Cambridge Area Bus Users

A group of people cycle along the path by the Cambridgeshire guided busway. There is a black and white windmill in the background. Overlaid text reads '30 years of better cycling: Busway path'

June is Camcycle's 30th birthday month & we'll be featuring our 30 cycling highlights since 1995.

No. 1: The Busway Path. We campaigned for it to be more than a 'maintenance track' with surfacing & lighting suitable for active travel. Hundreds of people now enjoy the benefits.

First last day Saturday 18th February 2023 It’s the end of an era for buses in Southampton today as First Bus closes its bus garage doors for good bringing to an end 143 years of bus operation that can be t…

Did we mention Bournemouth? History repeated itself for Go South Coast, following First Bus' withdrawal from Southampton in Feb 2023. First's orderly departure allowed a well-planned update to Bluestar’s network. busandtrainuser.com/2023/02/18/f...

More buses for more Saturday 14th October 2023 Poole based Morebus recently put 28 brand new ADL Enviro400 MMC buses into service on its busy high frequency route m1 which crosses the conurbation linking Poole, Bourne…

And this one, on how Andrew and his team built and developed the high-frequency services across BCP to the extent that a single-decker every 3mins still didn't have the capacity for crowd-shifting, so high-spec double-deckers were needed. busandtrainuser.com/2023/10/14/m...

More more in Bournemouth Sunday 7th August 2022 Thursday 4th August 2022’s stark announcement Bournemouth’s buses dramatically changed colour yesterday following the sad news on Friday 29th July the town’s Yellow Bus…

For a flavour of Andrew's achievements, you could hardly top Roger @busandtrainuser.bsky.social French's blog on how the More Bus team replaced the Yellow Bus services in BCP in record time. busandtrainuser.com/2022/08/07/m...

Obituary: Andrew Wickham, Go South Coast - routeone Go South Coast Managing Director Andrew Wickham died over the weekend of 24/25 May after a long illness. He was 58.

And an obit from routeone. www.route-one.net/news/obituar...

Saluting Andrew’s amazing career….RIP Sunday 25th May 2025 I’m so sorry to update today’s blog (written yesterday) with the devastating news Andrew sadly passed away in the early hours of this morning. Rest In Peace Andrew. This very s…

Andrew Wickham. A sad and untimely loss to the bus industry.
Brilliant tribute from Roger @busandtrainuser.bsky.social
French. busandtrainuser.com/2025/05/25/s...

Sad news of the death of a man who has done so much for MoreBus, local Public Transport and the wider #BCP community.
#RIP Andrew 🙏

Neither Johnson/Palmer is/was fan of NR/TOCs & would like more powers over local rail. Dr Nik has been pursuing CPCA/NR acquisition of Snailwell curve, to provide a Cambridge-Newmarket-Soham-Ely service. TBF this was also an ambition for James, but he got distracted by CAMetro’s multi-untried tech.

Why both @mayordrnik.bsky.social & predecessor (Palmer) favoured ‘franchising’ (Bus Services Act 2027 term). Powers have been signed by Johnson, but will take time.
Should be ‘contracted services’ as NO buses will be run at whim of any operator. ALL will be on CPCA routes/times/fares.

CBG-ELY by train is fast frequent and reasonably affordable. This is why no bus service can compete.
Whilst the current route 9 does help connect Littleport, Chetisham, Little Thetford and Streatham to Ely & Cambridge it’s not really fit for purpose in its current format.

On the other hand, a £3 fare each way on route 7 Cambridge - Saffron Walden is a scenic ride, especially from the top deck. And, as you're in the hands of a professional driver, it's OK to have a beer/wine with a meal.

Most often its the train we need rather than a bus. If we're heading to anywhere within, I dunno, 5 miles or so its rarely even a question, we'll cycle.

Which is nice, but our transport system is positively neolithic. It's about 17 minutes on the train to Ely from here, on a bad day. I'd be ok if, say, three people were cheaper driving together. But its cheaper for one. Bonkers

Happy to say that, locally, under @mayordrnik.bsky.social and @anna4labour.bsky.social (Deputy & Transport Lead) for Cambs&P'bo'ro CA, £2 single continues (£1 'Tiger Card' fares for Under-25s) and Franchising decision has been signed.

...and it isn't sustainable, it isn't equitable, its not safe, and its not healthy. (fin)

...are we going to ditch it? I dunno. Probably. But this hilights just how absurd car culture is in the UK - trains and buses are insanely expensive. Driving is ludicrously cheap. The result is cars dominate everything, everyone, everywhere. Its not right (7)

...and other than if the car breaks (its barely used so doesn't break much) because its small and efficient its cheap to tax and costs little to maintain. This... Can't be right. It just can't. (6)

...like its a little old i10, its not expensive to run. But even so, you'd be thinking that the inflection point where its cheaper driving should be somewhere towards three or four people going by car rather than 1. It is, straight up, if you have the car, cheaper to drive literally anywhere (5)

...and there are things like zipcars for occasional big things we might need to get. But we started costing up normal trips too - one person, on the train from Cambridge North to Ely, is more expensive than one person driving. Parking there is free (4)

So we're talking about getting rid of it again, and costing up options. Getting a hire car for emergencies is an option, and of course we ride bikes to everywhere within reach. And bike-train via. Cambridge North is fine... (3)

This was years ago. Then came a pandemic and having a way for her to get home to her parents while public transport was at its most hazardous, with a father who's been ill forever, was worthwhile. We'd have got rid of the car otherwise... (2)

Had a chat with OH about whether we're getting rid of the car. We have a car for one reason - an old school friend of hers was critically ill in hospital and public transport from here to there, cross country in England, is dysfunctional. Anyone living in East Anglia will understand (1)

All car parking has been removed and replace by bike parking and trees

Frans Halsstraat, Amsterdam in 1992 and today

Bus Services & New Residential Developments from Bus Centre of Excellence, Stagecoach & Go-Ahead should be on every planning (& highway) officer's desktop.
static1.squarespace.com/static/62320...

This.
Restricting choice and enforcing car dependency is social engineering.
Keeping fuel duty frozen whilst increasing public transport fares by 5-6% a year is social engineering.

I'm glad of my bus. It doesn't get me to work (unless I go to town or at least Tesco and out again) but does get me to town (actually quite frequently except evenings and Sundays).

Cartoon with road jammed with cars between jammed in detached homes

Next time someone tries arguing that it’s “social engineering” (cue ominous music) to give people CHOICES to walk, bike & take public transit in their city, tell them that designing our current car DEPENDENCY has been the largest and most damaging social engineering experiment in human history.

SUV Alliance

I know absolutely nuts! we're part of the SUV alliance with a number of other NGOs calling for stricter dimensions on new vehicles amongst other things www.suv-alliance.org.uk

Dangerous. Oh, so dangerous. Needs addressing.

Joggers, cyclists and a mother with a pram come close to edge of busway to avoid flood The council has closed sections of the path and is warning people not to try and walk along it.

A solution to flooding on the #Cambridgeshire guided busway is being urgently called for amid fears of another fatality on the route.
www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/joggers...