The Hunts Post of 24 August carried an article entitled Busway success : firms to consider increasing fleets ( page 14). This highlighted the possibility of Stagecoach introducing new routes, such as buses starting from Longstanton, and promoting the Fenstanton feeder service (route 20). Whippet are considering adding to their fleet of three buses, and Whippet manager, Peter Lee, calls for multi-operator tickets so that passengers can catch the first bus that comes along. These kind of tickets are normal in London, but legislation forbids them in the rest of the country. There is a call for 'red routes' in Cambridge city centre to minimise bus delays. And a suggestion that traffic lights need to respond better to the buses. The article mentions that work was due to begin on Tuesday 30 August on the Swavesey-St Ives cycleway - and today (31 August) there are signs of work having begun - piles of gravel, surveyors wooden markers, 'closed' signs. There are still puddles lying in several of the hollows, emphasising the importance of this remedial work.
The same issue of the Hunts Post has two letters about the busway (page 6). Busway blues complains about the withdrawal of the bus from RAF Wyton to Cambridge Regional College, for which the writer blames the busway, probably erroneously. And Where are we suggests that driver should announce each stop in advance.
The Huntingdon & St Ives News & Crier (p18) mentions a complaint from a woman who says not a single guided bus she has travelled on has picked her up or dropped her off on time, and once she waited 50 minutes for a bus, which then sailed right on past without stopping. Another complaint was about the electric sockets in the Stagecoach buses not working. Motorists have been noticed using the St Ives Park & Ride car park and walking into town to avoid car park fees, and other motorists have complained that the traffic lights where the busway crosses Harrison Way are causing traffic jams.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Timetable changes from 4th September
Stagecoach have just announced improvements to the Sunday service starting from 4th September. Buses will run every 20 minutes (instead of hourly) between St Ives Bus Station and Drummer Street from 08.40 until 17.00, returning from Drummer Street 09.20 until 17.40.
However, the overall timings have been slowed down.
On Sundays, Cambridge to St Ives will take 36 minutes instead of 32, St Ives to Huntingdon is increased by 2 minutes, and Huntingdon to St Ives by 11 minutes.
On weekdays, most journeys starting at Huntingdon are allowed an extra 5 minutes - presumably to improve punctuality and even spacing of buses on route B, which hitherto tend to leave St Ives late. Of course, they often arrived late from Huntingdon in the old days, but usually drivers could catch up a bit on the A14.
Details on this web page
http://www.stagecoachbus.co.uk/timetables.aspx?serviceid=1528&locationId=35&from=&to=&locval=81
However, the overall timings have been slowed down.
On Sundays, Cambridge to St Ives will take 36 minutes instead of 32, St Ives to Huntingdon is increased by 2 minutes, and Huntingdon to St Ives by 11 minutes.
On weekdays, most journeys starting at Huntingdon are allowed an extra 5 minutes - presumably to improve punctuality and even spacing of buses on route B, which hitherto tend to leave St Ives late. Of course, they often arrived late from Huntingdon in the old days, but usually drivers could catch up a bit on the A14.
Details on this web page
http://www.stagecoachbus.co.uk/timetables.aspx?serviceid=1528&locationId=35&from=&to=&locval=81
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Ancient tradition vs modern transport system
On Bank Holiday Mondays, the centre of St Ives is taken over by an enormous market which draws traders and customers from far and wide. Yesterday (29 August) was no exception.
Even St Ives Bus Station is given over to market stalls. Previously this did not matter as the only bus service running was a shuttle between Huntingdon and St Ives, terminating at The Quadrant. But this time, with both Stagecoach and Whippet advertising an 'Sunday' service on the busway, I wondered whether the market would have vacated the bus station in favour of the buses. But not so. Stalls filled the bus station.
At first glance I could find no information explaining where the buses were running to and from, but there were a couple of small printed notice attached inside the display cases, mentioning in very small print that passengers should go top The Quadrant. One of these notices was so curled up that it was impossible to read most of the times shown.
