Yesterday, Omnibuses’ Northern Correspondent threw a sickie & set out early from his northerly comfort zone to report from Cambridgeshire on the first real test of the busway...
Lunchtime and things were definitely not working smoothly in Cambridgeshire. Not that many were openly complaining. The morning peak and immediate post-peak on the busway went well. But then, to add to the general interest of others, the free travellers emerged in numbers (at & after 0930).
It struck me that all this public interest was similar to what happened when the railway first arrived in town or on the occasion of the very first motor bus service. A bit of a novelty. All and sundry emerged to look and to ride. Yes, it was as dramatic as that. And, with schools off, what better way to kill a few hours for free travellers than by taking along those grandchildren.
What resulted, as evidenced by the RTI, was a deteriorating & disjointed afternoon timetable that saw bunching & gaps. And possibly some deliberate duplication. Pressure was on to such an extent that even with a 10-minute frequency, seats were at a premium and there was much standing. Had this been a normal service, Stagecoach might’ve been able to summon up enough drivers to assist—but one of the downsides of a busway is that any old Olympian definitely would *not* do. So, in some cases, passengers’ expectations were not met.
But, most people, most of the time understood the reason for the delay: pressure of numbers. I suspect this will be the case all this week, after which normality will establisg itself.
The roadworks on a bus-only stretch at Cambridge railway station didn’t help the busway As. These are only single decks, owing to height restrictions towards the new Trumpington park & ride.
Mid-morning, post-0930, at Trumpington was busy. No one got angry and drivers handled any raised blood pressure well, without resorting to dropping any passenger off at Addenbrooke’s hospital for medical care. For, the busway As are designed as a park & ride facility for Addenbrooke’s, a site occupying land the size of a small town centre, with its own (small) bus station (though the As didn’t use it). The standard, quicker, direct-to-Cambridge park & rides were nearly empty.
A handful used the As for the purpose for which it was intended. Most, however, continued on the bus and alighted not at Cambridge but carried on along the busway, all the way to the terminus, St Ives. Everyone got off the busway Bs at St Ives, too, for it is after this point that it runs on-street. No novelty there.
Monday, as Sunday, was an unusual day on the busway. Things *will* settle down. Ridership *will* grow. No one yesterday was so perplexed, so confused, or so annoyed that they were visibly or discernibly angry. Mind you, a few people struggled with the compulsory off-bus ticketing but I bet that happened in London at first.
Lunchtime and things were definitely not working smoothly in Cambridgeshire. Not that many were openly complaining. The morning peak and immediate post-peak on the busway went well. But then, to add to the general interest of others, the free travellers emerged in numbers (at & after 0930).
It struck me that all this public interest was similar to what happened when the railway first arrived in town or on the occasion of the very first motor bus service. A bit of a novelty. All and sundry emerged to look and to ride. Yes, it was as dramatic as that. And, with schools off, what better way to kill a few hours for free travellers than by taking along those grandchildren.
What resulted, as evidenced by the RTI, was a deteriorating & disjointed afternoon timetable that saw bunching & gaps. And possibly some deliberate duplication. Pressure was on to such an extent that even with a 10-minute frequency, seats were at a premium and there was much standing. Had this been a normal service, Stagecoach might’ve been able to summon up enough drivers to assist—but one of the downsides of a busway is that any old Olympian definitely would *not* do. So, in some cases, passengers’ expectations were not met.
But, most people, most of the time understood the reason for the delay: pressure of numbers. I suspect this will be the case all this week, after which normality will establisg itself.
The roadworks on a bus-only stretch at Cambridge railway station didn’t help the busway As. These are only single decks, owing to height restrictions towards the new Trumpington park & ride.
Mid-morning, post-0930, at Trumpington was busy. No one got angry and drivers handled any raised blood pressure well, without resorting to dropping any passenger off at Addenbrooke’s hospital for medical care. For, the busway As are designed as a park & ride facility for Addenbrooke’s, a site occupying land the size of a small town centre, with its own (small) bus station (though the As didn’t use it). The standard, quicker, direct-to-Cambridge park & rides were nearly empty.
A handful used the As for the purpose for which it was intended. Most, however, continued on the bus and alighted not at Cambridge but carried on along the busway, all the way to the terminus, St Ives. Everyone got off the busway Bs at St Ives, too, for it is after this point that it runs on-street. No novelty there.
Monday, as Sunday, was an unusual day on the busway. Things *will* settle down. Ridership *will* grow. No one yesterday was so perplexed, so confused, or so annoyed that they were visibly or discernibly angry. Mind you, a few people struggled with the compulsory off-bus ticketing but I bet that happened in London at first. Indeed, most people enjoyed the ride, albeit a little later than they expected. Some had to let the first bus go and await a second. On board, they all craned their necks or lent out into the aisles, to get the best possible forward view.
Tomorrow, Omnibuses’ NC concentrates on the vehicles and the track. Meanwhile, why not forward any *unusual* pictures of the busway you may have…
Tomorrow, Omnibuses’ NC concentrates on the vehicles and the track. Meanwhile, why not forward any *unusual* pictures of the busway you may have…
6 comments:
So the same chaos as Sunday then! People on Sunday got so frustrated by hour+ waits they gave up and used the "normal" route 1A buses instead. Loading does seem to take an age which isn't helping. Surely they need ticket machines at Cambridge and St Ives bus stations too although when Whippet cancel a bus (as they did Sunday) that can mean a very long wait (its every 2 hours on sunday!) for those prepurchasing Whippet tickets. The £1 Whippet fare isn't helping either,particularly as its available from St Ives Bus Station but not St Ives Park and Ride due to it not being offered from busway ticket machines! They desparately need joint ticketing and machines at the two bus stations en route.
Here we go again.I cant believe there is not a universal ticket scheme.Someone needs to pull ut the proverbial digit!!
There is a multi operator smartcard available which allows travel by both operator's services for a specific journey. It's administered by Cambridgeshire CC and can be ordered on line. This is good for regular travellers, but obviously doesn't give inter-availability for one off return tickets, which would be the ideal.
However, it's worth remembering that Whippet have only 3 vehicles on the busway, compared with Stagecoach's 20, so it may not be that big an issue, in reality.
Multi operator single tickets are very much needed for the Busway, IMO. For revenue calculation they could be sold in two "halves" and collected by the bus operator to be paid by a central clearing house against submission of the collected half of the ticket. Not hard.
It's not as if they haven't had enough time to plan for passengers using the busways is it ?
Rather like the FTR launch, just helps make buses look like they are run by chumps. It's the sort of 'British Rail attitude' to passengers that really should be avoidable...bet the local press are having afield day.
@ Anonymous 1052:
It won't be an issue for the concessionary pass holders, but it sure will be an issue for the people that the Busway is trying to tempt- shoppers and tourists to Cambridge.
The Go Whippet ticket is cheaper because they have less of a presence on the Busway, but you can guarantee that a lot of tourists will not understand the difference and get the cheaper ticket. And then vow never to use the bus again when they're told that they have to wait an hour (two on Sundays!) for a service that is supposedly "turn up and go".
London can have off-bus ticketing because they have one fare structure. Most other park-and-ride sites have off-bus ticketing because either there's only one contracted operator or the tickets are multi-operator. Why on earth Cambridgeshire CC have decided to go against this tried and tested approach is beyond me.
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