Cambridgeshire Guided Busway

[paul@skegby.org.]

Can anyone advise me on the following,

Looking to travel on Saturday 19 November, Huntingdon to Cambridge railway station using the busway.

1. To catch the bus is it directly outside Huntingdon Railway station?

2. I understand buses run to Drummer St Bus Station in Cambridge, not railway station, is it an easy walk and how long in mins, or could I change bus en-route to get to railway station.

3. Anyone know price of fare.

Any idea's or info welcome.

Thanks

 

[jopsuk]

Appears from the map that the B service goes to/from Huntingdon railway station itself, so no problem there.

As you've rightly deduced though, the B service terminates in central Cambridge. It's a 15-20 minute walk, easily done (it is, after all, flat!), to Cambridge railway station.

Not sure about ticketing- there's no trace of how much a single would cost. A Dayrider+, which would allow you to catch another bus to the station, return to Huntingdon etc is £5.40.

The B is a double decker service. It turns of the busway early at Cambridge, using a short, mainly unguided, branch to Histon road. You could change to the single decker A service at St Ives P&R- this goes the full length, and also goes through to the station. If you've got a Dayrider+ this would be valid.

 

[burns20]

Will look Weds going Huntingdon to Cambridge on it

 

[paul@skegby.org.]

Will look Weds going Huntingdon to Cambridge on it

Thanks that would be great,same trip I want to make.

 

[burns20]

Give urself 2 hrs, traffic frm huntingdon to st ives is atrocious. All in all an impressive run, people oddly walking down busway. Straightforward to use, could do with onboard announcements. Also wifi and sockets did not wrk on both buses, drivers said they have never wrked.

 

[Buttsy]

I hadn't realised this white elephant was now up and running...

 

[WatcherZero]

Yep up and running and breaking passenger predictions such that extra services have had to be laid on after the first fortnight. The councils laughing all the way to the bank because unlike the Edinburgh tram contract the council arent liable for the cost overruns on a fixed price procurement.

 

[Buttsy]

Yep up and running and breaking passenger predictions such that extra services have had to be laid on after the first fortnight. The councils laughing all the way to the bank because unlike the Edinburgh tram contract the council arent liable for the cost overruns on a fixed price procurement.

But hasn't the cost doubled since it was mooted? And aren't some of the additional costs coming out of Cambridgeshire's budget?

The big question is - Is it significantly quicker than the old bus routes from St Ives to Cambridge?

 

[WatcherZero]

The project was originally to cost £116m with the Government providing £92.5m and the Council £23.7m with £11m of that to come from property developers in transport contributions. As a fixed price contract the council was only liable for the first £5m of overruns, they also recieved £14,000 a day in penalty fees for late delivery which eventually came to £11.8m when it opened. The council did have to borrow to cover the £11m that was to be provided by housing developers because of the economy stalled but they maintain they can recover the rest when the projects or new projects are finished. They also were to pay Atkins £2.6m to project manage BAM Nuttal for them but that bill with all the BAM problems eventually came to £9.2m.

The real loser is BAM Nuttal, being paid £121m for a contract that eventually cost them roughly £191m in construction costs and penalty fees.

 

[jopsuk]

Give urself 2 hrs, traffic frm huntingdon to st ives is atrocious.

Funnily enough, the trackbed from St Ives to Huntingdon appears pretty clear. Using it though would require new bridges, and bypass both town centres and Houghton (but would pass Hemingford Abbots). If it wasn't so unlikely to find funding, it wouldn't be an awful idea- the (terminates at St Ives P&R) A service could extend into St Ives town, and the B could reroute along the extra busway, call at Huntingdon station and terminate in the town centre.

Might was well make the thing better now we've got it.

Not sure my idea of cutting down all the trees on public land along Milton Road in Cambridge, claiming the verges and replacing the current bus lane with a two-way guideway would be popular or even actually possible, but if it would fit, it would improve bus services no-end. Would have to fit out the buses on the 9 and possibly the 2 to be guided. Maybe even route it via Elizabeth Way and Chesterton Road. Re model a couple of junctions and you'd have easy access to Victoria Avenue.

Can't do anything about the B, running along Histon Road, mindyou.

 

[paul@skegby.org.]

Sounds pretty good in the end.

So you catch the bus directly outside Huntingdon station ?

I look at the fare, best I see is £5.40 Day Ticket.

 

[jopsuk]

if you only need a single, ask the driver how much it would be- but the day ticket is pretty good value otherwise.

 

[Deerfold]

Give urself 2 hrs, traffic frm huntingdon to st ives is atrocious. All in all an impressive run, people oddly walking down busway. Straightforward to use, could do with onboard announcements. Also wifi and sockets did not wrk on both buses, drivers said they have never wrked.

That's odd. I caught the bus from Cambridge - Huntingdon and back twice a couple of months ago a few weeks before the busway opened. The wifi and power worked well on at least 3 of my journeys (I hadn't realised they were there on my first trip). What I did find was the journey time was very variable. I caught the same buses on both days and had time differences of more than 20 minutes in journey times in both directions.

 

[gingerheid]

Have you made the trip yet? I'm a bit slow... but what you wanted to do was change bus anywhere between St Ives P&R and Histon for an 'A', which goes to the station and then carries on past the centre on the other stretches of guideway.

The idea of the council laughing all the way to the bank is a bit flawed; the council have paid the total cost (well in excess of the budgeted amount to the tune of very almost £100m) and are now trying to sue to get it back.