I suppose it is good sign that the bus companies are having to run extra buses, but the small notice advertising the new Sunday bus times had a glaring mistake on it - showing bus from St Ives to Cambridge taking 70 minutes. I think a typing error. But good to know the buses will be running every half hour on a Sunday.
In The Quadrant were two signs telling motorist not to park there on the Bank Holiday Monday - but nobody had paid any attention to it. There was a slight gap in the parked cars at the bus stop itself, but not enough for a bus to enter. So, the buses were having to stop in the main traffic lane.
I took one picture showing congestion at the back of Budgen's with a coach off-loading market visitors while a service bus was held up behind it.
Buses bound for Huntingdon on service B were arriving in via the Park&Ride car park and Meadow Lane, then looping right round Cromwell Place and The Quadrant.
Even St Ives Bus Station is given over to market stalls. Previously this did not matter as the only bus service running was a shuttle between Huntingdon and St Ives, terminating at The Quadrant. But this time, with both Stagecoach and Whippet advertising an 'Sunday' service on the busway, I wondered whether the market would have vacated the bus station in favour of the buses. But not so. Stalls filled the bus station.
At first glance I could find no information explaining where the buses were running to and from, but there were a couple of small printed notice attached inside the display cases, mentioning in very small print that passengers should go top The Quadrant. One of these notices was so curled up that it was impossible to read most of the times shown.
I suppose it is good sign that the bus companies are having to run extra buses, but the small notice advertising the new Sunday bus times had a glaring mistake on it - showing bus from St Ives to Cambridge taking 70 minutes. I think a typing error. But good to know the buses will be running every half hour on a Sunday.
In The Quadrant were two signs telling motorist not to park there on the Bank Holiday Monday - but nobody had paid any attention to it. There was a slight gap in the parked cars at the bus stop itself, but not enough for a bus to enter. So, the buses were having to stop in the main traffic lane.
I took one picture showing congestion at the back of Budgen's with a coach off-loading market visitors while a service bus was held up behind it.
Buses bound for Huntingdon on service B were arriving in via the Park&Ride car park and Meadow Lane, then looping right round Cromwell Place and The Quadrant.
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Guided busway in yesterday's Hunts Post
55,895 passenger used the guided busway in the first week, and extra buses have had to be put on to cope with the demand. (The Hunts Post, 17 August 2011, page 3) But how will they cope when everyone returns from their holidays and the A14 and Cambridge streets get busy again?
The letters from users of the service are more revealing and do not share the optimism of the Directors of Stagecoach and Whippet. ( The Hunts Post, 17 August 2011, page 7)
Here are some of the points raised:
1 - late running, unreliable buses, particularly on Route B
2 - journey times of up to 2 hours between Addenbrooke's and Huntingdon
3 - two service B buses turning up together
4 - huge queues trying to board at Drummer Street
5 - the indirect route between Huntingdon and St Ives - via the Oxmoor and Hill Rise
One worrying statement is this "The conclusion I have come to is that, once it has settled down, the guided bus will be slightly slower than the traditional bus". Well, yes. Just compare the old timetable with the new one. The fast run on the guideway doesn't quite make up for the often slow plod through the Cambridge streets. Perhaps the only time we shall see the benefit is when the A14 is blocked, or is so busy that traffic there is crawling. But if traffic is crawling in Milton road, Histon Road or Bridge Street, the busway isn't going to help.
What about this from a resident of Brampton "Come on, bus companies, try to be more competitive and make the bus more attractive than the car"?
I don't think bus companies can be relied on to provide a good enough network of service to attract people out of their cars. There are huge holes gaps in their network of routes. The town centre of Huntingdon is only about 17 miles from central Cambridge and yet the bus takes (in theory) an hour or more. However, we know that not many people live in the town centre - so how to the buses serve the suburbs adequately? Godmanchester is 15 miles from Cambridge and has no direct service at all. One of my colleagues, who travels in from Godmanchester drives to Madingley Park & Ride, it's her best option. I don't see how Godmanchester can be plugged into the guided busway easily without running along part of the A14, but perhaps a Huntingdon - Godmanchester - Papworth - Cambridge route via the A428 might be viable. It could start from Huntingdon Tesco's or Hinchingbrooke alternately. And perhaps the Brampton service could feed into it at Huntingdon Bus Station.
