I’ve now travelled ‘The Busway’ twice since it opened last weekend. First off the journey from St Ives into Cambridge is now about ten minutes longer. The A14, the old route, is basically a straight line with no bus stops along the way. ‘The Busway’ follows the old St Ives to Cambridge rail track that closed in the early 1960s. The Victorians tended to follow the line of fields or Parish boundaries rather than straight lines, so adding to the distance travelled, and there is also the slowing down and accelerating away from bus stops along ‘The Busway’. Once the bus is in the guided track, it’s a bit like travelling on a train though. There are rural roads cutting across the bus route but the traffic lights seem to be triggered by the approaching bus so there is no waiting for them to change. The bus stops don’t have their names prominently displayed at them. There is an electronic timetable in the shelters but at a right angle to the bus and with small electronic letters that are difficult to see. A lot of passengers had no idea where they were or if they were at the right stop to get off. On a road system there are landmarks in the shape of familiar buildings so you know your location. Along ‘The Busway’, one field or tree looks very much like any other. Built along an abandoned rail route, there are still remnants of the Second World War to be spotted like pillboxes hiding in the undergrowth. Going past the former RAF Oakington there are still three rather large low level mushroom topped concrete pillboxes and air raid shelters along the airfield boundary. The bus turns off at Oak Park, a large new build housing suburb, to enter Cambridge and follows a separate track way, that’s not guided, until it rejoins normal roads. At the moment travelling into Cambridge is not a problem as the colleges and schools are closed for the summer so not much traffic on the road. When parents start the school runs in their 4x4s the journey from Oak Park into Central Cambridge is going to double in time, as it did on the old route from Girton into Cambridge. The two return journeys I’ve made from Cambridge have been interesting though. There had been a separate bus serving Oak Park but now its part of ‘The Busway’ route and there are more people trying to catch the bus from the centre of Cambridge than there are seats on the double decker busses available. Both times I’ve had to wait till the next bus to get on. A small penalty to pay as the buses run every twenty minutes and the big pay off will be when the A14 is closed due to a road traffic accident, and we are not sitting in the traffic jam going no where for several hours.

Brian

(aka Pen Pusher)