The World's Longest Disused Guided Busway
| Cambridgeshire's |
Comment
The longer that the Guided Bus is delayed, the more the penalty charges rack up against BAM:BAM so despite what it says, is the council really bothered about delays? Furthermore, if the busway will then be loss making when actually running due to lack of passengers and fewer buses, what is the incentive to open it?
2010 latest
July 28 - City MP Julian Huppert shows his colours and brands the busway 'a white elephant'
July 20 - Tim Phillips interviewed on BBC Cambridgeshire about Cast.Iron's Milton Road Station proposal
July 20 - Poor condition of cycle track shown in blog photos - and this is Summer!
July 19 - Bus companies are in an unhappy position - busway doom thanks to Brynley
July 15 - Beleaguered busway opens its first branch line - leaves now online
July 09 - 'Busway may open in December' - just in time for Christmas maybe?
July 06 - Phew an article at last. 'Council could be forced to finish guided busway work'. Bunker Bob to get his shovel out?
July 05 - County Council in press release famine shock horror void. Worrying lack of news since last week.
July 02 - Revenue and patronage worries surface. Stagecoach say build problems should have been fixed by now.
Council moots 'new deals' to raise more income from the guideway. Whatever do they mean?
July 01 - Another day, another gloomy headline for the Blunderbus: 'Growing fears that guided buses won’t run until 2011'
June 30 - Bendy Bus system in Bristol is out of shape as everything stops for a tea break:
June 22 - Guided bus experts’ fee tops £5.5m - some 'experts' they have proved to be!
June 18 - 'Still no defect work completed on Guided Bus' - I thought the whole thing was defective from the start?
June 16 - Council slam ‘inept’ guided bus contractors - so it's SLAM:BAM:BAM now
June 09 - Busway overspend blamed for cuts. Pain and no gain, but only 1million overspend we are led to believe.
So, council taxpayers not subsidising the guided bus project was a lie a mistake wishful thinking?
June 02 - Edinburgh busway closes - but we've still got CGB haven't we?
May 29 - Local M.P. calls for guided bus enquiry. Julian won't be invited for coffee and sandwiches anymore at Shire hall
May 20 - Probe into guided bus is rejected. Well we'll see...
May 18 - No opening date for guided bus until "at least July" - Can't help shooting themselves in foot not giving us opening dates!
May 13 - Guided Bus good headline shock horror - Cambridge Station area has been finished.
Pity the bus doesn't run to there from St Ives.
May 13 - Long wait for bus gets even longer as deadlines pass. County says "it's not our fault Gov".
May 6 - St Ives to Cambridge guided busway defects checklist - your updates will be updated
May 5 - The Answer lies in the soil - BAM:BAM to do a bit of digging
April 28 - Sorry, your delay is running late - BAM:BAM miss a deadline
April 22 - "CCoC ...is confident its contractor will get cracking" - but not the concrete beams cracking we assume
April 21 - Transport bosses miss deadline to name opening date - this is news?
April 15 - CAST.IRON submits a proposal for a Milton Road station to DfT
April 01 - Busway progress after talks. A good day to bury good news? No no, really, it isn't an April Fool article!
April 01 - Jurassic Theme for Busway - Ha! obviously an April Fool article!!
March 31st - Little progress made on correcting defects on the St Ives to Cambridge Guided Busway:
Apparently "defects" are not the same as "snags", so he has had to make a new request.
March 15th - Edinburgh council in "bitter row with their German contractor" over tramworks, have appointed tough guy to defend themselves.
"Critics paint a picture of a scheme in chaos, with project managers lacking experience and out of their depth". "There were flawed initial surveys". Sounds familiar?
March 19th - DfT releases funds for Luton guided busway!
So do you still believe government when they say "lessons will be learned" ?
March 18th - Guided Busway is a transport disaster by Mike Mason
Page 1
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Reformatted version
March 17th - BamBam to give talk on 'how to build busway' - took a radical approach: 50% overbudget!
March 11th - Cambridge News article - Losing track of the start date for bus?
March 10th: Transport minister announces £80 million funding for busway (Video):
Tim Phillips interviewed on BBC Radio Cambridgshire:
Bam! Bam! Bam! contractor attacks council over guided bus criticism:
From our 'you couldn't make it up guv, department' - Luton busway to get gov funding!:
Cambridge Guided Bus was a "bad idea from the start," say Lib Dems, (with one eye on elections):
March 9th - Desperate Busway Team has made public a critical
report to cabinet
or
March 3rd - Let's have REAL rail says Norman
March 2010
Flooding problems - here is a culvert and maintenance track in dry conditions - courtesy of The Cambridge Busway blog
27th Feb - 'Biggest shambles' verdict for busway:
23rd Feb - Cllr Mike Mason and Brian Smith interviewed on Radio Cambs Andy Harper show:
Councillor Mike Mason's documentation on the busway problems:
Letter: Hardly suprising according to Cllr Mike Mason:
17th Feb - Cambridge to St Ives guided busway stand-off continues:
10th Feb - East Cambs Lib Dem says budgets will be raided for £5 million MGB legal costs
6th Feb - Bob Menzies 'Head of Delivery' delivers himself to conference. Let's hope he's on time!
