Le Busway

I was intrigued by this report of a Busway in Nantes, France. Unlike ours it is electric.

http://www.20minutes.fr/nantes/2149943-20171012-nantes-voila-quoi-ressembleront-nouveaux-busways-geants-100-electriqueshttp://www.20minutes.fr/nantes/2149943-20171012-nantes-voila-quoi-ressembleront-nouveaux-busways-geants-100-electriques

Study on Beneft of Busway on Commuters Health

A study has been published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine examining the health benefits of the guided busway to 469 adult commuters who live within 30km of Cambridge.

It concluded that "Providing a new sustainable transport infrastructure was effective in promoting active commuting" (i.e. walking / cycling.)

Read the details here

Erosion of the Busway Embankment

Following the recent floods, there is erosion of the busway embankment along many of the stretches which flooded between Swavesey and St. Ives. Along the high water level, the waves created by the winds have removed soil from the banks, and in places created quite large holes.

This is not visible from a bus, but from the cycle track, the damage can be seen.

2 example photos below:

Photo: Margaret Parish

Photo: Margaret Parish

New buses and more frequent service

Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier has revealed that, in July, Stagecoach will acquire eight new buses enabling them to increase services to every 7 or 8 minutes (or eight buses an hour instead of the present six).

Once the new bus stop in Station Road, St Ives, is built, services can be extended into St Ives Town centre.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Huntingdon-St-Ives-St-Neots/Busway-services-to-grow-21022012.htm

Busway in the snow

Yesterday evening on my way home from work, I noticed that the busway maintenance vehicle was running, presumably spraying salt water on the tracks to prevent  ice build up.

About 4 inches of snow fell in St Ives late evening and during the night.

I caught the 09.40 Service B from St Ives Bus Station to Cambridge. Here is a picture showing a Whippet bus arriving at the bus station presumably to start the journey to Cambridge.

The service B left on time, and here is a view approaching St Ives Park & Ride showing the Whippet bus turning back.

Later, I received an 'adverse weather update' email from Stagecoach which said that:


Stagecoach route B is operating but may be subject to delay due to the adverse weather conditions. 
Whippets route C is not operating today (Sunday 5th February 2012). 

Whippet's service 1A via Bar Hill was running. It left St Ives ahead of the B and coincided with the B at the Shire Hall.

How did the busway perform with snow on the tracks? 

The tracks were still covered with snow, and there was no evidence that the salting vehicle had been out this morning. There had been no snow plough either. My bus ran quite slowly on the busway, possibly no more than 20mph. Arrival in Cambridge was 10.32 - about 16 minutes late.

This view is between Swavesey and Longstanton, with a bus approaching in the opposite direction.

Track conditions on the section through Orchard Park, where the buses run on narrow concrete tracks with no guides were appalling. At one point the bus skidded violently, and it appeared that it was not actually keeping to the concrete. How could they, when the concrete was covered with now? 

These images illustrate the treacherous conditions at Orchard Park on the return journey (13.20 from Drummer Street).

Conditions on the track on the return were much better. Passage of several buses had helped the snow to melt and the bus was able to run at normal speed. We alighted at Fen Drayton on time, and walked back to St Ives from there.

The salting vehicle was running. Here it is travelling eastbound near Longstanton.

Does the busway have a snow plough?  In November it was announced that a Multihog had been purchase to deal with snow on the busway. See http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/latest-news/guided_busway_snowplough_unveiled_1_1128427

And what  arrangements are in place to get the track cleared early in the morning before the buses start to run?

This is the busway's first experience of snow. It coped, but the absence of effective de-snowing equipment was a problem. 

If Stagecoach could run the Service B, why did Whippet not run its Service C?

Update - The Hunts Post (8 February, page 3)  carried a brief article about the effect of snow on the busway. Whippet abandoned their service after the first bus along the track experienced problems with compacted snow,  and slipping. Stagecoach decide to keep going for the sake of their customers.

Traffic congestion, rat runs and developments at Godmanchester

A letter in this week's Hunts Post (1 February, page 6) draws attention to increasing numbers of motorists illegally using the St Ives Town Bridge as a rat run to avoid congestion on Harrison way caused by the busway traffic lights.

The writer also questions the wisdom of erecting a new bus stop in Station Road, St Ives.

This proposal, mentioned in an early blog post, is about installing a new bus stop outside Hyperion auction house. How exactly this will be achieved, the council has not yet revealed, but it seems to me that it must involve felling a number of trees,  widening the pavement, and narrowing the carriageway. Although Cambridge-bound busway buses will be able to avoid looping back into the bus station, all other buses arriving at the bus station will still have to turn that corner. So, while it might speed up some busway services, it may cause extra delays to other buses, and general motor traffic in Station Road.

A better solution surely would be to create extra bus bays on the north side of the bus station to allow busway service to Cambridge to avoid the loop.

