World's longest guided busway opens in Cambridge, UK

[Nawdic]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14405734

Vid on page

The world's longest guided busway has opened in Cambridge.

The busway provides a separate path for buses away from normal traffic, takes up less room than a road and allows buses to rejoin other vehicles for routes through the city centre.

But opponents say the scheme is two years late, massively over budget and should have been a rail link instead.

Discuss.

[Illegal_Alien]

Looks more like a "Hey lets build a railwaytrack!, but we dont have enough money for the track." thing.

[Ameecher]

Oh it's finally opened. What a waste of effort. Achieves nothing as the bit that is congested and affects the times is the bit IN Cambridge where the bus runs on normal roads. It's a glorified bus lane. Load of baloney, would have been a much better use of funds and more successful to reopen the rail line on which this is built and fund a train (172 add-on order?).

[orudge]

Quite, it seems rather pointless to me. Build a railway line, or a tram line of some sort instead (just don't ask the folks managing the Edinburgh trams for advice).

[NekoMaster]

This sounds like the dumbest transportation Idea ever, guided buses alone are a waste (you could save money and have a designated bus lane), the money you put into it could be put towards a rail or tram line, or even a trolly bus line (which would be pretty cheap and environmentally friendly, and some trolly buses can stray from their lanes in case of traffic

[PikkaBird]

Guided busway vs unguided busway, I imagine the costs are similar, it's just a matter of taste. In either case, busways are pretty good public transport design. All assessments on Brisbane's busways (which were designed to be convertible to light rail if desired) have shown that buses on a busway are faster, cheaper, and can carry more passengers than rail, as well as the obvious benefit that the services can continue off the busway into residential areas.

[GurraJG]

2 years late, £62 million over budget. Nice...

[Geo Ghost]

My thoughts?

A guided busway is a pretty good idea. A good alternative to trams or trains where cash isn't available or it's not practical. Plus any buses can join onto the route with ease almost like a motor way.
I like the idea. Yes, read that carefully. The IDEA of a guided busway.

Do I like the one in Cambridge where it is? Not really, no.
It seems, like many have said, pretty pointless for the area it is serving. From memory of visits, the congestion is actually in the town itself. Not so much on the outskirts coming in and out. I really don't see how this is going to help or prove as an advantage over what is there already. I could be wrong though and I'll wait to see if I am.

Personally, I'd MUCH rather see the railway link between Welwyn and St Albans rebuilt and extended over to the WCML. Or even a cross-county line linking ALL three mainlines together easily and without having to go up to Peterborough or down to bloody London just to get across the county. And no, buses are not a suitable substitute for such a service. At least the final ThemesLink plan will be a slight step in that direction.

2 years late, £62 million over budget. Nice...

£62 Million for some stretches of concrete?! That's pathetic. Such a waste of money!


Edit:

Does this sum it up I wonder?

[Nawdic]

For some reason, this reminds me of the 1st gen DMUs, as you travel along at 60mph, (allegedly) you can look out the front as the bus whisks you along! On the other hand, because of this, you don't get any super comfy seats. Especially with Stagecoach at the helm.
EDIT:

Edit:

Does this sum it up I wonder?

I Lol'd at that.

[John]

2 years late, £62 million over budget. Nice...

£62 Million for some stretches of concrete?! That's pathetic. Such a waste of money!

No, £62 Million over budget, actual cost is currently nearer £181 Million.

[Pilot]

2 years late, £62 million over budget. Nice...

£62 Million for some stretches of concrete?! That's pathetic. Such a waste of money!

No, £62 Million over budget, actual cost is currently nearer £181 Million.

What a waste. The Money could have been used on something else.

[GurraJG]

Why does EVERYTHING, ALWAYS, seem to run over budget? Edinburgh trams are massively over budget, this is massively over budget... are people totally incompetent in budgeting? I mean, they've got to know that things run over budget!

[PikkaBird]

Why does EVERYTHING, ALWAYS, seem to run over budget?

Because everything is built by the people who estimated the lowest budget.

[buckethead]

181 million for some concrete? I could've done it for 10!

[Geo Ghost]

No, £62 Million over budget, actual cost is currently nearer £181 Million.

..... *thud*

Ok, there is no word to describe that. £181 million... Christ that's...
No. Just no. I'm going to read something else now before my mind implodes from registering how huge that amount is.

[PikkaBird]

..... *thud*

Ok, there is no word to describe that. £181 million... Christ that's...

Durr. How much do you expect infrastructure projects to cost? £3.50 and a packet of crisps? £181 million is a pretty middling-sized project.

What a waste. The Money could have been used on something else.

Yeah, they could've put it into the Nimrod MRA4. £3.6 billion for diddly squat.

[GurraJG]

Why does EVERYTHING, ALWAYS, seem to run over budget?

Because everything is built by the people who estimated the lowest budget.

Well, in the future, they should take the lowest budget and slap on 30% to get the real cost.

[orudge]

For what it's worth, the M74 Completion came in under budget and earlier than expected., and I believe the M80 is due to do the same. Of course, now people will no doubt argue that they should have got the estimate right at the beginning.

[Geo Ghost]

How much do you expect infrastructure projects to cost? £3.50 and a packet of crisps?

No need to get lippy.

£181 million is a pretty middling-sized project.

Maybe so but the project hardly looks like anything at all to be honest. I'm really puzzled as to how it actually cost that much for what appears to be so little to be honest.
Curious to see if this does work or not. Can't see how it's going to make a massive difference.

Also, what happens when a bus inevitably breaks down on the busway?

[GurraJG]

Also, what happens when a bus inevitably breaks down on the busway?

Replacement bus service?