Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
Encyclopedia
The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway (CGB), branded the busway (but colloquially known as "the Guided Bus"), is a public transport
scheme connecting the population centres of Cambridge
, Huntingdon
and St Ives
in the English county of Cambridgeshire
. Planning and construction for the Cambridge-Huntingdon Rapid Transit Scheme (CHRT) took place during the 2000s finalising in a decision to develop a 40 kilometres (25 mi) transport corridor
consisting of road improvements, bus lane
s and bus priority
measures, of which 25 kilometres (16 mi) is dedicated and exclusive-use guided bus
way.
The guided sections are notable for their length; making the scheme the longest operational guided busway in the world, overtaking the O-Bahn Busway
in Adelaide, South Australia. Specially adapted bus
es are used—on the busway the bus driver
does not need to hold the steering wheel
as the concrete guideway controls the direction that the bus travels.
The reserved bus-only sections make up 25 kilometres (16 mi) of the route, and are in two parts, one either side of the centre of Cambridge. The northern length of dedicated busway runs parallel to the A14 road, using the course of the Cambridge and Huntingdon railway
that closed to passengers in 1970 and runs through the former railway stations at , and . A southern section connects Cambridge railway station
, Addenbrooke's Hospital
and the park and ride site at Trumpington
.
Construction began in March 2007 with an intended opening date of April 2009. Following a number of delays, an independent review was announced on 21 September 2010, while Cambridge MP Julian Huppert
described the project as a "white elephant
". The original cost estimate of £150 million rose to to £181 million by December 2010.
The busway was handed over to the County Council in April 2011 and opened on 7 August 2011. It forms part of the system of transport in Cambridge
and the latest in a list of guided busways and BRT systems in the United Kingdom.
Based on contracts signed with the promoters, Cambridgeshire County Council
, bus services are operated by Stagecoach in Huntingdonshire and Whippet Coaches who collectively have exclusive use of the route for a period of five years—in exchange for providing a minimum service frequency between the times of 07:00 and 19:00 each week day.
The scheme links the city of Cambridge
, in East Anglia, with St Ives
, Huntingdon
and Northstowe
(a proposed new town
) to the north-west, and with the M11 motorway
to the south. The route includes two sections of guided operation, a bus-only road and other places with on-street operation in conventional bus lanes. New park and ride
sites have been built at Longstanton
and at St Ives, with a tarmac cycle track/bridleway provided alongside some sections of the route. The final scheme includes bus priority
and real-time passenger information system
displays at busway bus stops.
It is estimated that 11,500 journeys a day will be made on the busway.
The scheme is predicted to cause a direct reduction in traffic on the busy parallel A14 road of 5.6% (rising to 11.1% with the new Park & Ride sites), although as other traffic re-routes to the freed-up road space from other parts of the local road network, the actual net reduction on the A14 is predicted to be 2.3%. The overall scheme is "not intended to solve the congestion problems on the A14" by itself, but will rather have an overall effect across the local road network, and be complementary to the planned road improvements on the A14.
,
which had been closed to scheduled passenger rail traffic since 1970 and to all traffic since 1993. Since closure there had been proposals to reinstate a conventional rail service, and variously for a light railway network, a bus lane, a road with limited access, a bus-way, a cycle path and a nature walk. A local group, CAST.IRON, was set up in July 2003 (after being inspired by the Wensleydale Railway
) to promote and undertake reinstatement of the route for conventional rail services and to resist other proposals, referring to the guided bus as the 'misguided bus'. A private consortium that had proposed a guided bus scheme, SuperCAM, abandoned their plans in 2003. Arup
prepared the Transport and Works Act
(TWA) application presented in late 2003.
A public inquiry
was held into the successful proposal in September–October 2004. The scheme was supported by five bus and coach operators, and twenty other organisations and individuals. A total of 2,735 objections were received: from local councils, public bodies, transport interests, local pressure groups and individuals who criticised the Environmental Impact Assessment
, supported the rail alternative or objected to the scheme in principle. The scheme was approved by the Government in December 2005.
officially opened a manufacturing plant at Longstanton that would produce the 6,000–7,000 concrete beams for the guided bus route between St Ives and Cambridge. Each beam was 350 millimetres thick with a further 180-millimetre lip for the glide wheels to press against. A total of 50,000 tonnes of concrete was cast to a precision of plus or minus one millimetre. Supports below the beams were under-pinned by 2,150 piles along a 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) length of the busway.
In the same year a new viaduct
constructed of maintenance-free steel
was built over the River Great Ouse
as a replacement for a previous long-standing 200-tonne wrought-iron railway viaduct removed in 2007. There would later be a dispute between the Conservative
-controlled County Council and opposition Liberal Democrat
councillors as to whether the structure was structurally sound, with a claim that water draining off the track over the viaduct could lead to crumbling.
In March 2008 existing guided vehicles were trialled along a section near Oakington. The vehicles tested included a Wrightbus
-bodied single-decker
owned by FirstGroup, a Plaxton President
-bodied Dennis Trident 2
double-decker
from Lothian Buses
, and a white Alexander Dennis Enviro500 triple-axled
double-decker. The test vehicles were fitted with sensors to assess vibration levels and ride quality.
Hot weather testing of the track took place during May/June 2010.
In addition to the bus fleet, Cambridgeshire County Council themselves trialled and purchased a specially adapted gritter
lorry for use during periods of cold weather, which will spray salt water rather than rock salt.
By August 2008 approximately 10 kilometres (6 mi) of the busway had been constructed, between Longstanton and Milton Road (Science Park). On 30 November 2009, road signs directing traffic from the A14 towards the future busway park and ride sites started to be installed. Other signage related to the busway had required subsequent height adjustments, and spelling corrections. Trees had also blown over, blocking the busway route near Swavesey. The twelve junctions on the route fitted with bus priority
traffic signals were tested on 16 December 2010 and worked as expected.
area. As a result of complications with a bridge at Hills Road in Cambridge, traffic restrictions there continued throughout the summer of 2009. Flooding and drainage issues affected the limestone-covered cycleway during late 2009 and early 2010.
In August 2009 a further delay until late November 2009 was announced for the busway to start carrying passengers on the northern section, with no date given for the opening of the southern section.
On 16 November 2009 the project was delayed for the third time when Cambridgeshire County Council announced that the northern section of the busway would not open on the previously advertised date of 29 November 2009. An opening date of "the end of the year" 2009 for the northern section was announced later in the same month, followed four days later by "hopefully in the new year [2010]". Initial busway services would only reach Huntingdon railway station
and not serve Hinchingbrooke Hospital
as had originally been promoted during the public inquiry; neither would they continue southwards to Cambridge railway station.