St Ives Bus Station is too small for the number of buses currently using it. Perhaps some services currently terminating at the Bus Station could be extended to terminate at the Park & Ride, where there is plenty of space. They might have to take out the short sections of busway on either side of the Harrison Road light and put in rising bollards.

A second letter on page 6 refers to the Harrison Way lights causing tailbacks through central St Ives which in turn are causing busway services arriving in from Huntingdon and Ramsey Road to be delayed.

Elsewhere in this issue ( Hunts Post, 1 February, page 29) there is an article about the proposed development of 700 new house at Bear's Croft Farm on the outskirts of Godmanchester. It is well known that Godmanchester has a poor bus service, especially in the Cambridge direction. The developers, Fairfield Partnership, have annouced plans to improve the bus service in order to minimise congestion on the A14. They want 4 buses an hour at peak, and 3 at off peak to link Godmanchester with Huntingdon, plus 3 an hour at peak and 2 an hour off peak from Godmanchester to St Ives and the busway via Hemingford Grey. How these two proposed services, with conflicting frequencies, will work, is not clear to me.

A big drawback is that these services will have to traverse a short section of the A14 to get from Godmanchester to Hemingford Grey, and will therefore be subject to the usual delays when the A14 is blocked. Knowing that the Whippet route 1A/5 that currently runs via the A14 is just as quick as the busway services ( most of the time), does beg the question of how a Godmanchester to Cambridge via St Ives and the busway route could be fast and reliable enough to attract the Godmanchester commuter traffic. I know one person who commutes from Godmanchester to Cambridge who find that the best way is to drive to Madingley Park & Ride and bus from there.

New bus stop in St Ives Town Centre

Cambridgeshire County Council is proposing to build a new bus stop in Station Road, St Ives. (Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier, 12 January, page 32)

This will be used by Cambridge-bound busway services, and by reducing pressure on St Ives Bus Station, will make it possible for Service A buses to terminate at St Ives Bus Station. At present most service A buses run to/from the Park & Ride and do not serve the bus station. Many passengers (including me) have to walk the quarter mile from the Park & Ride to the town centre.

Hopefully, the extended bus route will cut down on the number of pedestrians crossing Harrison Way and so minimise delays to motorists on the A1096. The change will also stop Cambridge-bound buses from having to loop around the bus station. This will cut 2 minutes from the journey time. Cambridgeshire County Council cabinet meets on 17 January and is expected to recommend the project to the Council.

Guided bus good for Huntingdonshire

Writing in the Hunts Post ( 28 December, page 6) Bob Burn-Murdoch discusses the beneficial effect of the busway on Huntingdonshire generally, and especially St Ives. For months after the busway opened 'St Ives was thronged with crowds of people from the big city'. It's our big chance, he says - we offer a range of shops in a town centre visitors can walk through in a few minutes. Bob also notes that Cambridge has more visitors that it knows what to do with, but now some of them can be directed to St Ives via the busway. Hopefully they will discover, not just St Ives and its excellent museum of which Bob is the curator, but also Huntingdonshire's other historic towns and villages.

New Year bus services

Today (the New Year Bank Holiday)  a Sunday service has been running on the busway. However, the electronic notice board at St Ives Park & Ride was showing a normal weekday service including buses on service A to Trumpington. I noticed that live bus times were not showing either. Electronic information systems are only as good as the people who input the data. Somebody at the County Council's busway department has slipped up here, I reckon.

Not impressed?

In the Hunts Post this week (21 December, page 6) is a letter from a Huntingdon resident whose journey to Addenbrooke's is slower that it used to be before the busway started running. He also notes that the Whippet 1A often reaches Cambridge before the Busway service, and that the so-called 'fast' buses from Huntingdon, introduced in October do not live up to expectations.

Today I travelled from St Ives to Cambridge on the 0735 Service B. The 1A left simultaneously with the B, and arrived in Cambridge ahead of the B. OK, the traffic is unusually light in the run-up to Christmas.  In fact, the 1A often beats the Busway service, even on journeys at peak hours such as the 17.10 Whippet departure from Drummer Street.

The Huntingdon to Cambridge bus service is good on frequency, but poor on speed.

A problem the bus companies need to address is how to provide a fast service between Huntingdon and Cambridge that doesn't go all round St Ives. Would an Oxmoor-Huntingdon-Godmanchester-Cambridge route via the A428 be quicker thatn the busway?

Christmas Timetables

Christmas and New Year Bus Times on the busway are as follows:

Christmas Eve - normal Saturday service - last buses around 8pm
Christmas Day and Boxing day - no service
27 December - Routes A & B will operate a Saturday service
28-30 December - Saturday service
New Year's Eve - Normal Saturday service - last buses around 8pm
New Year's Day - no service
2 January Sunday service
3 January - normal service resumes

http://www.thebusway.info/servicedetails.aspx?update=126

Car traps

On Saturday a motorist drove onto the busway near Cambridge rail station and got stuck  in the car trap. The driver was apparently blinded by low angle sunlight and failed to spot the road signs. Some passers-by helped the driver to manoeuvre the car out of the trap. The busway was blocked for about 15 minutes. This is the fourth such incident on the busway and is a prosecutable offence. (Cambridge News, 6 December 2011, pages 1 and 5)

Harrison Way traffic lights

Last week there were complaints about the pedestrian phase of the lights being too slow to respond. It was reported that the the response time was 90 seconds.

