitely not 3.5 years.

It will be interesting to see when the station stats are published later this month how popular the line has been in its first complete year (last year's stats only included the first couple of months).

 
Info published in October 2009 said that there had already been a million passengers after 20 months and that this was ahead of the predicted 4th year usage.

In fact, recent complaints have been about overcrowding at weekends - the usual train is a single 150 set.

 
Cambidge Guided Busway forecasts are 20,000 journeys per day by 2016.  It will be most interesting to see if they can reach that after about five years within 2 - i.e. if they can parallel the extreme growth of the Ebbw Vale service.

An interesting thought or three:

* If Ebbw Vale grew so much quicker than the forecast, does it mean that the forecast was based on unduely pessimistic predications ... and if it was over-pessimistic in the forecast, how many other otherwise-viable schemes have actually been rejected by undue pessimism?

* As taxpayers, shouldn't we be hoping that the CGB carries the number of people targetted rather than far more (which might have justified a different solution) or far less (which might also point towards another solution)

* Rail ticket sales are pubished.   Does the same apply to guided bus ticket sales?

 
Still not open

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/thebusway/

 

I suspect that the true answer about Ebbw Vale growth is that no-one had a clue what would happen but based on experience with the other Valley Lines it was thought that the trains would be well used. 

To understand the dynamics of the Valleys, you need to look at the map.  There are, depending how you count, about 8 to 10 proper Valleys.  They are all about 1 mile wide or less and run north-south from the southern edge of the Brecon  Beacons towards Cardiff or Newport.  Each valley is separated from the next to the east or west by a ridge probably 12-1500 feet high.  To get out you have to go south to the coast or north to the Beacons.  For the most part you cannot go east west from the middle of one valley to the next.

This means that for commercial/shopping etc purposes everyone gravitates south since most of the Valleys towns are decrepit/dilapidated and exhausted.  A road trip from Ebbw Vale to Cardiff (or Newport) is a tiresome trek along winding roads through ribbon development.  A train therefore, especially for the teenagers, is a godsend and preferable to a bus in a queue.  Thus the enthusiasm for the Ebbw Vale Railway.

There is a strong lobby for the remodelled Gaer Junction to allow alternate trains to Newport and Cardiff.  Given that Cardiff will only be about 10 or 15 minutes further away, I suspect that Newport will not benefit greatly, it being a dump by comparison.  I speak as one who has lived in both.

 
A dump? Surely you can't mean the great metropolis which is shortly going to play host to thousands of american golf fans and half the world's sports media. I do hope they don't read the Coffee Shop.   

 
From an American online friend of mine:

"Newport Wales, that's in England yeah?" 

 

I should mention one major exception to the last point, which is the route of the A472, which follows that of the former GWR line from Pontypool Road [Eastern valley] to near Quakers Yard on the Taff.  This crosses the Ebbw valley at Crumlin/Newbridge, the Sirhowy at Gelligroes and the Rhymney at Ystrad Mynach.  (The GWR line then tunnelled through the ridge to the Cynon valley, up which it ran to the top at Hirwaun and then down the vale of Neath to reach Neath & Brecon Jct.)  It's also possible to get across from Caerphilly [Rhymney again] to a point north of Taffs Well by a road that runs roughly parallel to the former "big hill" from Walnut Tree Jct to Aber Jct (and, in even earlier times) Caerphilly itself.

 
Thanks Adrian for that.

BUT the A472 meets the A470 at Abercynon.  It's all in the name - that's the mouth of the Cynon Valley and where the Cynon joins the Taff at what is also really the bottom of the Merthyr valley. 

I accept it's half an exception to the rule.

More typical of the journeys is Treherbert to Aberdare.  That's only about 4 miles as the crow flies.  It's 13 miles by road.

By road that's two buses.  By train it's two trains-  Aberdare to Pontypridd and Pontypridd to Treherbert.
Either way that's 1hr 15 mins or so.  Which is my point.

And has nothing to do with guided busways.

 
Hello all,

I thought you might be interested in CAST.IRON's proposal for an alternative station to serve the north of Cambridge. See http://www.castiron.org.uk/MiltonRoad/

There are existing plans for a much larger station nearby at Chesterton Junction, costed at around ^21m. Our idea is designed to be much cheaper, and we believe will deliver a similar level of benefits.

