Cambridge Area Bus Users slam Cambourne-2-Cambridge busway shortcomings

Posted byCambridge Town OwlPosted inUncategorized

“A route to Grange Road fails to address the needs of those attempting to reach the major travel destinations in the north, south, east, or centre of Cambridge”. said their statement

You can read the full statement here.

I’ve been a longstanding member but am not on the committee of the campaign, so wasn’t involved in the conversations or the sign-off of the statement.

“Who are the Cambridge Area Bus Users?”

“The “Cambridge Area Bus Users was formed to stand up for the interests of bus passengers in and around Cambridge.

Above – Cambridge Area Bus Users

They/we had a hiatus in the early 2020s like many other groups following the first lockdown. The new committee is now in place and there’s a new FB page here.

“It’s a new busway – why would a bus campaign complain about it?”

The statement is hard-hitting and to the point:

  • “There is no plan for the route or routes that buses will take at the end of the busway in the Grange Road area”
  • the proposed schedule of services fails to meet the capacity needs of the planned 2000-space car park at Scotland Farm
  • It will not help residents reach jobs, customers reach shops, youngsters get to school, or those not in education, employment, or training access the opportunities they need.

As I wrote just over a week ago, the whole thing represents a failure in transport infrastructure decision-making and the buck for that stops with the ministers that created it – and the ones that sustained it when they could have closed it at the gateway reviews.

‘Cambridge has moved on’ says the statement

The City Deal Agreement was negotiated in the early 2010s and signed off under the Coalition Government in 2014 – shortly after the Cambridge Liberal Democrats had lost party political control of Cambridge City Council at the local elections earlier that year.

“The backbone of the proposed strategy is a transport network to link areas of population and employment within the City Deal area. There will be new orbital bus routes around Cambridge and new high quality public transport links into Cambridge on key corridors, connecting with major employment centres”

Above – Cambridge City Deal Agreement, 20 June 2014, p3/4

Above – the map in the original city deal agreement of 2014

The statement summarised the political developments and public policy changes since the signing off of the city deal.

  • “[There are] plans for East-West Rail to have a station at Cambourne, providing a significant access corridor to Cambridge South.
  • “The Greater Cambridge Development Corporation is a new body established to facilitate urban development in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, focusing on delivering infrastructure alongside new homes, specifically including Transport links.
  • “The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority has an elected Mayor responsible for the Local Transport Plan, with [a manifesto commitment] for a Mass Rapid Transit system” [i.e. a Light Rail for Cambridge].
The next Greater Cambridge Partnership Assembly meeting is in Cambridge at the Guildhall on 15 October 2026

It’ll be interesting to see what the GCP officers have to say about the bus services and what happens to the buses when they get to Grange Road – mindful that their consistent ‘line to take’ has been that the buses ‘will join the existing network’. A line that is now inconsistent with the statements from the Combined Authority Mayor Paul Bristow’s statement about the powers he has on bus franchising.

Anyone want to table public questions to this meeting?

“Notice of the question should be sent to the Greater Cambridge Partnership Public
Questions inbox [public.questions@greatercambridge.org.uk] no later than 10 a.m.
three working days before the meeting. Questions should be limited to a maximum of 300 words.“

Above – Protocol on public questions to the Greater Cambridge Partnership

It’s a question that the GCP has to have a firm and reasonable answer for because they pushed for this piece of infrastructure over an extended period of time. Dismissing the questions, giving the same old ‘line to take’ or saying that this is now the CPCA’s problem would look awful for the general public and demonstrate how broken the decision-making structures have been for Cambridge’s transport infrastructure – something that came up at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee of South Cambridgeshire District Council on 18 September 2026 when councillors told Peter Freeman of the Gtr Cambridge Development Corporation about the litany of failures of transport infrastructure planning over the decades.

GCP officers can no longer avoid the question: What happens to the busway buses when they reach Grange Road?

(It might even be an idea for anyone tabling public questions to bring a big map with them and invite officers to suggest bus routes).

The Cambridge Area Bus Users concluded:

“It is CABU’s view that no work should commence on the proposed busway until the issues surrounding where and how passengers go from Grange Road has been resolved”

I agree.

If you are interested in the longer term future of Cambridge, and on what happens at the local democracy meetings where decisions are made, feel free to: