Cambridge’s ground -breaking BRT scheme arrives at last

John Austin considers the background to the guided busway in Cambridgeshire - the world’s longest - and the challenges that its management face to ensure its success

One of the Go Whippet Volvo single decks bought specifically for the Busway.

One of the Go Whippet Volvo single decks bought specifically for the Busway.

John Austin

John Austin

The Busway services are provided by a mix of single and double decks with tram-style boarding points equiped for automated ticketing.

The Busway services are provided by a mix of single and double decks with tram-style boarding points equiped for automated ticketing.

The guide wheel system

The guide wheel system

Publicity has been carefully designed to mirror that for rail-based services, and to clearly indicate boarding and alighting arrangements at the park and ride sites.

Publicity has been carefully designed to mirror that for rail-based services, and to clearly indicate boarding and alighting arrangements at the park and ride sites.

A few years ago I was awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to visit Australia and the Far East to study aspects of public transport.  During this I was given guided tours of both the Adelaide Guided Busway (O-Bahn) and Brisbane's South-East Busway.  Since then I have also visited a range of Bus Rapid Transport schemes in the UK, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. 

Several things impressed me about all these: firstly that there was tremendous local pride in each city's BRT system, particularly in Australia, and that this was sometimes despite setbacks and / or controversies during the projects' planning and construction.  Secondly, that a very high standard of route and station infrastructure, as in Brisbane, gives an assurance of high-quality throughout the surrounding network.  Indeed, since my visit Brisbane's system has commanded such popular support that it has been extended several times.  Thirdly, that kerb-guidance, as in Adelaide, gives a strong impression of speed and smoothness.

The new 25 km Cambridgeshire Guided Busway in Britain (branded as ‘The Busway’), which opened on Sunday August 7th, has been designed to be a high-quality operation right from the start, with a smooth, fast and impressive ride between Huntingdon, St Ives and Cambridge.  The 20 Stagecoach low-floor vehicles which were specifically delivered for The Busway from ADL/Scania (10 double-decks) and from Wrightbus (10 single-decks) feature leather seats, air conditioning, free wireless Internet access, and are low-emission and bio-fuelled.  The 3 Go Whippet Volvo B7RLEs vehicles bought specifically for The Busway are also fully accessible and feature Euro 5 level emission standards.  Ticketing on The Busway itself is largely off-bus, thereby speeding journey times. 

Features of the system, designed by consultant PB, also include at-stop real-time information and help points, and many of The Busway stops and roadside locations feature public art.  The Busway stops also include raised platforms allowing level access, and tactile paving surfaces have been provided.  Two Park & Ride sites have been constructed on the northern section, whilst the majority of The Busway stops outside the City Centre also have cycle parking facilities.

The project has unfortunately suffered from well publicised significant cost-overruns and extensive delays, the latter associated most recently with client / contractor disagreements.  These have meant that the opening of the project is over two years late, while the new buses that were delivered for The Busway’s operation nearly two years ago will inevitably have encountered wear and tear in service elsewhere in the interim.

Cambridgeshire Guided Busway Study Tour: 19-20 September 2011

A new contractor, Jackson Civil Engineering, has been appointed to complete the project, following the expiry of the final time limit allowed for former contractor, BAM Nuttall, to address certain problems identified by the client.  The bridge over the River Great Ouse viaduct has been closed and fenced off for a period to enable the carrying out of work to stop water leaking through the bridge on to the steel beneath.  Bridge engineers have said the work is needed to reduce the need for ongoing maintenance and to ensure that the lifespan of the bridge is not reduced.  St Ives Park & Ride car park has also been adjusted as initially the degree of gradient on the car park caused rain water to form puddles. 

The new contractor is also adjusting the gaps between the beams that make up the guideway to make sure the concrete beams can expand fully during periods of hot weather without damage: this work has overlapped with several weeks of bus trials.  The cost of repairs is being charged to BAM Nuttall, which has, under its contract with Cambridgeshire County Council, already had £10.8m deducted for delivering the route more than two years late.

The construction cost-overruns have meanwhile led to some originally-planned aspects of the project being deferred.  At the project's opening, passenger facilities at the two northern section Park & Ride sites are less extensive than originally planned, while a Kiss & Ride facility planned for one northern section stop has also not yet been implemented.  Demand for The Busway is also set to grow at a slower rate than originally envisaged, as construction of the large planned Northstowe residential development, which should eventually take demand to over 6 million trips a year, has been slow to start.