2010
In January 2010, the contractors and members of Cambridgeshire County Council were still in discussion about what required finishing.
During February 2010 the directors of both the signed up bus operators—Andy Campbell of Stagecoach in Cambridge, and Peter Lee of Whippet coaches—both expressed their companies' frustrations at the busway not being usable for the new buses they had bought to run on it. Shortly afterwards Stagecoach altered the slogan displayed on their fleet of buses for the busway, changing it from reading "I'll be on the busway soon, will you?" to a new slogan of "Will I be on the busway soon?". In the same month, South Cambridgeshire
District Council demanded of Cambridgeshire County Council a comprehensive public statement giving clarity over rising costs. In mid-June 2010, none of the listed outstanding issues had been fixed and a public review was announced.
At the start of July 2010, it was reported that that neither section of the busway would open before 2011; the bus operators Stagecoach in Cambridge and Whippet reacted to the news angrily, suggesting that the operators might seek to reduce the minimum level of service that had been previously committed to. At a council meeting on 9 July 2010, a decision was taken to concentrate on completion of the southern section in order to get the whole route opened, rather than aiming for a phased introduction.
During late September 2010 the contractor, BAM Nuttall, missed deadlines for providing construction certificates needed by the Council, forcing Cambridgeshire County Council to begin their own inspections.
A number of preview trials of the Busway were held, during which some problems were encountered, particularly with cyclists using the busway track. In one incident a cyclist cycling on the guide beams, rather than the cycle path next to the busway, was struck by a bus coming in the opposite direction. Trials of recovery procedures should a bus break down were also held, with the test finding that a stranded bus could be connected up and removed within five to ten minutes of a specially-adapted breakdown vehicle reaching the scene of the incident. During one preview journey held for journalists on 28 July 2011, Hugh Morris of the Cambridge First newspaper staged a race between the guided bus and a car travelling from Cambridge to St Ives to see which was quickest to reach the end of the track. The car beat the bus by ten minutes, although he noted that the trip had not been held during rush-hour, during which the A14 road is noted for congestion. A journey from St Ives to the Cambridge Science Park was found to take 20 minutes.
The busway and cycle track officially opened to the public on 7 August 2011. The first guided bus left St Ives at 09:00 after the busway had been officially opened by Andrew Lansley
MP. In the first seven days, a total of 55,895 trips were made on the busway, leading to the operators providing additional buses on their services. Over the first four weeks the average was 52,227 journeys (224,054 total).
Footfall and trade at businesses in the villages increased as a result, with the same increase reported by market traders and shopkeepers in St Ives As a bridleway, horse riders can also use the maintenance track adjacent to the northern guided section providing a traffic-free route between the villages.
Work began at the end of July 2011 on improving the park and ride facilities at Longstanton. Construction work included a £430,000 passenger waiting room and exhibition centre (for the adjacent Northstowe development).
Starting at Huntingdon railway station
and town centre, buses travel on normal roads to St Ives. From here the busway follows the path of the former Cambridge and Huntingdon railway
to a new park and ride site south of the town, where it becomes guided. The buses stop at Swavesey
, Longstanton, Oakington
and Histon
, with a request stop for the nature reserve at Fen Drayton
. Should a proposed new town
at Northstowe be built, further stops would be opened.
Upon entering Cambridge the route diverges. One route has stops at Cambridge Regional College
and Cambridge Science Park
, before the bus route rejoins the road network to travel into central Cambridge. The other joins the road network at Orchard Park (formerly Arbury Park), before continuing to the city centre. The two forks converge at Cambridge bus station for the journey to Cambridge railway station
. Beyond Cambridge railway station the buses are again guided using the trackbed and structures of the former Cambridge-Oxford railway
(The Varsity Line) to travel south to Addenbrooke's Hospital
and Trumpington Park and Ride. This section last saw a scheduled passenger train in 1967.
The dedicated bus busway is 6 metres (19.7 ft) wide consisting of two 2.6-metre wide busways separated by a central reservation of 800 millimetres (31 in). Between Cambridge and St Ives there is also a 4 metres (13 ft) wide (maximum) cycleway/footpath/maintenance track to one side and a 700 millimetres (28 in) evacuation strip to the other creating a total width of 10.7 metres (35.1 ft). Where necessary it is narrower; for example through the Trumpington cutting where there is a single busway with a narrower maintenance-only track giving a total width of approximately 6.3 metres (20.7 ft). In 2010, proposals were made to reduce the width of the cycletrack, narrowing it down to 3 metres and increasing the height in order to combat flooding. Elevated sections have two evacuation strips at busway level with the cycletrack/footpath/maintenance track at the base of the embankment.
The 6 metres (19.7 ft) width of the bus busway is narrower than the 9.3 metres (30.5 ft) width of a single carriageway rural all-purpose road built to 2009 standards (excluding attendant verges and footpaths/cyclepaths in both cases). A conventional road would have been too wide for the busway itself to fit on top of the narrower existing railway embankments and across the under-bridges along parts of the route. The required maintenance track is fitted either adjacent to the busways on flat land, or to one side at the foot of the former railway embankments—the combined width of the maintenance track and two busways being considerably wider than that of the railway it had replaced. To negotiate Trumpington Cutting on the southern section, a narrower maintenance track was required, along with the use of a bi-directional single track
busway in order to fit within the width of the former double track railway line. The southern section will be restricted to use by single decker buses.
and Whippet Coaches, committed to buying new buses and running commercial services on the scheme.
The council had previously held talks with Cavalier (Huntingdon and District) and another operator.
As with all other UK busway schemes in the privatised bus industry
, Cambridgeshire County Council
owns the infrastructure, and will allow private bus operators to use it on their registered services, subject to quality contracts specifying vehicle and service standards. During peak hours of 07:00–19:00 operators are charged for using the busway.
Seven buses per hour run on the core northern section between St Ives and Cambridge Science Park during the day, reduced to hourly services in the evenings and on Sundays. Figures originally published during 2004 by Cambridgeshire County Council proposed that it would begin operation with six services per hour and work up to twenty services per hour into Cambridge during peak periods by 2016.
Routes A and B
Stagecoach run services on Routes A and B between St Ives and Cambridge, with extensions to Huntingdon railway station. The journey time for Routes A and B from St Ives bus station to the Cambridge Science Park are 23 minutes plus an additional 15 minutes into Cambridge city centre, meaning journey times of roughtly 38 minutes in total. Stagecoach's previous three-times per hour Service 55 between Cambridge and St Ives had been timetabled as taking 30–37 minutes. The promoters of the scheme predicted that journey times via the busway route might be more consistent and reliable, due to buses avoiding the busy A14 road.
