Busway "emergencies"

The Cambridge News has used FoI requests to obtain a breakdown of what it describes as "emergencies" on the Busway in the past 18 months. There were 38 of them. Follow this link for the full story, including a slideshow of 10 photos of such incidents (all but one of the photos are of vehicle incursions - presumably because broken traffic lights aren't especially photogenic).

Opinions seem to differ as to whether poor signage might be partly responsible for the vehicle incursions. Cllr Mason, on past evidence no great friend of the Busway, would like to see prosecutions to back up earlier threats.

Police activity in Histon

I tried - and failed - to come up with a more interesting title for this posting. Honest.

According to the Cambridge News, Histon PCSO Tony Martin has been energetically addressing illegal and anti-social activity in the vicinity of the Busway. Just today there was a report of him engaged in a Hunt for 'unsavoury characters' around the Buway. And this report comes close on the heels of news that PCSO Martin was also the subject of One man's bid to snare illegal riders on guided busway. As this earlier story also makes clear, he has also held a cycle security surgery to try to reduce the number of bike thefts at Busway stops.

Hard to fault his enthusiasm. But what this says about the good folk of Histon - or a small proportion of them, at least - well, that's a different story...

Lighting the Busway - a follow up

Just a month ago, I posted an entry about proposals to light the southern section of the Busway. I said then that the plans were very much on track. What a difference a month makes!

Yesterday's meeting of the County Council's Economy and Environment Committee considered the proposal. Actually, the proposal covered both the northern and southern city sections. I can't easily summarise the details, but will instead provide a link to the relevant agenda item, and the council officer's report. The key issue, though, is that instead of the £100,000 provisionally set aside in December 2012 for the southern section, detailed costings have come in at £400,000 [sic]. Council officers made clear, though, that there was enough unspent money from the pot of "developer contributions" (the levy that larger developments have to contribute to general infrastructure - NB, that's only my personal definition!) to meet the additional cost.

We'll know exactly what happened at the meeting when the official minutes are posted on the County Council website. But there's no reason to doubt the veracity of the Cambridge News report. Here's a taste:

Cllr Amanda Taylor, who represents Queen Edith’s, said it would improve safety and encourage more people to use the track, but councillors from outside the city expressed misgivings about allocating this much money when streetlamps in their areas were being removed or dimmed.

This prompted Petersfield’s Cllr Ashley Walsh to attack what he described as “petty-minded parochialism”, but Roman Bank and Peckover’s Cllr Alan Lay recalled blackouts during the Second World War and questioned why there was now “a lot of fuss saying we must have lights”.

 Something to keep in mind next time you're cycling in the dark along the southern section.

Busway extension to Cambridge Science Park Station

Work is in progress clearing the former railway track between Milton Road and Chesterton Junction. As the following photos show, there are piles of old railway sleepers.

They're also working on the opposite side of the road, where the busway emerges onto Milton Road. The buses have to make a rather sharp right hand turn out of the busway when heading towards Cambridge. A slice has been taken off the traffic island to ease the turn.

Tour de France

The Tour de France cycle race will be in Cambridge on Monday 7th July. The city centre will be closed off to traffic for the whole day, and all busway services will be affected. Services A, B and C will not be able to serve the city centre.

Full details can be found here.

Service A from St Ives direction will terminate at Chesterton Milton Road all day on 7th July. Timetable here. Map of bus stops here.

Service A will also run between Cambridge Railway Station, Addenbrooke's and Trumpington P&R. Details at http://www.stagecoachbus.com/uploads/buswayapr88tdf.pdf Map of bus stops here.

There won't be any buses on route A between Milton Road and Cambridge Rail Station.

Route B will be terminating in Chesterton Lane. Timetable here and map showing location of set down and pick up point is here.

Whippet website does not yet give exact details of how their service C will be affected.

Information about road closures for the Tour can be found here and here

Histon station handed back to previous owner

The Cambridge News, seemingly prompted by Cllr Mike Mason, published a story whilst I was away on holiday about the handing back of the old railway station at Histon - which had been acquired by the County Council through compulsory purchase as part of the Busway project - to its previous owner. The CN report also explains how much the purchase, and subsequent disposal, cost the County Council. However, the Council claims that its decision to purchase the station in the first place was in response to the expressed wishes of local residents - including, it seems, Cllr Mason.

I don't have a view; I merely report and leave you to judge.

Photo by A Bethune

Lighting the Busway (southern section)

According to a post on County Councillor Amanda Taylor's blog, plans are very much on track (wordplay intended) for lighting to be installed on the Busway, between the railway station and Trumpington, in time for next winter. For more information see Cllr Taylor's blog post.

(PS: I am not related to Cllr Taylor - it's a very common surname!)