Cambridge track become busway: three routes proposed
Already has a guided busway linking the city with Huntingdon and St Ives. Three more routes have been proposed, including a government-approved link to…
Cambridge already has a dedicated bus route linking the city with towns across the county. Three more have been proposed, and the government has approved a new busway to Cambourne, bringing renewed attention to the benefits and concerns surrounding the network.
The existing Cambridgeshire busway connects Huntingdon and St Ives to Cambridge. The planned routes include a link to Cambourne, a Cambridge South East scheme and a Waterbeach connection, though the available reporting gives different levels of detail on their progress.
Cambridge is home to the UK's first and the world's longest busway, spanning 16 miles (26km), according to the BBC. The current route opened in August 2011, after a delay of two years, at a cost of £116.2m.
Existing route carries millions of journeys
Busways use dedicated routes separated from ordinary roads. A guided busway takes that approach further: buses travel on concrete tracks, using guide wheels fitted to the sides of the vehicles.
The system aims to make journeys faster and more reliable by avoiding road congestion. The existing route also has cycle lanes and footpaths running alongside the tracks at many points. Car traps have been used to stop other vehicles entering the busway, but the BBC reported that they have been linked to a number of mishaps over the years.
Cambridgeshire County Council estimates that the busway carries four million passenger journeys each year. Much of the route was built on a former railway line, with a longer section between St Ives and Cambridge and a shorter section linking central Cambridge with Addenbrooke's Hospital.
The network has also faced significant problems. A long-running dispute over millions of pounds' worth of alleged defects was settled out of court in 2023, the BBC reported.
Last year, Cambridgeshire County Council was fined £6m after Jennifer Taylor, Steve Moir and Kathleen Pitts died in collisions on the busway between 2015 and 2021. Permanent fencing was later installed along the route to keep pedestrians away from the tracks. Stagecoach East said the work had led to a steep drop-off in passenger numbers.
That trade-off matters beyond the project plans: a route intended to ease congestion must also remain accessible and safe for passengers, pedestrians and cyclists. The fencing addresses pedestrian access to the tracks, while the reported fall in passenger numbers raises a concern for operators and the council as they consider further busway proposals.
New routes face different hurdles
In September, the government gave the green light to a multimillion-pound busway between Cambridge and the new town of Cambourne. Known as C2C, the planned route would cover 8.6 miles (13.8km) and aims to provide 10,000 daily passenger trips.
The proposal has been in planning for more than a decade and received more than 300 objections. The route is due to pass through a century-old orchard in Coton. It would also serve the Bourn airfield site, where 5,000 new homes are planned; about 13,000 additional homes are planned for the wider area.
Cambridgeshire County Council will deliver C2C on behalf of the Greater Cambridge Partnership. At last year's inquiry, the anticipated project cost was put at about £192m, based on information submitted in November 2024. The partnership confirmed during the inquiry that it had allocated £181m.
A separate Cambridge South East Transport busway is planned to run about five miles (8.5km), from Francis Crick Avenue at the city's Biomedical Campus to a new travel hub off the A11 at the Fourwentways junction. The scheme, developed by the Greater Cambridge Partnership, would pass through Great Shelford, Stapleford and Sawston if it proceeds.
An inquiry into the South East scheme has been delayed because of its proximity to a gas pipeline. The partnership confirmed that a public inquiry would be held from 8 December, with a pre-inquiry meeting taking place on Tuesday.
The BBC also reports a proposed Waterbeach-to-Cambridge busway linking the new town at Waterbeach Barracks with Milton Park and Ride before joining the existing guided busway. The source report provides no further details on the route's progress.
Source: bbc.co.uk