To operate their services, Stagecoach ordered ten Eclipse/B7RLE
single decker buses, to be manufactured by Wrightbus and Volvo
, and ten Alexander Dennis Enviro400/Scania N230UD
double deckers for the guided busway network. All of the new specially-branded vehicles are equipped with leather seats, air chill or air conditioning
, real time information, and free Wi-Fi
. The new fleet of buses were deployed on Stagecoach's other services prior to the opening of guided sections of the busway, having cost the operator a total of £3 million plus £1 million in staffing and training costs.
Less than a month after opening, Stagecoach announced that the Sunday service would be increased to three buses per hour to St. Ives, up from the original one per hour. One Sunday service per hour would also continue to Huntingdon.
Route C
Whippet Coaches operate Route C from Somersham to Cambridge centre using a mixture of rural roads, Cambridge city centre roads and the northern busway between the St Ives park and ride site and the outskirts of Cambridge. Journey time from Somersham to Cambridge city centre is scheduled to take 57 minutes, with no Sunday service. Whippet spent a total of £420,000 on three buses (£140,000 each). Less than a month after opening Whippet announced that they would adjust their sporadic Sunday service between Cambridge and Somersham, increasing it up to one service per hour.
smartcards. Cambridgeshire Country Council stated that multi-operator ticketing would be supported, allowing passengers to board the first bus that arrived—stating that such a ticket would be a first, but would take a while to perfect. Single tickets from one operator will not be valid on another operator's bus, but a multi-operator smartcard can be purchased.
116.2 million, with central government providing £92.5 million of the money. Cost-benefit analysis
of the scheme had variously assessed the expected ratio as 4.84, 2.28 (1998 prices) and 1.968, (a higher ratio is better), with the cost rising from an initial estimate of £54 million. In December 2008, the County Council assessed the financial risks of the project as "high"; None of the £12.7 million funding—out of £23.7 million—due to come from property developers had been received by the promoters. In November 2009 the backers of the "cb1" redevelopment scheme around the Cambridge railway station
frontage, Ashwell Property Group, had been due to make their £927,000 contribution towards the busway scheme, but were given permission to defer; and entered administration in December 2009. The taxpayer was expected to have to make up any funding shortfall. Cambridgeshire County Council announced it was budgeting £1 million per year to cover potential ongoing costs associated with the busway, through the reorganisation of other transport related budgets.
Repayments for the loans and associated interest would then be recovered from the contractors and future housing developers after the scheme had been completed.
Contributions from developers were additionally used to cover the cost of providing artworks and time capsule
s along the route.
, claimed that it would cost more than the original budgeted amount to finish the work, perhaps £6 million more. Another report suggests that the overrun could be £30 million on a construction cost of £90 million. Cambridgeshire County Council stated that it had been confident that the scheme would come in on budget, owing to the terms of its contract with BAM Nuttall. By December 2009, the project had been forecasted to be £1.3 million over budget, the Council's extra liabilities being limited to £5 million over the originally agreed price—with the right to impose penalties upon the contractors for late delivery; since February 2009, the contractors had been amassing a fine of £14,000 per day for late delivery, amounting to £6 million by June 2010 and estimated in December 2010 to be £9 million. On 29 January 2010, Cambridgeshire County Council's head of audit and risk management stated that uncertainty over the final construction price had been causing cash flow
issues for the council.
The County Council's performance bond with BAM Nuttall was limited to £7.5 million plus a further "unlimited guarantee" from Koninklijke BAM Groep
, BAM Nuttall's parent company based in The Netherlands.
The original price agreed for the engineering works conducted by BAM Nuttall had been £88 million—estimates in mid-February 2010 projected cost-runs on the Nuttall contract to have increased to £120–140 million. The main issue was structural repairs necessary to the new Great Ouse Viaduct in order to prevent water ingress. Later that month Cambridgeshire County Council stated that the council was due to borrow £41 million during 2010 and then £10.2 million the year after, payable to BAM Nuttall in order to complete the project.
in north Cambridge close to the A14 and science park go ahead, Cambridge County Council has proposed diverting the busway via the new station. Any work would be part of a major £500 million funding bid from the Government's Transport Innovation Fund coupled to the introduction of Congestion Charging schemes. Passenger interchange at Chesterton could then provide access to direct London and Ely mainline railway services.
Campaign group CAST.IRON has written to the government as a formal response to Department for Transport's consultation in the Greater Anglia rail franchise and proposed a new north Cambridge station adjacent to Milton Road and close to the end of the section of guided busway, instead of the proposed Chesterton station.
. CamLink is a proposal developed by RLW Estates which is a consortium of The Royal London Group, Turnstone Estates and St John's College
.
CamToo, a transport scheme developed by a separate set of local interest groups, has also offered proposals for further expansion of the guided busway network including:
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
scheme connecting the population centres of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Huntingdon
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It is the traditional county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council. It is known as the birthplace in 1599 of Oliver Cromwell.-History:Huntingdon...
and St Ives
St Ives, Cambridgeshire
St Ives is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England, around north-west of the city of Cambridge and north of London. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Huntingdonshire.-History:...
in the English county of Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
. Planning and construction for the Cambridge-Huntingdon Rapid Transit Scheme (CHRT) took place during the 2000s finalising in a decision to develop a 40 kilometres (25 mi) transport corridor
Transport corridor
A transportation corridor is a tract of land in which at least one main line for transport, be it road, rail or canal, has been built...
consisting of road improvements, bus lane
Bus lane
A bus lane or bus only lane is a lane restricted to buses, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion...
s and bus priority
Bus priority
Bus priority or transit signal priority is a name for various techniques to speed up bus public transport services at intersections with traffic signals amongst other methods. Trams and light rail vehicles can also be given priority...
measures, of which 25 kilometres (16 mi) is dedicated and exclusive-use guided bus
Guided bus
Guided buses are buses steered for part or all of their route by external means, usually on a dedicated track. This track, which often parallels existing roads, excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of reliable schedules on heavily used corridors even during rush hours.Guidance systems...
way.