Gail Anderson (The Hunts Post, 17 August 2011, page 15) has interviewed several busway passengers.
A St Ives resident who works in Cambridge notes that, because the busway has opened up more stops, it take longer for him to get home - but he will continue using the service because 'nothing is worth parking in Cambridge'.
Someone from Warboys expresses 'high hopes' for the service. She seems to have previously used one of the Park & Ride sites, and has switched to St Ives P&R. But her comment raises another issue in my mind that hasn't been properly address - how to provide frequent, all day connections to the busway from outlying communities such as Brampton, Ramsey and Warboys. A few token through buses to Cambridge are provided for Needingworth, Bluntisham, Earith, Colne and Somersham via the busway - but are they enough to build confidence in the service? As I mentioned in an earlier posting Fenstanton now seems to have a half hourly link to St Ives Park and Ride - but will anyone use it when most of the day there is a direct Whippet service to Cambridge via Bar Hill? No attempt has been made to link the existing Citi 5 service through Fenstanton, Fen Drayton, the centre of Swavesey, Over and Willingham into the services on the busway, either at Swavesey 'station' or at Lonstanton Park & Ride.
[This is Longstanton Park & Ride - still under construction]
The road layout at St Ives Park and Ride doesn't make it easy for non-busway buses to connect there. Extending the service A to/from St Ives Bus station would help.
A final comment in Gail Anderson's article, reiterates the problem of delays, most notably an evening bus service departing 30 minutes late from Cambridge.
The Hunts Post can be viewed online at http://www.huntspost.co.uk/home . You have to register, but access is free.
The letters from users of the service are more revealing and do not share the optimism of the Directors of Stagecoach and Whippet. ( The Hunts Post, 17 August 2011, page 7)
Here are some of the points raised:
1 - late running, unreliable buses, particularly on Route B
2 - journey times of up to 2 hours between Addenbrooke's and Huntingdon
3 - two service B buses turning up together
4 - huge queues trying to board at Drummer Street
5 - the indirect route between Huntingdon and St Ives - via the Oxmoor and Hill Rise
One worrying statement is this "The conclusion I have come to is that, once it has settled down, the guided bus will be slightly slower than the traditional bus". Well, yes. Just compare the old timetable with the new one. The fast run on the guideway doesn't quite make up for the often slow plod through the Cambridge streets. Perhaps the only time we shall see the benefit is when the A14 is blocked, or is so busy that traffic there is crawling. But if traffic is crawling in Milton road, Histon Road or Bridge Street, the busway isn't going to help.
What about this from a resident of Brampton "Come on, bus companies, try to be more competitive and make the bus more attractive than the car"?
I don't think bus companies can be relied on to provide a good enough network of service to attract people out of their cars. There are huge holes gaps in their network of routes. The town centre of Huntingdon is only about 17 miles from central Cambridge and yet the bus takes (in theory) an hour or more. However, we know that not many people live in the town centre - so how to the buses serve the suburbs adequately? Godmanchester is 15 miles from Cambridge and has no direct service at all. One of my colleagues, who travels in from Godmanchester drives to Madingley Park & Ride, it's her best option. I don't see how Godmanchester can be plugged into the guided busway easily without running along part of the A14, but perhaps a Huntingdon - Godmanchester - Papworth - Cambridge route via the A428 might be viable. It could start from Huntingdon Tesco's or Hinchingbrooke alternately. And perhaps the Brampton service could feed into it at Huntingdon Bus Station.
Gail Anderson (The Hunts Post, 17 August 2011, page 15) has interviewed several busway passengers.
A St Ives resident who works in Cambridge notes that, because the busway has opened up more stops, it take longer for him to get home - but he will continue using the service because 'nothing is worth parking in Cambridge'.