The council has been releasing feel good statistics about usage, but in fact usage has dropped in the second month of opening, despite month two being the month people aren't on holiday and the month the schools are back. This suggests that a load of people were just using it for novelty value in the first month or, worse still, that people tried it out and didn't like it.

I made one trip when it opened; sockets and wifi didn't work on either bus then either.

 

[WatcherZero]

The second months statistics have been published and as suggested there was a fall off possibly from people just trying it once. 224,000 in the first month and 209,000 in the second month. Both well ahead of the target 150,000 monthly first year average rising to 300,000 by year three.

 

[Deerfold]

The second months statistics have been published and as suggested there was a fall off possibly from people just trying it once. 224,000 in the first month and 209,000 in the second month. Both well ahead of the target 150,000 monthly first year average rising to 300,000 by year three.

Any idea how many people were using the equivalent route(s) before the guideway went in?

 

[notadriver]

Does anyone know if guided busway drivers are paid extra?

 

[Deerfold]

Does anyone know if guided busway drivers are paid extra?

I don't know that. Assuming the system works in the same way as the Leeds and Bradford ones they need to take an additional course with a brief annual refresher training - I believe it's not so much how to drive on the guideway as to make sure the system is turned off on normal roads or the bus bounces off kerbs rather forcefully.

 

[WatcherZero]

98,000 I believe but dont quote me on that.

edit: Figures found suggest 4000 per weekday, approx 50% less on weekend, which matches what I remembered.

 

[Nym]

I wonder how many MORE would have used a heavy rail service to Huntingdon rather than a bus???

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I wonder how many MORE would have used a heavy rail service to Huntingdon rather than a bus???

Significantly more I would have thought, maybe a good few thousand, it would have been a useful diversionary route too.

 

[Nym]

And of course would have created zero at source CO2 emissions as it would have been an electrified line...

 

[MidnightFlyer]

And of course would have created zero at source CO2 emissions as it would have been an electrified line...

Yep, could have been handy for EC 91s if there were problems on the ECML at Biggleswade / Sandy etc. To say it is one of the most intelligent cities in the world, Cambridge councillors have made one hell of a poor decision here.

 

[Nym]

Just because of the presence of Cambridge University doesn't many any of the Councillors are intelligent.

Or even that many of the tutors AT Cambridge uni know much about transport.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Just because of the presence of Cambridge University doesn't many any of the Councillors are intelligent.

Or even that many of the tutors AT Cambridge uni know much about transport.

True, but the prestige that bounds around whenever you hear 'Cambridge' has been lost a bit for me, it just makes me think of stupid councillors instead of one of the world's greatest universities now.

 

[WatcherZero]

Was considered in the original multi modal study, rejected also by the later independent review.
To summarise, twice the construction costs, half the projected passengers. Reasons being fewer stops, lower service frequency, higher running costs and a new alignment required to join the former allignment to the national network because the orignal connections been built on.

Forecast potential market was 20,000 weekday passengers bus, 12,000 light rail, 10,000 heavy rail.

 

[Nym]

Why not have 'Metro Heavy Rail' as an option, such as some of the areas of south London with stops less than a mile appart, and then take into account the benifits of a diversion away from the ECML and increased through journey opertunities and the independant review looks quite thick, in addition the construction costs being astronomically underestimated.

 

[Rational Plan]

Why not have 'Metro Heavy Rail' as an option, such as some of the areas of south London with stops less than a mile appart, and then take into account the benifits of a diversion away from the ECML and increased through journey opertunities and the independant review looks quite thick, in addition the construction costs being astronomically underestimated.

But the rail constructions costs would not have been? That does not follow. A true tram system might have had higher patronage if they built street running track through Cambridge, but who knows how much more that might of costed.

Due to Cambridges historic nature, the railway station is not in a very good position for commuting into the centre of town. Also just imagine replicating the number of stops the current system has with its simple shelters and pedestrian crossings to heavy rail platforms with bridges and lifts.

 

[yorksrob]

Was considered in the original multi modal study, rejected also by the later independent review.
To summarise, twice the construction costs, half the projected passengers. Reasons being fewer stops, lower service frequency, higher running costs and a new alignment required to join the former allignment to the national network because the orignal connections been built on.

Forecast potential market was 20,000 weekday passengers bus, 12,000 light rail, 10,000 heavy rail.

And we all know how accurate those rail usage forecasts tend to be !
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Also just imagine replicating the number of stops the current system has with its simple shelters and pedestrian crossings to heavy rail platforms with bridges and lifts.

If you're going to have a stop every five minutes, you might as well have it on the main road. If youre going to go to the trouble of building a seperate transport corridoor (or rather reviving one, as the formation was largely in place) you may as well have an express (in terms of local transport) service.

It is disgusting that re-conditioning an existing railway line should cost so much more than building an entire concrete carriageway. Network Rail should be hauled over the coals for this.

 

[Nym]

Bearing in mind that there shouldn't be any need for lifts on route if the're all next to level crossings...

And yes, the joy of rail passenger forecasts, they all seemed really accurate so far.

Also bear in mind how accurate the costing for the busway was and how much it ended up costing...

Also, guided busway = some concrete slabs

Railway =
Rails
Guaging
Signalling
AWS
TWPS
Electrification
Pointwork
Platforms
Level Crossings
Intergration into the current network... etc etc etc