The guided sections are notable for their length; making the scheme the longest operational guided busway in the world, overtaking the O-Bahn Busway
O-Bahn Busway
The Adelaide O-Bahn Busway is a guided busway located in Adelaide, South Australia. The O-Bahn – from the Latin omnibus and the German bahn – was conceived by Daimler-Benz to enable buses to avoid traffic congestion by sharing tram tunnels in the German city of Essen.The route was introduced in...
in Adelaide, South Australia. Specially adapted bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es are used—on the busway the bus driver
Bus driver
A bus driver, bus operator or omnibus driver is a person who drives buses professionally. Bus drivers typically drive their vehicles between bus stations or stops. They often drop off and pick up passengers on a predetermined route schedule. In British English a different term, coach drivers, is...
does not need to hold the steering wheel
Steering wheel
A steering wheel is a type of steering control in vehicles and vessels ....
as the concrete guideway controls the direction that the bus travels.
The reserved bus-only sections make up 25 kilometres (16 mi) of the route, and are in two parts, one either side of the centre of Cambridge. The northern length of dedicated busway runs parallel to the A14 road, using the course of the Cambridge and Huntingdon railway
Cambridge and Huntingdon railway
The Cambridge & St. Ives Branch was a railway built by the Wisbech, St Ives & Cambridge Junction Railway in the late 1840s. The railway ran from Cambridge in the south, through Fenland countryside to the market town of St...
that closed to passengers in 1970 and runs through the former railway stations at , and . A southern section connects Cambridge railway station
Cambridge railway station
Cambridge railway station is a railway station serving the city of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located at the end of Station Road, off Hills Road, 1 mile south-east of the city centre...
, Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned teaching hospital in Cambridge, England, with strong links to the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1766 on Trumpington Street with £4,500 from the will of Dr John Addenbrooke, a fellow of St Catharine's College...
and the park and ride site at Trumpington
Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
Trumpington is a village within the city of Cambridge, UK, of which it is a suburb. It is located on the south-west side of the city and borders Cherry Hinton to the east, Grantchester to the west and Great Shelford and Little Shelford to the south-east....
.
Construction began in March 2007 with an intended opening date of April 2009. Following a number of delays, an independent review was announced on 21 September 2010, while Cambridge MP Julian Huppert
Julian Huppert
Julian Leon Huppert is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom and Member of Parliament for Cambridge since 2010...
described the project as a "white elephant
White elephant
A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth...
". The original cost estimate of £150 million rose to to £181 million by December 2010.
The busway was handed over to the County Council in April 2011 and opened on 7 August 2011. It forms part of the system of transport in Cambridge
Transport in Cambridge
Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London.-Buses:...
and the latest in a list of guided busways and BRT systems in the United Kingdom.
Based on contracts signed with the promoters, Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council currently consists of 69 councillors, representing 60 electoral divisions. The Conservative Party has a majority on the council, having gained control in the 1997 local elections...
, bus services are operated by Stagecoach in Huntingdonshire and Whippet Coaches who collectively have exclusive use of the route for a period of five years—in exchange for providing a minimum service frequency between the times of 07:00 and 19:00 each week day.
Overview
The scheme links the city of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, in East Anglia, with St Ives
St Ives, Cambridgeshire
St Ives is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England, around north-west of the city of Cambridge and north of London. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Huntingdonshire.-History:...
, Huntingdon
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It is the traditional county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council. It is known as the birthplace in 1599 of Oliver Cromwell.-History:Huntingdon...
and Northstowe
Northstowe
Northstowe is a proposed new town of 9,500 houses in Cambridgeshire, UK. It is expected to be "an exemplar of sustainability in the use of renewable energy resources and reducing carbon emissions"...
(a proposed new town
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
) to the north-west, and with the M11 motorway
M11 motorway
The M11 motorway in England is a major road running approximately north from the North Circular Road in South Woodford in north-east London to the A14, north-west of Cambridge.-Route:...
to the south. The route includes two sections of guided operation, a bus-only road and other places with on-street operation in conventional bus lanes. New park and ride
Park and ride
Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...
sites have been built at Longstanton
Longstanton
Longstanton is a village in South Cambridgeshire, England, 6 miles northwest of Cambridge city centre.-History:For most of its history Longstanton was split into two parishes: the larger Long Stanton All Saints to the north and the smaller Long Stanton St. Michael to the south...
and at St Ives, with a tarmac cycle track/bridleway provided alongside some sections of the route. The final scheme includes bus priority
Bus priority
Bus priority or transit signal priority is a name for various techniques to speed up bus public transport services at intersections with traffic signals amongst other methods. Trams and light rail vehicles can also be given priority...
and real-time passenger information system
Passenger information system
A passenger information [display] system is an electronic information system which provides real-time passenger information. It may include both predictions about arrival and departure times, as well as information about the nature and causes of disruptions...
displays at busway bus stops.
It is estimated that 11,500 journeys a day will be made on the busway.
The scheme is predicted to cause a direct reduction in traffic on the busy parallel A14 road of 5.6% (rising to 11.1% with the new Park & Ride sites), although as other traffic re-routes to the freed-up road space from other parts of the local road network, the actual net reduction on the A14 is predicted to be 2.3%. The overall scheme is "not intended to solve the congestion problems on the A14" by itself, but will rather have an overall effect across the local road network, and be complementary to the planned road improvements on the A14.
Planning
In 2001 the Cambridge-Huntingdon Multi-Modal Study (CHUMMS) recommended widening of the A14 road and building of a guided busway along the old Cambridge and Huntingdon railwayCambridge and Huntingdon railway
The Cambridge & St. Ives Branch was a railway built by the Wisbech, St Ives & Cambridge Junction Railway in the late 1840s. The railway ran from Cambridge in the south, through Fenland countryside to the market town of St...
,
which had been closed to scheduled passenger rail traffic since 1970 and to all traffic since 1993. Since closure there had been proposals to reinstate a conventional rail service, and variously for a light railway network, a bus lane, a road with limited access, a bus-way, a cycle path and a nature walk. A local group, CAST.IRON, was set up in July 2003 (after being inspired by the Wensleydale Railway
Wensleydale Railway
The Wensleydale Railway is a railway line in Wensleydale and Lower Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England and the name of the company that operates services on the line....
) to promote and undertake reinstatement of the route for conventional rail services and to resist other proposals, referring to the guided bus as the 'misguided bus'. A private consortium that had proposed a guided bus scheme, SuperCAM, abandoned their plans in 2003. Arup
Arup
Arup is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the...
prepared the Transport and Works Act
Transport and Works Act 1992
The Transport and Works Act 1992 was established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to provide a system by which the construction of rail transport, tramway, inland waterway and harbour infrastructure could proceed in the UK by order of the Minister of State for Transport rather than, as...
(TWA) application presented in late 2003.
