Cambridge North: Cambridge's new station

[TheDavibob]

Bearing in mind the very early cutoff dates for the stats, too. From my own observations usage has boomed from May. I've been almost entirely using it myself since May, personally, and I barely used it before (half hourly frequency is vastly superior than hourly, and the weekend service is pants wherever now).

 

[Ianno87]

Bearing in mind the very early cutoff dates for the stats, too. From my own observations usage has boomed from May. I've been almost entirely using it myself since May, personally, and I barely used it before (half hourly frequency is vastly superior than hourly, and the weekend service is pants wherever now).

I concur with your observations - usage has boomed since may with the half-hourly fasts calling (and no peak gaps). Next year's stats might be very interesting to see!

 

[camflyer]

And although growth has slowed at Cambridge after an impressive few years, the North hasn't detracted custom away.

The big turning point has been the upping of calls by GN services to/from Kings Cross. Expect an even larger growth next year. Costa has arrived with M&S supposing to be next & then the housing & hotel developments you speak of.

The big challenge will be sorting out the road access as Cowley Rd just won't have the capacity to support all of the planned housing, commercial and leisure development in the area.

All we need then is for EastWestRail and the Cambridge Metro to serve the station sometime in the next 20 years...

 

[Ianno87]

The big challenge will be sorting out the road access as Cowley Rd just won't have the capacity to support all of the planned housing, commercial and leisure development in the area.

All we need then is for EastWestRail and the Cambridge Metro to serve the station sometime in the next 20 years...

Controversial as it might be, I think it's getting to the point where it'll soon be unreasonable (in most 'normal' cases) to expect to live in Cambridge and own a vehicle of your own to park outside/near to your house/flat. The sheer amount of city roadspace given over to parking of residents'
cars is fairly crazy.

 

[eastdyke]

Controversial as it might be, I think it's getting to the point where it'll soon be unreasonable (in most 'normal' cases) to expect to live in Cambridge and own a vehicle of your own to park outside/near to your house/flat. The sheer amount of city roadspace given over to parking of residents'
cars is fairly crazy.

But perhaps not until action is taken to prevent people who do not live in Cambridge entering to compete for any little space that remains?
It's not as if this is new, just that the authorities have completely failed to address the issues over 25 years and more .......

 

[dk1]

It's a nice station, so it would be silly for people not to build near it.. just as happened near all the new underground stations that were built on the outskirts of London so many years ago.

7000 plus homes announced several months ago within the vicinity.

 

[dk1]

The big challenge will be sorting out the road access as Cowley Rd just won't have the capacity to support all of the planned housing, commercial and leisure development in the area.

All we need then is for EastWestRail and the Cambridge Metro to serve the station sometime in the next 20 years...

I think the whole Cambridge South planning surrounded the inclusion of EWR too. Let's hope these excellent transport plans get started asap.

 

[camflyer]

Controversial as it might be, I think it's getting to the point where it'll soon be unreasonable (in most 'normal' cases) to expect to live in Cambridge and own a vehicle of your own to park outside/near to your house/flat. The sheer amount of city roadspace given over to parking of residents'
cars is fairly crazy.

If I lived *in* Cambridge then I probably wouldn't bother with a car but as someone who works there but couldn't afford a garden shed within the city limits I currently have no choice but to clog up the roads with my car. The opening of Cambridge North is welcome but it needs to be part of an integrated transport system for the whole Greater Cambridge area before I would be willing to get out of my car.

I work with people who commute in from the likes of Newmarket, Ely, St Neots, Haverhill etc and the majority drive in as the public transport options still aren't good enough in terms of speed, capacity or reliability.

I've always said that Cambridge as one of the wealthiest and fastest growing cities in the country and with some of the best brains on the planet so you would have thought the chronic transport problems in the city would be a challenge that we could solve together. Instead we have a city council obsessed with stupid guided buses.

 

[Ianno87]

If I lived *in* Cambridge then I probably wouldn't bother with a car but as someone who works there but couldn't afford a garden shed within the city limits I currently have no choice but to clog up the roads with my car. The opening of Cambridge North is welcome but it needs to be part of an integrated transport system for the whole Greater Cambridge area before I would be willing to get out of my car.

I work with people who commute in from the likes of Newmarket, Ely, St Neots, Haverhill etc and the majority drive in as the public transport options still aren't good enough in terms of speed, capacity or reliability.

I've always said that Cambridge as one of the wealthiest and fastest growing cities in the country and with some of the best brains on the planet so you would have thought the chronic transport problems in the city would be a challenge that we could solve together. Instead we have a city council obsessed with stupid guided buses.

Trouble is, I think some of (by no means all) the "brains"/decision makers live in a bit of a city 'bubble' and just assume everyone can cycle to where they need to get to, because that is their own experience/way of life.

But head by road in any direction out of the city in the morning peak and watch long lines of car after car after car coming in. I genuinely think this is unappreciated by many city dwellers.

Addenbrooke's/Biomedical campus generates ludicrous amounts of peak traffic, as its non-city public transport links are not nearly attractive enough for many.

I also remember a very condescening tweet when the peak time road closures was being consulted to the effect of "why can't people just drive around the ring road (A1134) instead?" Because it's as equally, possibly more, congested as the city centre roads!

 

[camflyer]

I've always thought the Cambridge "Ring Road" was a bit of a local joke. In most places it is little more than residential streets.

The main problem is that Cambridge has been a victim of its own success. When I first came here 20 years ago it was a fairly sleepy University town. Since then it has become arguably the tech capital of Europe, has seen a huge amount of development and created tens of thousands of jobs but the city's infrastructure hasn't kept up. It's still a medieval University market town at heart.

The CBC site may generate a "ludicrous" amount of traffic now but this is before AstraZeneca, Papworth and a few other tenants have even moved in.

 

[MikePJ]

I ought to point out that transport policy in Cambridge is entirely the responsibility of the County Council and more recently the Mayor / Combined Authority, and thus decisions on it are made by councillors representing the whole of Cambridgeshire, not just the city. The lack of investment in transport schemes (until very recently when the City Deal brought in significant locally-controlled cash) is entirely to do with the political makeup of that council, and the policy of central governments for many years to keep councils on a very short financial leash!