2nd Feb - Bus operators 'hit out' at costly hold-ups to guided busway
February 2010
Jan29th - £1m of our tax cash may be spent on bus
Angry response to massive cuts:
Jan 2010
'Millions at stake after latest busway wrangle'.
Local taxpayers may subsidise costs by £1 million extra a year for ...how long?
December 2009
Letter: Monorail makes long-term sense
Well, at least someone is using the busway - Parkour/Free-running video
Lit up like a Christmas Tree, but no-one's at home
Letter: Dangers of the busway - wet feet and worse
Letter: Environmental benefit negated - CO2 emissions mean the "concrete gutter" is not green, it's grey
Coleridge Conservatives - reviewing restating the case for the guided bus:
Letter: Well done for speaking out, says Tim Philips
Nov 19th - Delay in other bus changes wins a warm welcome
Letter: £116m+ price tag for 'Dumbed down' service
Pictures from The Anonymous Widower blog
Delay may be delayed by up to 6 months
BBC Cambridgeshire interview with Brian Smith of CCoC - GB is not overbudget and enjoys public support (!)
Nov 16th - BBC Cambridgeshire Drivetime Show, Tim Phillips calls for Cllr Pegram to apologise, then resign
Guided bus facing new delay
Nov 16th - Cambs council confirms yet another delay to St Ives-Cambridge guided bus link
Nov 12th - Another Deadline Missed & concrete blocks at entrances
November 2009
Cambridge County Council release 'The Busway' video on YouTube.There should be competition to spot all the dubious 'facts' offered to the viewer..On second thoughts that's just too easy.
Err, just when did you say it was opening? What, even the video won't open on time??!!!
Aug 22nd - Cambridge-St Ives Guided Bus: Track 'cracks are not a problem' A feature then?
Aug 10th - Fresh delay for guided bus route:
July 24th - Shona Johnstone blogs "...we should threaten to abandon Northstowe". So why do we need the busway?
April 09 - BBC News - One mile left for longest track:
2009
The (December 2008) Busway Carol. Better late than never, and still apt in November 2009!
Dec - Busway in financial difficulties?
and
May - It's cracking up already! Cracks have been found in concrete beams. Don't worry it's supposed to (?)
'Bunker' Bob Menzies just ignores the problem enjoys a cup of tea on the bus in BBC Radio Cambridgshire bulletin:
Tim Phillips responds:
2008
Aug 7th - Viaduct down for busway project:
2007
July 4th - Contractor for £116m busway plan:
2006
Dec - Busway go-ahead - Initial reactions
2005
July 1st - Guided Bus plans supported in leaked SRA letter
Tim Phillips and Cclr Johnstone almost trade blows in the studio
Tim Phillips: (2MB)
Cclr Johnstone: (2MB)
April 2nd - No we didnt! - Tim Phillips in discussion with Steve Riches, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire:
Part 1: (4MB)
Part 2: (6MB)
Bulletin
March 13th - Letter: Get on the right track
Feb 21st - TWA plans "very detailed" according to Cllr Johnstone:
"One bit that sticks in my mind was a line from the environmental assessment part of it which said:
'A small mammal was heard eating'...a ham sandwich??"
Part 1 (6MB)
Part 2 (8MB)
News Report
Part 3 (10MB)
Feb 13th - Bedfordshire Translink Abandoned (sorry no link)
Translink £90m 'an obscene amount for a white elephant':
Feb 11th - Follow up news reports
News bulletins on Star 107
(Short) &
(Long)
BBC News Report
Following news bulletins:
First (confused)
Second
Third
(8.6MB)
Feb 9th - CAST.IRON's bus budget bombshell - Government grant for guided bus is not £65 million but £32.5million
read the small print:
(10.3MB)
Longer BBC report by Stuart Ratcliffe:
Report (2MB)
2004
BBC interviews with Tony McNulty & Cllr Johnstone
(4.2MB)
2003
Reality check - what did the County Council originally say in their Guided Bus Newsletters?
Well here they are in all their glory, take a look:
One
Two
Three
Feb 07
April 07
June 07
Sept 07
Nov 07
Dec 07
Feb 08
April 08
Aug 08
Mar 09
June 09
Dec 09
Wikipedia article on the MGB
links:
Website
Press Releases
Statement of Case
Info Sheet