A public inquiry
Public inquiry
A Tribunal of Inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body in Common Law countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland or Canada. Such a public inquiry differs from a Royal Commission in that a public inquiry accepts evidence and conducts its hearings in a more...
was held into the successful proposal in September–October 2004. The scheme was supported by five bus and coach operators, and twenty other organisations and individuals. A total of 2,735 objections were received: from local councils, public bodies, transport interests, local pressure groups and individuals who criticised the Environmental Impact Assessment
Environmental impact assessment
An environmental impact assessment is an assessment of the possible positive or negative impact that a proposed project may have on the environment, together consisting of the natural, social and economic aspects....
, supported the rail alternative or objected to the scheme in principle. The scheme was approved by the Government in December 2005.
Construction
In March 2007, the then Transport Secretary Douglas AlexanderDouglas Alexander
Douglas Garven Alexander is a British Labour Party politician, who is currently the Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in the shadow cabinet of Ed Miliband. He has held cabinet posts under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, including Secretary of State for Scotland and...
officially opened a manufacturing plant at Longstanton that would produce the 6,000–7,000 concrete beams for the guided bus route between St Ives and Cambridge. Each beam was 350 millimetres thick with a further 180-millimetre lip for the glide wheels to press against. A total of 50,000 tonnes of concrete was cast to a precision of plus or minus one millimetre. Supports below the beams were under-pinned by 2,150 piles along a 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) length of the busway.
In the same year a new viaduct
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...
constructed of maintenance-free steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
was built over the River Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
as a replacement for a previous long-standing 200-tonne wrought-iron railway viaduct removed in 2007. There would later be a dispute between the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
-controlled County Council and opposition Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
councillors as to whether the structure was structurally sound, with a claim that water draining off the track over the viaduct could lead to crumbling.
In March 2008 existing guided vehicles were trialled along a section near Oakington. The vehicles tested included a Wrightbus
Wrightbus
Wrightbus is an independent coachbuilder and pioneer of the low-floor bus. Based in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, it was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and currently run by his son William Wright.-History:...
-bodied single-decker
Single-decker bus
A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term single-decker refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which is essentially a single decked bus with an extra deck and...
owned by FirstGroup, a Plaxton President
Plaxton President
The Plaxton President was a double-decker bus body built at Northern Counties plant in Wigan, England and branded as a Plaxton product for its main production run. It was unveiled in 1997 and built between 1999 and 2005. When Plaxton became part of TransBus International, the body was sold under...
-bodied Dennis Trident 2
Dennis Trident 2
Dennis Trident 2 is a 2-axle low-floor double-decker bus chassis originally built by Dennis in the United Kingdom, which was unveiled in 1997 and replaced the Dennis Arrow...
double-decker
Double-decker bus
A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or 'decks'. Global usage of this type of bus is more common in outer touring than in its intra-urban transportion role. Double-decker buses are also commonly found in certain parts of Europe, Asia, and former British colonies and protectorates...
from Lothian Buses
Lothian Buses
Lothian Buses Plc is the only municipal bus company in Scotland and the largest provider of bus services in Edinburgh, Scotland. City of Edinburgh Council own 91.01% of the company with the remainder being owned by East Lothian and Midlothian councils. As well as serving Edinburgh, Lothian Buses...
, and a white Alexander Dennis Enviro500 triple-axled
Multi-axle bus
A multi-axle bus is a bus or coach that has more than the conventional two axles, usually three , or more rarely, four...
double-decker. The test vehicles were fitted with sensors to assess vibration levels and ride quality.
Hot weather testing of the track took place during May/June 2010.
In addition to the bus fleet, Cambridgeshire County Council themselves trialled and purchased a specially adapted gritter
Gritter
A winter service vehicle , or snow removal vehicle, is used to clear thoroughfares of ice and snow. Winter service vehicles are usually based on dump truck chassis, with adaptations allowing them to carry specially designed snow removal equipment. Many authorities also use smaller vehicles on...
lorry for use during periods of cold weather, which will spray salt water rather than rock salt.
By August 2008 approximately 10 kilometres (6 mi) of the busway had been constructed, between Longstanton and Milton Road (Science Park). On 30 November 2009, road signs directing traffic from the A14 towards the future busway park and ride sites started to be installed. Other signage related to the busway had required subsequent height adjustments, and spelling corrections. Trees had also blown over, blocking the busway route near Swavesey. The twelve junctions on the route fitted with bus priority
Bus priority
Bus priority or transit signal priority is a name for various techniques to speed up bus public transport services at intersections with traffic signals amongst other methods. Trams and light rail vehicles can also be given priority...
traffic signals were tested on 16 December 2010 and worked as expected.
Delays
In January 2009 it was announced that the scheduled opening of the scheme had been delayed until late summer 2009 owing to bad weather and flooding in the Fen DraytonFen Drayton
Fen Drayton is a small village between Cambridge and St. Ives in Cambridgeshire, England, and between the villages of Fenstanton and Swavesey....
area. As a result of complications with a bridge at Hills Road in Cambridge, traffic restrictions there continued throughout the summer of 2009. Flooding and drainage issues affected the limestone-covered cycleway during late 2009 and early 2010.
In August 2009 a further delay until late November 2009 was announced for the busway to start carrying passengers on the northern section, with no date given for the opening of the southern section.
On 16 November 2009 the project was delayed for the third time when Cambridgeshire County Council announced that the northern section of the busway would not open on the previously advertised date of 29 November 2009. An opening date of "the end of the year" 2009 for the northern section was announced later in the same month, followed four days later by "hopefully in the new year [2010]". Initial busway services would only reach Huntingdon railway station
Huntingdon railway station
Huntingdon Railway Station serves the town of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The station is on the East Coast Main Line and has three platforms; one bay and two through platforms...
and not serve Hinchingbrooke Hospital
Hinchingbrooke Hospital
Hinchingbrooke Hospital is an NHS hospital in Hinchingbrooke near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Opened in 1983, it is a main hospital for the Huntingdonshire area, and has a range of specialities as well as an Accident and Emergency. It has 266 beds, including 24 specifically for day cases...
as had originally been promoted during the public inquiry; neither would they continue southwards to Cambridge railway station.
2010
In January 2010, the contractors and members of Cambridgeshire County Council were still in discussion about what required finishing.
During February 2010 the directors of both the signed up bus operators—Andy Campbell of Stagecoach in Cambridge, and Peter Lee of Whippet coaches—both expressed their companies' frustrations at the busway not being usable for the new buses they had bought to run on it. Shortly afterwards Stagecoach altered the slogan displayed on their fleet of buses for the busway, changing it from reading "I'll be on the busway soon, will you?" to a new slogan of "Will I be on the busway soon?". In the same month, South Cambridgeshire
South Cambridgeshire
South Cambridgeshire is a mostly rural local government district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. It surrounds the city of Cambridge, which is administered separately from the district by...
