Late last year, members of the Cambridge branch of ACORN the Community Union (sort of like a trade union but not based in a specific workplace – and not to be confused with the Community Trade Union) voted to pick improving bus services – and in particular supporting bus franchising, as their campaign for this year. (If you want to find out more, email cambridge [@] acorntheunion[.]org[.]uk)
And if you don’t know what bus franchising involves, see Richard Wood’s explainer here
Above – members outside Drummer Street Bus Station in mid-January 2024
Above – a couple more people turned up just after I left because it was cold outside and standing around on one of Cambridge’s most polluted streets in such conditions isn’t good for my fragile condition
Also, I was struck by how willing members of the public were to give their opinions on the state of bus services – normally people tend to put their heads down and walk faster when they see protesters trying to get your attention. Or maybe that’s just me!
Former Brighton buses boss criticises the structure of services in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
It’s worth listening to Roger French OBE in this clip with Stephen Joseph, Chairman of the trustees of the Foundation for Integrated Transport which was one of the beneficiaries of the estate of the late Simon Norton, the longtime Cambridge bus campaigner who spent decades fighting against the policies that crushed the bus services from the mid-1980s onwards. Although the Cambridge Area Bus Users Group remains in existence, it needs more people to get on board (no pun intended!) in order to form a functioning committee and get some events going – especially in this general election year.
Note that the ACORN Cambridge campaign is time-limited, where as the CABU is ongoing (I run the FB page to help keep things ticking over given my limited ability to do anything active these days!) They have a meeting with the Mayor of the Combined Authority Nik Johnson coming up in the next few weeks, so if you want to get involved from the perspective of supporting improving bus services, give ACORN and CABU an email. Assuming things warm up this time next month, Addenbrooke’s may well be the next place for meeting the public.
‘Remember what the buses used to be like…!’
This is how we rolled with Cambus in 1990, by Richard Haughey
I’m old enough to remember using those blue buses!
And what buses are like now and into the future….
Above – ***I want that one!*** from Buses Magazine Feb 2023
This time last year I made a short vlogpost about buses magazine because if we’re to have a campaign, may as well be informed about what future buses could look like.
…as well as learning about the failures of previous national policies.
Anyway as and when I get confirmation of what is happening and when, I’ll post some updates.
In the meantime:
- Cambridge Acorn’s petition is here -> https://acornuk.good.do/east/CPCA-take-back-our-buses/
- Cambridge Area Bus Users’ Group is here -> https://cbgbususers.wordpress.com/
The Cambridge Town Owl 