Someone from Warboys expresses 'high hopes' for the service. She seems to have previously used one of the Park & Ride sites, and has switched to St Ives P&R. But her comment raises another issue in my mind that hasn't been properly address - how to provide frequent, all day connections to the busway from outlying communities such as Brampton, Ramsey and Warboys. A few token through buses to Cambridge are provided for Needingworth, Bluntisham, Earith, Colne and Somersham via the busway - but are they enough to build confidence in the service? As I mentioned in an earlier posting Fenstanton now seems to have a half hourly link to St Ives Park and Ride - but will anyone use it when most of the day there is a direct Whippet service to Cambridge via Bar Hill? No attempt has been made to link the existing Citi 5 service through Fenstanton, Fen Drayton, the centre of Swavesey, Over and Willingham into the services on the busway, either at Swavesey 'station' or at Lonstanton Park & Ride.
[This is Longstanton Park & Ride - still under construction]
The road layout at St Ives Park and Ride doesn't make it easy for non-busway buses to connect there. Extending the service A to/from St Ives Bus station would help.
A final comment in Gail Anderson's article, reiterates the problem of delays, most notably an evening bus service departing 30 minutes late from Cambridge.
The Hunts Post can be viewed online at http://www.huntspost.co.uk/home . You have to register, but access is free.
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Cycling along the busway
Monday morning, as my weekly ticket had run out, I decided to cycle to work. This was my first experience of the newly tarred cycle track from Swavesey to Cambridge. Very smooth and fast - just a pity about the steep gradients in and out of some of the hollows that had been flooded in the winter. In fact, there remains one puddle on the St Ives to Swavesey section, which still has a gravel surface. Does anyone know when it is being tarred?
One thing that surprised me was how quiet the buses seemed as they glided past.
I came off the guideway at Histon, and reaching my work via Arbury Road, part of Milton Road and Elizabeth Way. I made good time - 56 minutes door to door.
I returned on the Service A from Parkside. This was unfortunately delayed as the driver thought he'd knocked a cyclist off her bike as he overtook her in Emmanuel Road. He was mightily relieved that she said he hadn't hit her bike, and she was unharmed. I think she had wobbled as the bus went past. That delay of 5 or 6 minutes meant that my door to door journey ( walk, bus, walk) took 54 minutes.
One thing that surprised me was how quiet the buses seemed as they glided past.
I came off the guideway at Histon, and reaching my work via Arbury Road, part of Milton Road and Elizabeth Way. I made good time - 56 minutes door to door.
I returned on the Service A from Parkside. This was unfortunately delayed as the driver thought he'd knocked a cyclist off her bike as he overtook her in Emmanuel Road. He was mightily relieved that she said he hadn't hit her bike, and she was unharmed. I think she had wobbled as the bus went past. That delay of 5 or 6 minutes meant that my door to door journey ( walk, bus, walk) took 54 minutes.
Weekend fares
Whippet were offering a special fare of £1 single on either their busway services or on the old route via Bar Hill, on both Saturday and Sunday. This was great, as long as you knew not to buy a ticket from the ticket machines, which hadn't been re-programmed to offer the reduced fare. Unfortunately, some people had bought their tickets from the machines, so you can imagine they were not best pleased to discover about the cheap deal!
I had to go in to Cambridge early on Sunday so the 09.00 Stagecoach departure got me in earlier than Whippet's 09.25 via Bar Hill or 09.35 via the Busway. I discovered that the St Ives to Cambridge single has gone up from £3.20 to £3.50 - I don't remember any advertising about that. On the way back I benefitted from the £1 ticket.
Talking to a passenger who had tried to catch the Whippet Service C from Cambridge Railway Station. He hadn't realised that the busway stop is round the corner from the station in what looks like a building site. Maybe there is a sign posting issue here. He'd tried to flag the Whippet down as it emerged into Station Road - but it didn't stop for him. He then caught one of the citi buses into town and sprinted that last bit to the bus station.
