I can't find a good source for the history of the Cambridge Guided Busway, so I'm relying on memory here, which may be fallible.
When the Busway was first proposed there was no intention for the busway route to be also available to cyclists and pedestrians. The only access along the busway was going to be an unsurfaced track for maintenance vehicles.
As construction proceeded local people began to use the route for walking and cycling. The maintenance track was only suitable for multi terrain cycles and I remember trying to ride a road bike along the concrete trough of the busway track. This was a challenge, especially in a cross wind.
I'm not sure when the maintenance track was given a proper surface, and repurposed as a cycleway, but it is probably before the Busway opened, which I think was in 2011. I think it was retrospectively recognised that cyclists and pedestrians would use the busway anyway, so it was better to give them a proper cycleway. At first usage would have been light.
At least six areas of development have led to huge increases in use of the cycle tracks adjacent to the Busway. On the north side the Cambridge Regional College site at Kings Hedges generates a lot of student traffic, and the opening of Cambridge North station has made the cycle track the preferred route for cycling train passengers living in various villages on the north side of the City. This includes the big housing expansion at Northstowe.
But this is small beer compared to the south side, where huge increases in employment around the main railway station and on the biomedical campus combine with massive housebuilding around Trumpington. The cycleway between Hills Road and Long Road is extremely busy at peak times.
So where we are now can be considered to be the result of a sequence of short term decisions with unforeseen consequences going back nearly 20 years.
ps for moderators your message came through just as I finished typing!
When the Busway was first proposed there was no intention for the busway route to be also available to cyclists and pedestrians. The only access along the busway was going to be an unsurfaced track for maintenance vehicles.
As construction proceeded local people began to use the route for walking and cycling. The maintenance track was only suitable for multi terrain cycles and I remember trying to ride a road bike along the concrete trough of the busway track. This was a challenge, especially in a cross wind.
I'm not sure when the maintenance track was given a proper surface, and repurposed as a cycleway, but it is probably before the Busway opened, which I think was in 2011. I think it was retrospectively recognised that cyclists and pedestrians would use the busway anyway, so it was better to give them a proper cycleway. At first usage would have been light.
At least six areas of development have led to huge increases in use of the cycle tracks adjacent to the Busway. On the north side the Cambridge Regional College site at Kings Hedges generates a lot of student traffic, and the opening of Cambridge North station has made the cycle track the preferred route for cycling train passengers living in various villages on the north side of the City. This includes the big housing expansion at Northstowe.
But this is small beer compared to the south side, where huge increases in employment around the main railway station and on the biomedical campus combine with massive housebuilding around Trumpington. The cycleway between Hills Road and Long Road is extremely busy at peak times.
So where we are now can be considered to be the result of a sequence of short term decisions with unforeseen consequences going back nearly 20 years.
ps for moderators your message came through just as I finished typing!
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