chrisf Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 BBC Look East has just reported that the wretched thing is due to open on 7th August. Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 A much better solution to congestion on the A14 (and other dual carriageways) would be to ban lorries from the outside lane and enforcing this with numberplate recognition cameras. Most congestion on dual carriageways is caused by lorries doing 56mph taking 2 minutes to overtake lorries doing 54mph. HEAR, HEAR! And the sooner the better! Don't forget to include 2 lane motorways too. steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welly Posted June 9, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 9, 2011 Beeb web page about Misguided Busway opening Will the buses bring in enough money to pay off the construction costs? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 whilst on a course recently in the Axis in Birmingham (Atkins building) i noticed they had screens with lots of lovely fancy stuff they had consulted on or built all very exotic and lovely, then a picture of the misguided busway flashed up and i just had to laugh and ask rather loudly who thought it was a good idea to be associated with such a scheme!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Beeb web page about Misguided Busway opening Will the buses bring in enough money to pay off the construction costs? Hardly any tram or rail schemes do, so it's not reasonable to expect a busway should. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welly Posted June 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 10, 2011 ^^^ I can't help thinking that it would have been much cheaper to build an ordinary single track road ( with passing places ) dedicated to buses only on that route if full payback cannot be expected? Anyway, I'll have a ride on it later this year just to check it out! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Richard E Posted June 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 10, 2011 Timetables and stops on what is thought to be the world's longest track of its kind are due to be announced next week. Busway services will run seven days a week and it is anticipated that 3.5 million trips will be taken on the buses each year. Ian Bates, the county council's cabinet member for growth and planning, said: "The busway is going to provide people with a reliable, fast and frequent form of public transport, making it the best way to travel. "This route is much needed in Cambridgeshire and will set the standard for rapid transit systems being built in the future. Oh dear - still got the 'best thing since sliced bread' spin going on. 3.5 million trips a year - that's 9600 users a day on average, assuming that all journeys are return trips (they won't necessarily be so) then that is 4800 passengers a day, 200 an hour or two fully loaded buses an hour each way 24/7 - I'll be surprised if it is as much as that. The best way to travel? Not in my mind I'm afraid although I might take a trip for the hell of it. Setting a standard - probably - for making losses on a route no one wanted and that many will not use Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 the only way it might get some use is it will save the queue to get round the A14 to Milton to use the park and ride to the Grafton centre as you will be able to board further north. other than that can't see many locals switching on a daily basis. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Welly Posted July 9, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 9, 2011 Video on the Cambridge News website: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Video-Guided-bus-is-ready-to-go-08072011.htm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-13876393 the phrase "everyone off and push" springs to mind 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 The only way the busway will be cleared in 5-10 minutes is if every bus is accompanied by a breakdown truck! It is going to take around an hour to get a breakdown vehicle to the bus, especially with all the surrounding roads congested with guided buses everywhere, and then it is not always going to be straightforward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 According to the bus press (RouteOne) the busway is already open. I suspect towing a dead bus off there will probably take about an hour unless they have the recovery truck on standby at all the junctions. the hitching up is the easy bit. What happens if the bus has no air, is unable to build up air from an external source and therefore the parking brake won't release? Being a bus engineer these days I could carry on with a lot of other ifsanbuts. Flat tyre? wheel bearing failure? Suspension failure? Fire? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 And don't forget part of it goes through an RSPB reservation (where I originally saw it) which is boggy with no other proper paved roads - I can't see the RSPB allowing their "wetlands" to be chewed up..... Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord-Claud-Hamilton Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 My best mate walked home along the route from Cambridge Science Park to St Ives on Thursday (7th) and nearly keeled over when a bus passed him!!! I'll take my daughters for a ride on it during the Summer holidays.......assuming it is actually open by then! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 As the breakdown truck carries a guided busway logo it has probably also been fitted with guidewheels to run both forward and reverse on the busway (can't tell from the video). But I agree it could take some time to get there if it has to back in from the next exit ahead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I note that the BBC report says "when" and not "if" a bus breaks down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RThompson Posted July 11, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 11, 2011 Whilst i have no experience with guided bus ways but seen guided buses in person and driven one off a guided busway route, if like you say the brakes don't release or a flat tyre occurs, will there be enough room to get a jack underneath easily because i know the guide wheels don't stick out too far (around 3 inches?) but then also how high is the guide rails? I know with my leyland titan recently that it was so low to the ground when it dumped its air i had to dig a hole (as it was parked on soft ground but hadn't sunk either) to slew the jack underneath for me to lift it to wind the brake chambers off and even that was hard to get to still. Regards Robert According to the bus press (RouteOne) the busway is already open. I suspect towing a dead bus off there will probably take about an hour unless they have the recovery truck on standby at all the junctions. the hitching up is the easy bit. What happens if the bus has no air, is unable to build up air from an external source and therefore the parking brake won't release? Being a bus engineer these days I could carry on with a lot of other ifsanbuts. Flat tyre? wheel bearing failure? Suspension failure? Fire? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I can see all sorts of thing's going wrong with the recovery process. Multiple access points, two guideways, inaccurate reporting of position, inaccurate interpretation of position and a genuine desire to get thing's on the move again will result in a mishap at some stage. Add to this weather conditions such as fog or falling snow or simply even darkness and the whole thing sounds really risky. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisf Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I'm sure that those who dreamed up the busway in the first place thought of all this. Oink, flap, oink, flap ... Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Lets see if they can learn lessons from history rather than find it out for themselves. They have reinvented the wheel but don't seems to want to learn the lessons. 50 drivers trained up in a few weeks and a ten minute headway with speeds up to 60 mph?. No swerving out the way as a stationary bus looms out of the fog. A heritage railway wouldn't be allowed to start an operation like it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted July 11, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 11, 2011 If one breaks down, assuming it is still mobile how about a set of buffers front and rear and then the one behind can push! Then to get over punctures you fit flanged wheels and it could run on top of the guideway...... Whoops, hasn't somebody already done that? Ah, yes they are called railways! Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 This awful so called transport solution is being perptrated in Luton on a road that is supposed to be a fast inter town link but is usualy clogged with stationary traffic,the building of it must be causing even further problemsTthe buses will be decanted onto a busy roundabout and then have to fight their way into town on further clogged roads.Most people I would thnk want to get on and off on the old twin towns road not on a back route behind the football stadium.The object in Cambridge must be the most expensive version of wooden toy tracks for Thomas ever built in Britain ,sixty miles an hour on it ,no thank you the jarring from the concrete panels will be awful .modern buses seem to rattle creak and be most uncomfortble vehicles ever designed .The buses will be in the repair shed very quickly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 just seen on the BBC web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-14198888 more problems!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Belgian Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 It seems that the idea behind this "modern transport solution" was to take all that is best about railways and roads and to make a system which doesn't incorporate any of them. JE 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 opening this weekend apparently http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-14418525 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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