Cambridgeshire Guided Busway

Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
Guided busway during trials, 2009
Guided busway during trials, 2009
Overview
OwnerCambridgeshire County Council
LocaleCambridgeshire, United Kingdom
Transit typeGuided busway
Websitewww.thebusway.info
Operation
Began operation7 August 2011; 13 years ago (2011-08-07)
Operator(s)Stagecoach in Huntingdonshire, Whippet
Technical
System length16 miles (25 km)

The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway is a guided busway that connects Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives in Cambridgeshire, England. It is the longest guided busway in the world,[1][2] surpassing the O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, South Australia.[3][4][5]

Two guided sections make up 16 miles (25 km) of the route. The northern section, which uses the course of the former Cambridge and Huntingdon railway, runs through the former stations of Oakington, Long Stanton and Histon. The southern section, which uses part of the former Varsity Line to Oxford, links Cambridge railway station, Addenbrooke's Hospital and the park-and-ride site at Trumpington via housing on the Clay Farm site.

Services are operated by Stagecoach in Huntingdonshire and Whippet, which have exclusive use of the route for five years in exchange for providing a minimum service frequency between 07:00 and 19:00 each weekday.[6] Specially adapted buses are used: the driver does not need to hold the steering wheel on the guided sections of the busway. A total of 2,500,000 trips[clarification needed][Is this the number of passengers?] were made in the first year of operation.

The busway was proposed in the 2001 Cambridge-Huntingdon Multi-Modal Study, which recommended widening the A14 road and the construction of a guided busway along the old railway lines. Construction began in March 2007 and it was opened on 7 August 2011 after a succession of delays and cost overruns.[2]

The original cost estimate of £116 million rose to £181 million by December 2010.[7] An independent review of the project was announced on 21 September 2010,[8][9] in which the Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert, described the busway as a "white elephant".[10] A court case with BAM Nuttall, the main contractor, was settled by Cambridgeshire County Council in August 2013.[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbcopens was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "Cambridgeshire guided busway opening date announced". BBC News Online. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  3. ^ "Cambridge-St Ives busway". Transport Briefing. Retrieved 9 January 2009. Budgeted to cost £116.27m, the government has given Cambridgeshire County Council £92.5m ... Cambridge-St Ives busway will be the longest guided busway in the world[permanent dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Busway ready to welcome first passengers". Cambridgeshire County Council. 4 August 2011. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  5. ^ Orson, Charlotte (4 August 2011). "A look at the guided bus's sisters around the world". Cambridge First. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012.
  6. ^ Menzies, Bob (26 November 2008). "Guided Busway – Your Questions Answered". BBC Cambridgeshire. BBC Online. companies have guaranteed a service for the Guided Busway for five years. They signed up to that in 2006. ... a guaranteed service from 7am to 7pm ... bus companies will pay the access charge ... They won't pay an access charge outside of the 7am to 7pm times
  7. ^ "Cost of guided busway climbs to £181 million". Cambridge News. 2 December 2010. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  8. ^ Havergal, Chris (21 September 2010). "Independent review of guided busway announced". Cambridge News. Archived from the original on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  9. ^ "St Ives-Cambridge guided busway: independent inquiry promised as further delay revealed". Hunts Post. 23 September 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  10. ^ "MP brands busway 'a white elephant'". Cambridge News. 28 July 2010. Archived from the original on 31 July 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  11. ^ Havergal, Chris (30 August 2013). "Guided busway legal battle with BAM Nuttall settled by Cambridgeshire County Council". Cambridge News. Archived from the original on 31 August 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2016.