Cambridge Guided bus reviewed by transport expert Robert Bond

"The train tended to take you from where you werent to where you didnt quite want to go" Exactly.

A nice addition to this would be adding overhead cables and turning it into a trolley bus system

The guided bus was built along an old railway line that was only 6m wide. By being guided you can get two lanes into that space - they pass very close to each other. Building a road would have needed land to be bought, bridges to be replaced and cuttings expanded. That's the reasoning anyway.

Although the track was indeed 'laid' to 1mm tolerances, the powers that be failed to realise that the concrete would sag in between each support by about 7mm - and that ends of each beam would gradually go off true by a few mm anyway, resulting in an increasingly bumpy ride. Not a sod has yet been turned at Northstowe, the new town: most of the new houses under development are within cycling distance of the city. But morning services are full.

I find it that people use it simply because it's there (like mountains!). Desperate commuters will take anything that's on offer. As well as the stupidly bumpy ride, it is far, far slower than a train, and the so called time savings with the on/off road convenience are undermined by the ridiculous extension of the service to Peterborough. I don't see any new dedicated busway sections along the A1 do you? And besides, the key point here is that the main 16 miles of busway was not built on virgin land, it was built on train track that could easily have been re-instated. I mean, I doubt that few people travel from Huntingdon all the way through to Trumpington just take advantage of the overall accessibility of the thing. They'll get off in the city centre (no doubt after getting stuck in traffic along the road sections). A railway would have given flexibility for freight usage as well, if linked up with other lines. It could thus have genuinely helped relieve pressure on the A14 by taking the lorries off it. I mean, they're still going ahead with the new relief/toll road aren't they? Has the busway prevented the call for a new road? No. You'd think an academically renowned city could come up with something better really. The only people that have really done well out of all of it are the contractors, BAM Nuttall.

00:26 please don't die

Interesting stuff, we're due to get a guided bus route in 2015 from Leigh to Ellenbrook and then bus lanes on the East Lancs Road from Ellenbrook to Manchester City Centre. Its good to hear that this one is a success and people are using it. 

looks amazing... well done :)

AdelAide Australia just extended theirs taking the longest spot again :)

There are already some guided buses in Leeds city before this one.

obviously Mr Bond is all for the guided bus! how often do you use it Mr Bond? 

They could have turned the existing rail tracks into a tram/train light rail which would carry more passengers

After that near miss I wouldn't go on the tracks, I think it's pretty clear you can't hear it coming 😂

We want in Chelmsford as well thanks

Guided bus should be hybrid diesel electric.

They should have this for cycle lanes for commuting to work.

Interesting, but a little boring - best part at the start with a near "Clip around the ear!"

Of course more redundant rail near Cambridge was turned into a radio telescope!

Guided bus is and was a shortsighted solution for Cambridge. I wished they would have came up with a proper solution. The city is at breaking point and productivity is down the drain. You can forget living in Cambridge or surrounding villages. What a shame.

I don't call a reduction of 2.3% in A14 traffic to be significant enough to warrant spending nearly £200,000,000.