It also protects the trackbed of the former St.Ives branch, until the start of the Cambridge Guided Busway (built over the former trackbed to the west of our station). Draw your own conclusions as to why we think that is a strategically good idea!

As usual Cambridgeshire County Council have immediately tried to pour cold water on our suggestions - http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/3m-railway-station-plan-unveiled-by-campaigners.htm

Let's hope this time they think a little more than they did when they were desperate to open the world's longest guided busway, which hasn't and nobody really knows when it will

All the best

Mark Ranger
CAST.IRON

 
Mark, you may not have the support of the council - but you CERTAINLY have the support of the people who work on the Cambridge Science Park, and their attention to a station at the Milton Road junction.  I'm in Cambridge at the moment - and that's a comment that came out of the blue from several of my delegates who know the area well, and would use such a service if it was provided.

Over the road, here are some scenes taken today





I have also put a third scene in "The Lighter Side", looking for a caption:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=6631.0

 

And they are still faffing about.  Boreholes are being drilled and some sections of the busway have to be raised because of flooding/ponding issues.  Following a council meeting on 25 May, it was announced that it would be the end of July before a start-up schedule could be announced. 

 
Marvellous...but what about this. I thought it was a joke but they've all got very serious faces. They must have been inspired by that one with the Hillman Imp posted earlier.

Great fun but weren't they doing this in Ireland in 1930s?, only with a good deal more elegant a bus

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/threecounties/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8715000/8715503.stm

 
...and if any of you have the energy to follow this fiasco! Today's news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/10281595.stm

 
The Dunstable one looks like reverse engineering a 14X!

RE Cambridge Quote from report above:

"The council said it was "frustrated" that the contactor had not yet instructed its designers to correct the flooded cycleway or quantify the fire risk posed by communication cables."

Fire risk from communications cables, that's a new one on me. HT, maybe but low voltage comms cables!

 
Quick update on the Fareham Gosport 'bus lane' - the Portsmouth News have reported tonight that the high court has thrown out the Nimby's bat enthusiast's complaints...

Paul

 
Oh dear does that mean it's going ahead despite the Cambridge disaster.

 

Hi Mark. I was planning on sending this to your site but you'll see it here, as will everyone else. Up in Crawley there is the 'Fastway' which seems to randomly switch between bus lane and guideway. I have heard recently that Metrobus, the main company in Crawley and only user of the Fastway, have stopped using it and removed all the guide wheels from the buses, which all now use the normal roads in the area.
Maybe it's time to call for a boycott of the Misguided busway in Cambridge. I seriously can't wait for it to fail

 

Welcome to the forum, Mr Kipling.  Your post had me musing (again) as to just how late the opening now is, and I came across the following which I found - err - interesting:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/3477655.stm

Of course, lots of projects overrun to the extent that there's now a 66% "optimism bias" built in to estimates for rail - meaning that it's expected that a 500,000 pound project will cost 800,000. I'm not sure about time optimism, nor whether this is / was applied to the original busway figures.

With so much money spent, it makes sense to give it a good go - not to wish it failure, but to give it very best use when it opens.  That should mean extending Cambridge terminating trains from the South to Cambridge Science Park station (across the road from the guided busway station) which would cost a drop compared to the ocean that has been poured in so far.  A failure of this project will cost how much for each Cambridge Tax payer?

Having said that, the performance / current status of smaller schemes such as the one you mention (and I think there are others in Leeds and there was one in Birmingham) doesn't raise confidence.  Perhaps lessons have been learned from them and incorporated in Cambridge?   But then, again, confidence isn't inspired by the huge overrun.

Let's wait and see - but encourage success to pay back the taxpayer and to do some good for the people who live and commute in the area, rather than encouraging and wishing for an expensive failure. And I say that even based on the the fact that many of us feel there was a far better option available.

 
Thanks for the recent input. There is a degree of progress in our proposal for a new station at Milton Road, designed both to protect the trackbed that has been taken up further along for the guided bus, and also to serve locations like Cambridge Science Park. As and when there is more that I can tell you, I will do so.

But sadly, the guided bus project itself seems to be lurching from one crisis to another - here's the latest

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Growing-fears-that-guided-buses-wont-run-until-2011.htm

Of course it is nice to be able to snipe at the council's failures, but when you know how much money has gone into this, at a time when we are supposed to be strapped as a nation...