On the off-guideway section of the corridors linking Cambridge City Centre to the start of the northern section of The Busway, the additional bus lanes provided have also been scaled down somewhat from what was originally planned.  Finally, The Busway is now being launched in a different economic climate from the original planned opening date of two years ago.  With substantial budget pressure, Cambridgeshire County Council took a policy decision earlier this year (since modified) to phase out bus revenue support over a period of four years: initial effects were the withdrawal of several evening and Sunday bus services in the county from April, though the review of the original decision has been combined with a quest for a new way to provide non-commercial services more cost-effectively.

Whilst The Busway services are not directly affected by the decision to reduce expenditure on bus service provision, the latter exacerbates the County Council's challenge of 'Making sustainable modes of transport a viable and attractive alternative to the private car', as described in its new Local Transport Plan.

With The Busway now open, both the bus operators and the County Council and its agents will need to demonstrate all their skills in delivering the promised premium quality consistently, for a project where hitherto there have been significant disappointments.  Main operator Stagecoach has stated that it remains convinced that the high-quality BRT system will encourage customers to make the modal shift to buses, despite medium-term patronage projections being significantly reduced because of the delay to Northstowe.  It acknowledges that targeted effort is needed to change the customer mindset to overcome negative press comment arising from delays to The Busway.

Stagecoach and local independent Go Whippet are running the services on The Busway seven days a week, and from Monday to Saturday 0700 to 1900 hours there are buses running between St Ives and Cambridge at least every ten minutes.  Services to Huntingdon are every 20 minutes with an hourly evening service running until midnight, while there is a

20-minute service during the day on the southern section beyond the railway station to Addenbrookes Hospital and to Trumpington Park & Ride.

It is anticipated that around 3.5 million trips will initially be taken on The Busway each year.  The dedicated track for guided buses means that passengers will be able to travel by public transport between St Ives Park & Ride and the Science Park in Cambridge in just 20 minutes, giving residents a high quality alternative to long queues and uncertain journey times on the busy A14.

Construction of Cambridge Gateway - a project to improve bus, cycle and pedestrian access into Cambridge railway station - was completed earlier this year, and a new direct link between the railway station and the main Hills Road corridor also opened on 7th August to tie in with the start of The Busway services.

The Busway includes two new Park & Ride sites at St Ives and Longstanton with spaces for hundreds of cars, and covered cycle parking.  The shorter southern section of The Busway, between Cambridge railway station and the existing Trumpington Park & Ride site, with a spur to Addenbrookes Hospital, provides a fast traffic-free link to and from both this substantial regional medical facility and the new Clay Farm development currently being constructed on the south side of the city

Ian Bates, Cambridgeshire County Council’s cabinet member for growth and planning, believes 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.”

Andy Campbell, managing director for Stagecoach Cambridgeshire, said “The Busway is a visionary project and we believe that our luxury buses with leather seats, free WiFi internet access and air chill will encourage more people out of their cars and onto the route.  I am certain our customers will be very impressed with the speed and quality of the service”.  Peter Lee, director of Go Whippet, said “as a local family-owned company it is great news to be part of this world beating project.  Queues on the A14 are a big problem for buses as well as people in their cars and our loyal customers are looking forward to their journey being greatly improved by the more reliable journey times along the track.  We have invested heavily in new buses and we believe it will be a great success”.

As the operations bed down and demand patterns become clearer after the initial project launch, the operators' local knowledge of the market will be of critical importance in developing fares packages, which are attractive yet commercial, and in delivering future service patterns which make bus travel both convenient and viable for the traveller.  In other areas too, The Busway customer 'package' will need to be outstanding.  Reliability will need to be extremely high, and should service delays on the off-guideway section of The Busway network occur, then effective measures will be needed to counteract the consequences, including 100% fully-operating Real Time Information systems.  The off-bus ticket machines will also need to function at the maximum design performance level from Day 1 of The Busway’s operation.  It is welcome news that the new multi-operator smartcard, managed by the County Council, was ready for customer orders from Monday August 1st, ahead of The Busway operations and ahead of original plans, and alongside a new dedicated website: www.thebusway.info

The challenges referred to above, in a city where a highly educated population will have demanding standards, articulately expressed, are real and significant.  However, they will need to be met so that The Busway proves to be the valued and essential element in delivering sustainable travel that the area needs, providing public transport service at a premium-quality level and supporting the impressive bus use growth of recent years in the area.