Since then, the lights have been responding instantly to the press of the button by pedestrians - which is good news for pedestrians, perhaps not so good for motorists.

Last night around 9.30pm, the lights were  off completely and a group of workmen were digging up the road between the lights and the control box at the roadside.

This is a daytime photo of the lights looking out from Station Road  towards St Ives Park & Ride.

Completion of the cycleway

Despite reports in the newspapers that work on the cycleway has been completed, this is not the case. There is still one outstanding job to be done - fitting a railing to the floodwater culvert just east of the Ouse Viaduct. Meanwhile walkers and cyclists are protected by temporary barriers and warning cones.

Fixings are already in place to support the railing.

Delays to motorists and completion of the cycle track

Four letters in this week's Hunts Post ( 23 November, page 6) about delays to motorists using Harrison Way, St Ives -  caused by the busway traffic lights.

On page 5 of the same issue is a report saying that the County Council has promised to keep the performance of the Harrison Road lights under review. They were set so that pedestrians had to wait 90 seconds when traffic was heavy compared with 30-50 seconds at 'normal' pedestrian crossings.

Next time I am walking across there I shall check the waiting time.

The same article refers to the final completion of  the busway with the raising of the cycle track to reduce flooding to an average of one month per year.

Peter Quest of the Cyclists' Touring Club says it's the best cycleway he has seen in this country.

Multihog machine

Cambridgeshire County Council has purchased a Multihog machine, a combined snow plough and brine sprayer. This will be used on the busway bridleway in the winter to deal with ice on the track. The Multihog can have a planer  or sweeper attachment added, so it can be used for other tasks throughout the year. Cost £75,000.
(Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier, 17 November, page 8)

A14 improvements

There is a two page spread in the Hunts Post (16 November, pages 20-21) about thecampaign to have the A14 upgraded between Ellington and Fen Ditton.

Jonathan Djanogly says that although the busway is proving popular, even if every car user on the A14 switched to the busway, traffic would only be reduced by 5% 'hardly a pinprick'.

However, he is suppportive of  the need for the A14 upgrade.

Busway traffic lights

Last week's Hunts Post (16 November, page 7) has printed five letters from St Ives and Fenstanton residents about delays to road traffic at the point where the busway crosses Harrison Way. Drivers say they are experiencing longer delays due to the traffic lights, and  extra traffic heading along Meadow Lane towards St Ives Park & Ride. There is criticism of pedestrians crossing Harrison way to join buses starting from the Park & Ride.

One correspondent, who travels from  St Ives to work in Papworth finds her journeys extended by 10-15 minutes. But what alternative does she have? The bus service between St Ives and Papworth is infrequent, and it too is presumably affected by the delays.

The busway has undoubtedly improved public transport along one single travel corridor - but in other directions bus services are poor or non existent so people are still faced with having to commute by car.

Then there is the St Ives road network - only 4 routes in/out town. With so many St Ives residents working outside of St Ives, is it any wonder there are traffic queues at rush hour?

There is a suggestion in response to last week's comment about delays to Olympic lorries - why not reschedule the lorry trips to avoid the rush hour?

Busway delays Olympic runs

This week's Hunts Post reveals that the busway is delaying transport of construction materials from Marshalls in St Ives to the Olympic Games site in London - 30 HGVs of materials per day, and, of course, 30 return trips empty.

Chris Annis of Marshalls claims this is due to the traffic lights where the busway crosses Harrison Way, plus cars parking in Meadow Lane. The lights are also causing delays back  to the Manchester Arms. Bob Menzies of Cambridgeshire County Council does not believe the lights are causing these delays, and says that the Council has no record of Marshalls having complained about this matter.
(Hunts Post, 9 November, page 8)

Of course, if the railway had been retained, then this material could potentially have been transported by rail.

Guy Fawkes diversions

On 5 November Midsummer Common (Cambridge) is the scene of a huge Guy Fawkes Bonfire. Some of the nearby roads will be closed from 6.30 to 8.30 pm and this will mean that buses have to be diverted.

The A will go round by East Road and Elizabeth way, and won't be able to call at New Square. However, the notice says it won't call at Victoria Avenue - which it doesn't anyway.
I was curious to note that the diversion route doesn't simply cut straight from Elizabeth Way to Milton Road, but heads along Chesterton Lane to Staples Corner.

The B  towards St Ives will go via Hobson Street and King Street, skipping New Square. The notice  (pictured above) says it won't call at Jesus Lane either, although the map shows it passing the Jesus Lane bus stop.

The B from St Ives will reach the bus station via the Backs, Silver Street and Downing Street, and won't call at Round Church Street or New Square.