Cambridge Guided Busway - ongoing discussion and updates (merged topic)

[whole diary]

[MarkRanger]

Latest update for opening date - October 2011.

Do you have a source for this? - I can't find anything about it on the Cambridge Evening News website.

Sorry for the delayed reply - here is the source - http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/latest-news/cambs_guided_busway_still_unlikely_before_october_1_830085

[grahame]

Busway update - Wednesday 27 April

Contractors BAM Nuttall have completed the Busway project and handed over the route to Cambridgeshire County Council. The handover took place on Thursday 21 April. (opens in new window)
 
The handover of the project is the first big step towards the route opening, but as defects must still be fixed an opening date is some way off.
 
BAM Nuttall has 28 days from the point of handover to fix the notified defects. If the work is not completed at the end of this period the Council will bring in new contractors charging the costs to BAM Nuttall. The Council is already priming new contractors to avoid delays.
 
At the beginning of May the Council will begin adding a blacktop surface to the cycleway between Swavesey and Milton Road, as well as surfacing the southern section. An additional junction to help access to the Clay Farm development ^ funded by developers ^ will also be carried out. These works were not part of BAM Nuttall's contract.
 
Further updates will be made available on these pages as the works progress.

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/thebusway/

[eightf48544]

Seems to be scope for a couple of sweep stakes.

First: Opening date.
Second: How long will it stay open before it has to be closed for technical defects?

[MarkRanger]

Seems to be scope for a couple of sweep stakes.

First: Opening date.
Second: How long will it stay open before it has to be closed for technical defects?

Third: How long before we can seriously get down to working how we lay railway tracks on top of the concrete
Fourth: How long before any politicians have the decency to confess that this was truly a bad idea and they wish they had have listened to the anoraks.

[Sleepy]

  Misguided busjokeway timetables now published by county council - evenings and Sundays, don`t be silly !!!!   
 

[eightf48544]

I have been told early August but can't verfy my informants source.

Apparently itis been  suggested that the local tearaways will steal cars drive them onto the busway deliberately jam them in the track and then set fire to them. Probaly an urban myth in the making.

However, a more practicle question was raised how do you get broken down bus off the busway?

[JayMac]

However, a more practicle question was raised how do you get broken down bus off the busway?

Perhaps they're going to fit the guided bus fleet with dellner couplings to allow working in multiple! 

[ChrisB]

THere are exits every junction according to a local on UK^▸ (United Kingdom).rauilways

[paul7575]

...and for access for the bloke with a toolbox, there's a continuous roadway along the length of the busway - which doubles as a cycle track.

I wonder if the benefits (if any) of the 'guided' feature is actually worth the additional cost over a normal dedicated two lane road, as is being used on the Fareham - Gosport 'busway'. 

Breakdowns on the latter are presumably going to be much easier to deal with; there's an agreement that it can be used by emergency services such as ambulances, and the only deadlines being missed are due to random objections from the nimby faction...

Paul

[grahame]

However, a more practicle question was raised how do you get broken down bus off the busway?

With towing, "the process takes between 5 and 10 minutes", and

"Unlike rail, where a breakdown disrupts the entire line and causes long delays for other trains, guided buses can be immediately diverted around the section where a bus is being recovered which means only a few minutes delay for passengers. "

More at:

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/CMSWebsite/Apps/News/Details.aspx?ref=98

[paul7575]

There was a bit of a 'Blue Peter' aspect to that though - did the defective bus just happen to fail behind a tow truck they'd prepared earlier!     

Does that time given include reversing the tow truck along the guideway?  I can't actually see that being very easy, unless I'm missing something significant about the truck.  Maybe it can turn round when it reaches the bus if it carries an underslung turntable or something with it...

Paul

[grahame]

The published timetables show a bus every 10 minutes (every 20 minutes on some sections) on Monday to Saturday, and hourly on Sunday. Plus one extra bus an hour (Monday to Saturday) and every 2 or 3 hours (Sunday).   Journey time along the busway is scheduled to be 20 minutes, so it's probable that if there's a failure, the following bus will be a long way back and will simply be able to take to normal roads at one of the crossings along the way.  Presumably, the drivers will be in touch with base by some sort of radio so that the following bus doesn't get caught behind?

I understand that a second operator - Whippet - will also be providing services, but I've not seen details.  I can't imagine that there buses will bring the initial usage up to levels where there will be several buses in the same section at the same time, unless the competition factors have one running just ahead of the other as buses do in the town I live in (2 an hour - 3 and 6 minutes past, then a 57 minute gap)

[mjones]

I'm a bit surprised by the frequency- only every 20 mins on the rail station to Trumpington P&R^▸ (Park and Ride) and hospital section. I think I'd got a impression from earlier publicity they would be more frequent than that...?

[Sleepy]

  Better late than never ? It finally opened yesterday !
.............. and passengers comments on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Look East : "rough ride" and "running 20 mins late"  oh  dear !! 

[grahame]

I'm in Cambridge at the moment ... had a chance to have a look at how it's bedding in yesterday ... see how well the buses were loaded.

http://wellho.info/3404