And bizarrely, they seem to be determined to press on with other busways.

 
Heh I also found this...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cliffordstead/4427289234/

 

Indeed. A very warm welcome. Can we look forward to some exceedingly good posts? 

Ok..... coat, fetch, etc.

 
  yes it appears that 2011 is now the earliest the busway might open !! LMAO - what a complete farce

 
Apparently the contractors are still repairing defects and now owe over ^8m in penalties.

Jan 2011 is now the intended start date. 

 
As I was walking in Cambridge City centre this evening, a Stagecoach bus drove past me with the forlorn question painted on the side ... "When will I be able to use the Guided Busway?".   It must be five of six months since I was last here, but the start of the route at the Cambridge Science Park looks unaltered - this marvellous new busway headed off to the North West with huge concrete stop-blocks on it.   But one change is that there seem to be ever more cyclists heading out along the route. 

 
your red herring news tonight!

http://www.cambridgefirst.co.uk/news/low_carbon_building_boost_for_cambridge_busway_1_677618

 

I trust we can look forward to some pictures of the latest (lack of) developments? 

 

Are we going to run a sweep on the exact date?

 

I didn't see anything new to photograph ... although I suppose I posted up some springtime pictures, and I could see if I can get out of the place I'm working before it gets dark to get some pictures with the leaves falling off the trees.


The authors of Perl 6 (programming language) have it right. "You'll have it for Christmas - we just won't tell you which Christmas".  Mind you - that's been going on for a number of years and I thing that Perl 6 may turn out to have missed the boat.   Perhaps there's a similarity with the busway?

 
Just in case you're all sitting on the edge of your chairs awaiting the triumphant announcement re the January opening of this marvellous testament to British engineering...here's the "latest" AFAIK

http://www.cambridgefirst.co.uk/news/cambridgeshire_s_guided_busway_being_held_up_as_a_result_of_paperwork_1_799525

 
Latest update for opening date - October 2011.

And as one of my colleagues in CAST.IRON has just commented - the ^200m budget boost to regional railways is the equivalent to one 20 mile guided busway.

There's good value for you

Hey ho

Mark

 

As per previous post any one for a sweep?

 

Do you have a source for this? - I can't find anything about it on the Cambridge Evening News website.

 
The latest thing I can find is dated 25/03/11.  BAM Nuttall have to hand over a completion certificate to the Council and they then have 28 days to fix any remaining defects.  It is anticipated that they won't bother and the council will then hire other contractors and give them 28 days to sort it.

So at least two months to go.

 

Sorry for the delayed reply - here is the source - http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/latest-news/cambs_guided_busway_still_unlikely_before_october_1_830085

 

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/thebusway/

 
Seems to be scope for a couple of sweep stakes.

First: Opening date.
Second: How long will it stay open before it has to be closed for technical defects?

 

Third: How long before we can seriously get down to working how we lay railway tracks on top of the concrete
Fourth: How long before any politicians have the decency to confess that this was truly a bad idea and they wish they had have listened to the anoraks.

 
  Misguided busjokeway timetables now published by county council - evenings and Sundays, don`t be silly !!!!   
 

 
I have been told early August but can't verfy my informants source.

Apparently itis been  suggested that the local tearaways will steal cars drive them onto the busway deliberately jam them in the track and then set fire to them. Probaly an urban myth in the making.

However, a more practicle question was raised how do you get broken down bus off the busway?

 

Perhaps they're going to fit the guided bus fleet with dellner couplings to allow working in multiple! 

 
THere are exits every junction according to a local on UK.rauilways

 
...and for access for the bloke with a toolbox, there's a continuous roadway along the length of the busway - which doubles as a cycle track.

I wonder if the benefits (if any) of the 'guided' feature is actually worth the additional cost over a normal dedicated two lane road, as is being used on the Fareham - Gosport 'busway'. 

Breakdowns on the latter are presumably going to be much easier to deal with; there's an agreement that it can be used by emergency services such as ambulances, and the only deadlines being missed are due to random objections from the nimby faction...

Paul

 

With towing, "the process takes between 5 and 10 minutes", and

"Unlike rail, where a breakdown disrupts the entire line and causes long delays for other trains, guided buses can be immediately diverted around the section where a bus is being recovered which means only a few minutes delay for passengers. "

More at:

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/CMSWebsite/Apps/News/Details.aspx?ref=98