Michelin tyres for Whippet fleet

Following its takeover in November by by Tower Transit Group, Whippet has announced that its fleet (including its Busway vehicles) will be incorporated into its parent company's tyre management contract. This will see Michelin tyres being steadily fitted across the fleet, replacing a previous mixed tyre policy. Michelin will then be responsible for tyre management, technical and legislative expertise. The full story, doubtless based on a TTG press release, has appeared in a number of trade sources - here's the version that Military Technologies News put out.

Parking Charges at Guided Busway Park and Ride Sites

As previously reported here parking charges were due to be introduced at the St Ives & Longstanton Park & Ride sites "in April".

April is nearly gone, but there are clear preparations at St Ives, and signs stating that charges start on 14th May:

Notice of start of parking charges

There are a total of 7 ticket machines at St Ives - all currently covered over - two groups of 3, and one on its own.

Three behind the toilet block.

 

 

Three near the open area between the bus stops and the parking.

 

 

And one at the east end.

 

Also some additional signs around the car park:

 

 

 



 

Diversions in the Orchard Park area this weekend

This notice has been issued about route temporary route changes in the Orchard Park area.

Orchard Park Stop Closures

On both Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th April 2015 the Busway B service will be unable to call at either Orchard Park stop for journeys TOWARDS St Ives.

Customers travelling from Orchard Park West or East towards St Ives can board the B service on Histon Road, just to the south of Kings Hedges Road as the bus will run via Histon Road to Histon and Impington where the normal route will resume.

Customers travelling from Central Cambridge to Orchard Park inclusive should use the B service as normal and alight the bus at the stop on Histon Road, just before the junction with Kings Hedges Road.

B services TOWARDS Central Cambridge are unaffected as are all other Busway services and stops.

Full details here.

New pedestrian/cyclist links to/from Busway near Cambridge Railway Station

Two new links from near to the Busway at Cambridge Railway Station have recently opened and will benefit pedestrians connecting to/from Busway A, C & R services (as well as cyclists). One is a short link from south of the station to the east side of Hills Rd (likely to be of most use if you're heading to the Leisure Park area); the other is again from the south of the station, but starts south of the Hills Road bridge and goes through to Fitzwilliam Road/Clarendon Road (and from there to Brooklands Avenue).

There's a very handy summary in the current issue of the Cambridge Cycling Campaign Newsletter. More detailed descriptions and maps were provided in issue 117 (the paths numbered 1 and 4). Thanks to the CCC for documenting this and for making the information available.

I've been unable to determine whether these are public rights of way, permissive access paths or have some other legal status. Neither currently show up on the County Council's interactive map as rights of way/permissive paths.

Busway engineering work - Saturday 18 April

Bus route A will be diverted on Saturday 18 April not 16 March as indicated in the first email.

This announcement was sent out yesterday:

On Saturday 18th April 2015 the southern section of Busway track will be closed for engineering work.

Due to the nature of the work being carried out the Busway A will be using an alternative route between Trumpington park&ride and Addenbrooke's Hospital. This means the service will be unable to call at Trumpington Foster Road ALL DAY on Saturday 18th March.

Customers usually boarding/alighting at this location should either use the Busway A from/to Trumpington park&ride or the Citi 7 service from/to Trumpington High Street as an alternative. Please note the Citi 7 only runs as far as Central Cambridge northbound.

All other Busway stops and services are unaffected.

Correction issued today reads as follows:

Yesterday we sent an email alerting you about forthcoming engineering works affecting services stopping at Foster Road. The incorrect dates were included in this email.

The work at Foster Road is taking place ALL DAY on Saturday 18th April. Please disregard the other dates mentioned in the previous email.

We are sorry for any confusion caused by the previous email.

Busway track repairs

If you are travelling on the busway today, you may notice that the track is closed near Histon for repair work. That section of track has been quite bumpy for some time. Between Longstanton and Oakington, and also between Oakington and Histon,  there are two other places where they've dug out some of the track ballast, presumably with a view to carrying out repairs.

But how bad is ithe busway track in reality? Will every track section have to be lifted and new rubber [ads inserted?

An article in the Wisbech Standard here suggests that it is very bad.

The busway between Trumpington and  Addenbrooke's will be closed for repairs next weekend.

Also reported in the Cambridge News here.

Engineering works affecting busway track between Histon and Orchard Park - 11 and 12 April

The section of busway between Histon and the Orchard Park junction will be closed during Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th April. This is to allow engineering works to the track.

Full details of the changes are given here.

New busway route starts 7 April

A new peak-hour bus route (service R) linking Trumpington park & Ride with Cambridge Rail Station starts tomorrow (7 April).

See article in Cambridge News.