The Smooth Operation

Turmoil on the streets and stock exchange there may be but Omnibuses’ Northern Correspondent reports on one part of the UK where matters are definitely smooth & calm. Who said August was a slow news month?

Upon leaving St Ives bus station, the Cambridgeshire busway starts very modestly indeed. Nearby, at the end of Station Road, is a short section of guideway less than the length of a bus that acts as a sophisticated local bus priority measure. This includes the first of a series of self-enforcing car traps. These are impressive gravel-filled pits that only larger vehicles can span. After buses trigger the lights to cross Harrison Way, they leave the guideway to arrive at a wide avenue or apron set out as an over-wide normal road. This is the St Ives park & ride site.

Indeed, this section is also served by “ordinary” buses, though entry for Stagecoach’s service 20, below, cannot be via the guideway itself but an access road at the back of the park & ride site. Service 20 operates at half-hourly intervals and links Fenstanton with the busway. The type of vehicle used on Monday was in complete contrast to those on the busway.

The St Ives park & ride is one of two new sites to the west of Cambridge. These are designed to offer a real alternative to motorists accessing Cambridge and to lessen congestion on the A14. No one is pretending that the busway will prevent traffic from Catthorpe (M1) to Felixstowe (and neither would rail) but the park & ride sites may persuade local and regional traffic to try the alternative.

The bus stop infrastructure’s in place at the site but, as yet, only half the car park is ready. A Cambridgeshire employee stated that on the first day, Sunday, drivers resorted to parking on the access road, so busy was the area.

There was some confusion among passengers about tickets. At Busway stops, passengers must buy in advance via a machine. This caused some delays in working through the menu options. They’ll figure it out in time, though.

They may not, however, understand why they’re asked to select either a Stagecoach or a Go Whippet ticket. Whippet’s, at 40p cheaper, is tempting but the unwary may not realise there are six Stagecoach services per hour to Whippet’s one, especially as the livery’s the same. The two aren’t inter-available, though Cambridgeshire does offer regular passengers a multi-operator smartcard solution. It was reported that in addition Whippet was offering a £1 ticket.

The other issue about the ticket was its price. It’s basically a Stagecoach dayrider plus price at £5.40. There were some mutterings about the cost. A couple need to pay £10.80. Will they see the value & benefit of this or press on towards Cambridge by car? A single adult plus up to two children is a more reasonable £6 but only after 0930.


After the park & ride, the busway starts in earnest. As before, buses enter the system via a short metal guiderail on each side of the busway. Drivers align with the offside and this automatically brings the nearside into line. There’s a slight judder here and at each junction as the bus squares onto the guideway proper, a bit like a train passing over points as the spring-loaded guide wheels locate. And off they go.

Once in place, the driver is free to accelerate, hands free, up to the maximum 55 mph to which each vehicle is limited. And the faster the bus goes, the smoother the ride. At slower speeds, you get the slight sensation of passing over each individual concrete guideway section but as speed increases, this disappears and so smooth is the ride that it’s quite possible to stand with ease, without the need for conductors' legs & without holding on to anything. To understand just how smooth this ride is, stay on board and experience the normal roads in Cambridge itself; then compare.

There was an engineer on hand to ensure that the lights changed at appropriate intervals, to give the bus priority. Buses need to slow to 40 mph at intersections and must re-locate via the metal guides.

Travelling on board, you have little concept of speed. It seems like 35 to 40. But stand alongside the busway on the adjacent (not fully finished) cycleway and you certainly get a good feel for the busway’s pace. Buses whip along. There’s no doubting that it’s fast. Interestingly, the national speed limit for buses on ordinary roads is 50 mph. The busway, I suppose, is a kind of dual carriageway and this maximum increases to 60.

The busway curves gently though virgin Cambridgeshire countryside, past the yet to be fully completed Langstanton park & ride, via meadows, lakes and even a windmill.

After Histon & Impington, it’s worth noting two very interesting things. The first is that had this been a railway, it would’ve carried on to avoid Cambridge city centre, terminating at the distant and inaccessible railway station. The busway decision was right if for no other reason than this flexibility.

The second is that the busway bifurcates at this point, with busway As serving the new science park. The Bs, however, go through the equally new 10,000-population settlement of Orchard Park, a planner’s dream, located right by a major public transport corridor. Here, the nature of the busway changes. It’s simply a floor without the vertical guide flanges (above). Why, I don’t know. Perhaps cost has something to do with it. Or, perhaps other non-guided services use this stretch.