District Council demanded of Cambridgeshire County Council a comprehensive public statement giving clarity over rising costs. In mid-June 2010, none of the listed outstanding issues had been fixed and a public review was announced.
At the start of July 2010, it was reported that that neither section of the busway would open before 2011; the bus operators Stagecoach in Cambridge and Whippet reacted to the news angrily, suggesting that the operators might seek to reduce the minimum level of service that had been previously committed to. At a council meeting on 9 July 2010, a decision was taken to concentrate on completion of the southern section in order to get the whole route opened, rather than aiming for a phased introduction.
During late September 2010 the contractor, BAM Nuttall, missed deadlines for providing construction certificates needed by the Council, forcing Cambridgeshire County Council to begin their own inspections.
Opening
On 21 April 2011 the busway was officially handed over to Cambridgeshire County Council, triggering a 28-day period for any remedial works be undertaken by BAM Nuttall. This period expired without BAM Nuttall having completed any of the required work. The County Council contracted Jackson Civil Engineering to finish the busway, at BAM Nuttall's expense, with a view to opening the busway in August 2011. The County Council served a legal notice against BAM Nuttall that they were not willing to pay the cost of the budget overrun.A number of preview trials of the Busway were held, during which some problems were encountered, particularly with cyclists using the busway track. In one incident a cyclist cycling on the guide beams, rather than the cycle path next to the busway, was struck by a bus coming in the opposite direction. Trials of recovery procedures should a bus break down were also held, with the test finding that a stranded bus could be connected up and removed within five to ten minutes of a specially-adapted breakdown vehicle reaching the scene of the incident. During one preview journey held for journalists on 28 July 2011, Hugh Morris of the Cambridge First newspaper staged a race between the guided bus and a car travelling from Cambridge to St Ives to see which was quickest to reach the end of the track. The car beat the bus by ten minutes, although he noted that the trip had not been held during rush-hour, during which the A14 road is noted for congestion. A journey from St Ives to the Cambridge Science Park was found to take 20 minutes.
The busway and cycle track officially opened to the public on 7 August 2011. The first guided bus left St Ives at 09:00 after the busway had been officially opened by Andrew Lansley
Andrew Lansley
Andrew David Lansley, CBE, MP is the UK Secretary of State for Health, who has been the Conservative Member of Parliament for South Cambridgeshire since the 1997 general election, and was Shadow Secretary of State for Health from June 2004 until becoming Secretary of State for Health in May 2010...
MP. In the first seven days, a total of 55,895 trips were made on the busway, leading to the operators providing additional buses on their services. Over the first four weeks the average was 52,227 journeys (224,054 total).
Footfall and trade at businesses in the villages increased as a result, with the same increase reported by market traders and shopkeepers in St Ives As a bridleway, horse riders can also use the maintenance track adjacent to the northern guided section providing a traffic-free route between the villages.
Work began at the end of July 2011 on improving the park and ride facilities at Longstanton. Construction work included a £430,000 passenger waiting room and exhibition centre (for the adjacent Northstowe development).
Route
Starting at Huntingdon railway station
Huntingdon railway station
Huntingdon Railway Station serves the town of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The station is on the East Coast Main Line and has three platforms; one bay and two through platforms...
and town centre, buses travel on normal roads to St Ives. From here the busway follows the path of the former Cambridge and Huntingdon railway
Cambridge and Huntingdon railway
The Cambridge & St. Ives Branch was a railway built by the Wisbech, St Ives & Cambridge Junction Railway in the late 1840s. The railway ran from Cambridge in the south, through Fenland countryside to the market town of St...
to a new park and ride site south of the town, where it becomes guided. The buses stop at Swavesey
Swavesey
Swavesey is a village lying on the Greenwich Meridian in Cambridgeshire, England, with an approximate population of 2,480. The village is situated 9 miles to the north west of Cambridge and 3 miles south east of St...
, Longstanton, Oakington
Oakington
Oakington is a small village 4 miles north-west of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire in England, and belongs to the administrative district of South Cambridgeshire. The village falls into the parish of Oakington and Westwick.-History:...
and Histon
Histon
Histon and Impington are villages in Cambridgeshire, England, They are situated just north of Cambridge with the main bulk of the settlements being separated from the city by the A14 road ....
, with a request stop for the nature reserve at Fen Drayton
Fen Drayton
Fen Drayton is a small village between Cambridge and St. Ives in Cambridgeshire, England, and between the villages of Fenstanton and Swavesey....
. Should a proposed new town
New town
A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...
at Northstowe be built, further stops would be opened.
Upon entering Cambridge the route diverges. One route has stops at Cambridge Regional College
Cambridge Regional College
Cambridge Regional College is a college of further education located in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.-College profile:The college, which has some of the best facilities in the country after a £23 million development programme, is a centre of vocational excellence offering courses in a wide...
and Cambridge Science Park
Cambridge Science Park
The Cambridge Science Park, founded by Trinity College in 1970, is the oldest science park in the United Kingdom. It is a concentration of science and technology related businesses, and has strong links with the nearby University of Cambridge....
, before the bus route rejoins the road network to travel into central Cambridge. The other joins the road network at Orchard Park (formerly Arbury Park), before continuing to the city centre. The two forks converge at Cambridge bus station for the journey to Cambridge railway station
Cambridge railway station
Cambridge railway station is a railway station serving the city of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located at the end of Station Road, off Hills Road, 1 mile south-east of the city centre...
. Beyond Cambridge railway station the buses are again guided using the trackbed and structures of the former Cambridge-Oxford railway
Varsity Line
The Varsity Line is an informal name for the railway route that formerly linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated successively by the London and North Western Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and British Railways...
(The Varsity Line) to travel south to Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned teaching hospital in Cambridge, England, with strong links to the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1766 on Trumpington Street with £4,500 from the will of Dr John Addenbrooke, a fellow of St Catharine's College...
and Trumpington Park and Ride. This section last saw a scheduled passenger train in 1967.
