Some Updates: The CGB

This is the next in the series of updates. I must have missed it when I was away in Scotland. However thanks to "Travelling the Cambridgeshire guided busway blog I picked up on it from a post – “More guided busways for Cambridge?”

The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway

Apparently the CGB might be extended into Central Cambridge to avert the increasing congestion in Cambridge. If they ever get the go ahead to upgrade the A14 then the congestion can surely only get worse. The article indicates that already the busway carries 200,000 passengers a month.

Another busy bus on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway

Another indication of the growing passenger numbers is that the “Busway park and ride at St Ives is set for a £2m expansion”. The number of spaces will be increased from 500 to 1,000.  It would be nice to think that they might also consider making it much easier to cycle to the Park and Ride as well. I can’t see that happening except in a piecemeal way though. Although there is some trialling of “smartphone tickets” – why can’t we have an oyster system – most people I know use them in London now – because it just works.

St Ives CGB P&R – Kiss and Ride

Inevitably the busway plans have also caused concerns about what might then happen at Stourbridge Common. Why is all this planning so piecemeal? The same problems seem to be cropping up with the Northstowe development  – “Designs for Northstowe must be improved”.  The debate is heating up for the additional 25,000 homes around Cambridge.

A Wintry Stourbridge Common

For goodness sake why do we think along the same old car-centric lines. Better places and ways of living already exist. Our politicians need to “learn from the Netherlands” not just from the safety point of view but also how to make the developments better places to live. They need to go on one of David Hembrow’s study tours.