I had to go in to Cambridge early on Sunday so the 09.00 Stagecoach departure got me in earlier than Whippet's 09.25 via Bar Hill or 09.35 via the Busway. I discovered that the St Ives to Cambridge single has gone up from £3.20 to £3.50 - I don't remember any advertising about that. On the way back I benefitted from the £1 ticket.
Talking to a passenger who had tried to catch the Whippet Service C from Cambridge Railway Station. He hadn't realised that the busway stop is round the corner from the station in what looks like a building site. Maybe there is a sign posting issue here. He'd tried to flag the Whippet down as it emerged into Station Road - but it didn't stop for him. He then caught one of the citi buses into town and sprinted that last bit to the bus station.
Saturday, 13 August 2011
Friday 12 August and review of the first week
I travelled on Service B in both directions today.
The morning trip took 37 minutes, and the afternoon trip took 45 minutes.
Verdict at the end of Week 1 - the quality of the journey actually on the guideway is excellent and fast, and the timings achieved between St Ives and Milton Road or Orchard Park are consistently in the 18-23 minute range.
My quickest journey took 28 minutes (Wednesday). The slowest was on Sunday - 46 minutes running time plus 11 minutes for late start. There was a bad trip on Thursday - 15 minutes late leaving Parkside, and 22 minutes late reaching St Ives.
However, the guided buses are being delayed by traffic conditions off the busway. Buses arriving in St Ives from the Huntingdon direction are often late, as they were before 7 August - and this suggests that their schedule is too tight.
Traffic conditions in Bridge Street and Magdalene Street are difficult - mainly as a result of the single track section from Magdalen Bridge towards Huntingdon Road.
Histon Road and Milton Road have several sets of traffic lights which have caused delays, and frankly the 13 minutes allowed in the timetable isn't enough, except when traffic is very light (e.g. early morning).
The Addenbrooke's loop is another source of delay, as it is unbelievably slow, narrow and twisty.
The fact that there are no ticket machines at certain busy bus stops e.g. Drummer Street, New Square, and St Ives Bus Station, is slowing loading times and therefore contributing to delays.
Traffic levels - an exceptionally busy Sunday when many people turned out for their first trip on this new form of transport. I'd say the number of passengers has increased steadily as the week progressed. A fair number of people are commuting to/from the Science Park, from St Ives and the intermediate villages, journeys which could not readily be done by public transport before.
The morning trip took 37 minutes, and the afternoon trip took 45 minutes.
Verdict at the end of Week 1 - the quality of the journey actually on the guideway is excellent and fast, and the timings achieved between St Ives and Milton Road or Orchard Park are consistently in the 18-23 minute range.
My quickest journey took 28 minutes (Wednesday). The slowest was on Sunday - 46 minutes running time plus 11 minutes for late start. There was a bad trip on Thursday - 15 minutes late leaving Parkside, and 22 minutes late reaching St Ives.
However, the guided buses are being delayed by traffic conditions off the busway. Buses arriving in St Ives from the Huntingdon direction are often late, as they were before 7 August - and this suggests that their schedule is too tight.
Traffic conditions in Bridge Street and Magdalene Street are difficult - mainly as a result of the single track section from Magdalen Bridge towards Huntingdon Road.
Histon Road and Milton Road have several sets of traffic lights which have caused delays, and frankly the 13 minutes allowed in the timetable isn't enough, except when traffic is very light (e.g. early morning).
The Addenbrooke's loop is another source of delay, as it is unbelievably slow, narrow and twisty.
The fact that there are no ticket machines at certain busy bus stops e.g. Drummer Street, New Square, and St Ives Bus Station, is slowing loading times and therefore contributing to delays.
Traffic levels - an exceptionally busy Sunday when many people turned out for their first trip on this new form of transport. I'd say the number of passengers has increased steadily as the week progressed. A fair number of people are commuting to/from the Science Park, from St Ives and the intermediate villages, journeys which could not readily be done by public transport before.
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