Infrastructure
The busway is designed for buses travelling at 55 miles per hour (24.6 m/s), slowing to 30 miles per hour (13.4 m/s) where it crosses public highways. Guidance is achieved using the guidewheel-on-concrete-kerb method, with the busway being constructed from pre-cast concrete sections that are 15 metres (49.2 ft) long and 2.6 metres (8.5 ft) wide. Additionally, the guide wheels will aid close positioning at slightly modified bus stops within the on-street sections.The dedicated bus busway is 6 metres (19.7 ft) wide consisting of two 2.6-metre wide busways separated by a central reservation of 800 millimetres (31 in). Between Cambridge and St Ives there is also a 4 metres (13 ft) wide (maximum) cycleway/footpath/maintenance track to one side and a 700 millimetres (28 in) evacuation strip to the other creating a total width of 10.7 metres (35.1 ft). Where necessary it is narrower; for example through the Trumpington cutting where there is a single busway with a narrower maintenance-only track giving a total width of approximately 6.3 metres (20.7 ft). In 2010, proposals were made to reduce the width of the cycletrack, narrowing it down to 3 metres and increasing the height in order to combat flooding. Elevated sections have two evacuation strips at busway level with the cycletrack/footpath/maintenance track at the base of the embankment.
The 6 metres (19.7 ft) width of the bus busway is narrower than the 9.3 metres (30.5 ft) width of a single carriageway rural all-purpose road built to 2009 standards (excluding attendant verges and footpaths/cyclepaths in both cases). A conventional road would have been too wide for the busway itself to fit on top of the narrower existing railway embankments and across the under-bridges along parts of the route. The required maintenance track is fitted either adjacent to the busways on flat land, or to one side at the foot of the former railway embankments—the combined width of the maintenance track and two busways being considerably wider than that of the railway it had replaced. To negotiate Trumpington Cutting on the southern section, a narrower maintenance track was required, along with the use of a bi-directional single track
Single track (rail)
A single track railway is where trains in both directions share the same track. Single track is normally used on lesser used rail lines, often branch lines, where the traffic density is not high enough to justify the cost of building double tracks....
busway in order to fit within the width of the former double track railway line. The southern section will be restricted to use by single decker buses.
Services
Two operators, StagecoachStagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
and Whippet Coaches, committed to buying new buses and running commercial services on the scheme.
The council had previously held talks with Cavalier (Huntingdon and District) and another operator.
As with all other UK busway schemes in the privatised bus industry
Bus deregulation
Bus deregulation in Great Britain came into force on 26 October 1986, as part of the Transport Act 1985.The 'Buses' White Paper was the basis of the Transport Act 1985, which provided for the deregulation of local bus services in the whole of the United Kingdom except for Northern Ireland and...
, Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council
Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council currently consists of 69 councillors, representing 60 electoral divisions. The Conservative Party has a majority on the council, having gained control in the 1997 local elections...
owns the infrastructure, and will allow private bus operators to use it on their registered services, subject to quality contracts specifying vehicle and service standards. During peak hours of 07:00–19:00 operators are charged for using the busway.
Seven buses per hour run on the core northern section between St Ives and Cambridge Science Park during the day, reduced to hourly services in the evenings and on Sundays. Figures originally published during 2004 by Cambridgeshire County Council proposed that it would begin operation with six services per hour and work up to twenty services per hour into Cambridge during peak periods by 2016.
Routes A and B
Stagecoach run services on Routes A and B between St Ives and Cambridge, with extensions to Huntingdon railway station. The journey time for Routes A and B from St Ives bus station to the Cambridge Science Park are 23 minutes plus an additional 15 minutes into Cambridge city centre, meaning journey times of roughtly 38 minutes in total. Stagecoach's previous three-times per hour Service 55 between Cambridge and St Ives had been timetabled as taking 30–37 minutes. The promoters of the scheme predicted that journey times via the busway route might be more consistent and reliable, due to buses avoiding the busy A14 road.
To operate their services, Stagecoach ordered ten Eclipse/B7RLE
Wright Eclipse
The Wright Eclipse is a low-floor single-deck bus body built by Wright on Volvo B7 chassis. It shares its design with the Wright Solar on Scania L94 chassis....
single decker buses, to be manufactured by Wrightbus and Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
, and ten Alexander Dennis Enviro400/Scania N230UD
Scania N-series
Scania N-series is a series of city bus with straight-up, transversely mounted Euro IV/Euro V engine at the rear.It is available as N230UB, N270UB as well as the N230UD and N270UD...
double deckers for the guided busway network. All of the new specially-branded vehicles are equipped with leather seats, air chill or air conditioning
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
, real time information, and free Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
. The new fleet of buses were deployed on Stagecoach's other services prior to the opening of guided sections of the busway, having cost the operator a total of £3 million plus £1 million in staffing and training costs.
Less than a month after opening, Stagecoach announced that the Sunday service would be increased to three buses per hour to St. Ives, up from the original one per hour. One Sunday service per hour would also continue to Huntingdon.
Route C
Whippet Coaches operate Route C from Somersham to Cambridge centre using a mixture of rural roads, Cambridge city centre roads and the northern busway between the St Ives park and ride site and the outskirts of Cambridge. Journey time from Somersham to Cambridge city centre is scheduled to take 57 minutes, with no Sunday service. Whippet spent a total of £420,000 on three buses (£140,000 each). Less than a month after opening Whippet announced that they would adjust their sporadic Sunday service between Cambridge and Somersham, increasing it up to one service per hour.
Ticketing
When travelling on the busway section, passengers are required to purchase their tickets before boarding from one of seventeen ticket issuing machines compatible with ITSOIntegrated Transport Smartcard Organisation
ITSO is a non-profit membership organisation which maintains and develops the ITSO specification. The specification is an open one which is Crown copyrighted and available to all with the aim of allowing interoperable ticketing between transport operators in the UK....
smartcards. Cambridgeshire Country Council stated that multi-operator ticketing would be supported, allowing passengers to board the first bus that arrived—stating that such a ticket would be a first, but would take a while to perfect. Single tickets from one operator will not be valid on another operator's bus, but a multi-operator smartcard can be purchased.
Construction costs
The project was budgeted to cost £Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
116.2 million, with central government providing £92.5 million of the money. Cost-benefit analysis
Cost-benefit analysis
Cost–benefit analysis , sometimes called benefit–cost analysis , is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project for two purposes: to determine if it is a sound investment , to see how it compares with alternate projects...
of the scheme had variously assessed the expected ratio as 4.84, 2.28 (1998 prices) and 1.968, (a higher ratio is better), with the cost rising from an initial estimate of £54 million. In December 2008, the County Council assessed the financial risks of the project as "high"; None of the £12.7 million funding—out of £23.7 million—due to come from property developers had been received by the promoters. In November 2009 the backers of the "cb1" redevelopment scheme around the Cambridge railway station
Cambridge railway station
Cambridge railway station is a railway station serving the city of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located at the end of Station Road, off Hills Road, 1 mile south-east of the city centre...
frontage, Ashwell Property Group, had been due to make their £927,000 contribution towards the busway scheme, but were given permission to defer; and entered administration in December 2009. The taxpayer was expected to have to make up any funding shortfall. Cambridgeshire County Council announced it was budgeting £1 million per year to cover potential ongoing costs associated with the busway, through the reorganisation of other transport related budgets.
Repayments for the loans and associated interest would then be recovered from the contractors and future housing developers after the scheme had been completed.
Contributions from developers were additionally used to cover the cost of providing artworks and time capsule
Time capsule
A time capsule is an historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians...
s along the route.
BAM Nuttall
The contractor, BAM NuttallEdmund Nuttall
BAM Nuttall Limited is a construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Camberley, United Kingdom. It has been involved in a portfolio of road, rail, nuclear, and other major projects worldwide...
, claimed that it would cost more than the original budgeted amount to finish the work, perhaps £6 million more. Another report suggests that the overrun could be £30 million on a construction cost of £90 million. Cambridgeshire County Council stated that it had been confident that the scheme would come in on budget, owing to the terms of its contract with BAM Nuttall. By December 2009, the project had been forecasted to be £1.3 million over budget, the Council's extra liabilities being limited to £5 million over the originally agreed price—with the right to impose penalties upon the contractors for late delivery; since February 2009, the contractors had been amassing a fine of £14,000 per day for late delivery, amounting to £6 million by June 2010 and estimated in December 2010 to be £9 million. On 29 January 2010, Cambridgeshire County Council's head of audit and risk management stated that uncertainty over the final construction price had been causing cash flow
Cash flow
Cash flow is the movement of money into or out of a business, project, or financial product. It is usually measured during a specified, finite period of time. Measurement of cash flow can be used for calculating other parameters that give information on a company's value and situation.Cash flow...
issues for the council.
The County Council's performance bond with BAM Nuttall was limited to £7.5 million plus a further "unlimited guarantee" from Koninklijke BAM Groep
Koninklijke BAM Groep
Koninklijke BAM Groep is a major European construction-services business with headquarters in Bunnik, Netherlands.-History:The company was founded by Adam Van der Wal as a joiner's shop in 1869...
, BAM Nuttall's parent company based in The Netherlands.
The original price agreed for the engineering works conducted by BAM Nuttall had been £88 million—estimates in mid-February 2010 projected cost-runs on the Nuttall contract to have increased to £120–140 million. The main issue was structural repairs necessary to the new Great Ouse Viaduct in order to prevent water ingress. Later that month Cambridgeshire County Council stated that the council was due to borrow £41 million during 2010 and then £10.2 million the year after, payable to BAM Nuttall in order to complete the project.
Atkins
Cambridgeshire County Council brought in Atkins as consultants to manage the project. Following the delivery delays, Atkins' bill for services had increased from an expected £2.9 million to £9.6 million. The cost of this would be offset by the £10.8-million fine imposed on BAM Nuttall over the same time-period.Chesterton railway station
Should development of the proposed Chesterton railway stationChesterton railway station
Chesterton railway station is a proposed railway station that would be located in the Cambridge suburb of Chesterton. The official proposal from Cambridgeshire County Council, which has the backing of the rail industry, is to locate the station at Chesterton Sidings on the Fen Line, which runs from...
in north Cambridge close to the A14 and science park go ahead, Cambridge County Council has proposed diverting the busway via the new station. Any work would be part of a major £500 million funding bid from the Government's Transport Innovation Fund coupled to the introduction of Congestion Charging schemes. Passenger interchange at Chesterton could then provide access to direct London and Ely mainline railway services.
Campaign group CAST.IRON has written to the government as a formal response to Department for Transport's consultation in the Greater Anglia rail franchise and proposed a new north Cambridge station adjacent to Milton Road and close to the end of the section of guided busway, instead of the proposed Chesterton station.
Southern extensions
By June 2010, BAM Nuttall was predicting that it hoped to have the originally planned southern sections to Trumpington and Addenbrooke's Hospital opened by December 2010. Cambridgeshire County Council has proposed extending the busway beyond each of the Addenbrooke's Hospital and Trumpington Park and Ride termini. Funding would be part of the same Transport Innovation Fund proposals.Other proposals
In connection with the Chesterton diversion, the CamLink consortium have proposed a new busway route from the centre of Cambridge, continuing past a future Chesterton station to WaterbeachWaterbeach
Waterbeach is a large fen-edge village located 6 miles north of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire in England, and belongs to the administrative district of South Cambridgeshire. The parish covers an area of 23.26 km².- Village :...
. CamLink is a proposal developed by RLW Estates which is a consortium of The Royal London Group, Turnstone Estates and St John's College
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
.
CamToo, a transport scheme developed by a separate set of local interest groups, has also offered proposals for further expansion of the guided busway network including:
- Extension beyond the Milton Road junction, crossing Milton Road to Barnwell Bridge, continuing along the railway alignment already used.
- New access routes to and from the A14 road to enable buses coming from Bar HillBar HillBar Hill is a purpose-built village with a population of 4,000 about 4 miles northwest of Cambridge, England on the A14 road.The Prime Meridian passes just to the west of Bar Hill.-History:...
and CambourneCambourneCambourne is a new settlement and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, in the district of South Cambridgeshire. It lies on the A428 road between Cambridge, 9 miles to the east, and St Neots and Bedford to the west. It comprises the three villages of Great Cambourne, Lower Cambourne and Upper...
to gain access to the northern guided section of the busway and its bridge under the A14 road. - A new bridge under the A14 dual carriageway to enable buses serving Milton, including a new Park and Ride site, to avoid the busy Milton Road / A14 roundabout.
- Conversion of bus lanes on Newmarket Road to "tramway" style (bus lanes moved into the centre of the road with right-turns across the bus lanes prevented for normal traffic).
- Extension beyond the Addenbrooke's Hospital terminus, connecting to the A1303 Babraham Road
- Extension beyond the Trumpington Park and Ride terminus, further along the course of the old Bedford railway line until reaching the B1046 between BartonBarton, CambridgeshireBarton is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is about south-west of Cambridge, near junction 12 of the M11 motorway.- History :...
and CombertonCombertonComberton is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, just east of the Prime Meridian.-History:Archaeological finds, including a Neolithic polished stone axe and a Bronze Age barrow , suggest there has been a settlement here for thousands of years. A Roman villa was discovered...
.
External links
- "The Busway" official website
- Cambridge to Huntingdon Multi Modal Study
- CAST.IRON: pressure group supporting railway reinstatement
- NoGuidedBus comprehensive collection of links to press articles