The aim of my Channel to introduce Cambridge to the world and update you with the current situation of the City. This will be through short documentaries, topical Reports and presentation of community events. I will showcase what Cambridge has to offer including its beautiful scenery and famous tourist attractions. Cambridge is world renowned due its splendid and prestigious University. A place where thousands have studied and worked to the highest standard. Some of the world greatest minds from past and present have tread these paths. This Channel will temp you to plan a journey here or simply appreciate the city from your corner of the globe.
As a Dutch kid I lived in Bottisham from my third untill I was eight years old. 1963-1968 The derilict airfield always intrigued me as a kid. I also remember the filming of the movie Battle of Brittain and getting a Corgy Spitfire and Stuka then. Hope to visit the museum next time I go down memory lane. Cheers!
I accidentally took a normal bus down these a few months back 😂😂😂😂😂 Passengers didn’t take kindly to it lol but once you are on it not much you can do to get back off
A friend of mine drove route masters in London, whereas i drove trains for BR, but trams i have heard of and been on, but never heard of guided buses before.
I remember this being built in the late 2000s, I lived in the area during this time and news back then was what a white elephant was as it ran over budget and took years longer than expected. The buses don't seem that busy and I have never used it, I wonder what the return on the invest has been over the last decade or so since it opened, I recall a few 100 million to construct. There is a big car park in St ives and the concept was for cars to park there and then take the bus to Cambridge, given that the A14 has vastly been improved since then, I wonder how many people use it.
Looks like a dumb idea causing side wear on tyres where they are not designed for it. Either you have increased tyre wear, or askign for very costly very special tires. Everytime it touches side rails, more friction means more fuel consumption.
Soon in Portugal there will be a longer busway, about 26 miles ( 42 kilometres). But I rather would prefer the train. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Mondego
Now imagine if we took this concept and connected multiple buses in a line to increase capacity, then we replace the concrete tracks and rubber wheels with a harder wearing material such as steel, and then removed the engines from each of these buses with an external power source connected to overhead wires to reduce emissions from internal combustion engines.... I'm mostly joking, guided buses are a really good transport solution for smaller cities/towns with a lower infrastructure budget.
CRACKPOT ENGINEERING ??? From an Engineering point of view a guided "bus way" is absurd. It is effectively a road trying to pretend to be a railway, without ANY of the "GREEN" savings a railway naturally provides ! How So you may ask ? A 540hp electric locomotive can easily haul 1000 tonnes of loaded rail vehicles. The latest Volvo electric buses used on the Cambridge Busway have a maximum power output of 540hp which is needed to move JUST 19.5 tonnes of fully loaded vehicle ! In other words the resistance of rubber tyres on Concrete requires over 26 times MORE power than a metal wheel on a metal rail. Because metal on metal is far smoother !!!!!! So the absurd Busway could be replaced by a tram with 150hp and a number of cars with a capacity for 500 passengers. It could also safely go a lot faster than the bus. Further like all modern trams the special tram rails can be buried flush with a road surface, or anything else. Avoiding two of the three Deaths that the Busway system is already accused of causing. Because of its idiotic raised concrete sides, which trapped two cyclists. The reason the County Councillers chose this daft system is because it was CHEAPER (not GREENER) in the short term than an Electric tramway. Trams of course don't need energy wasting batteries, they run directly off the National Grid, wasting nothing. And they certainly wouldn't waste the 26 times more power needed by the current electric buses !!!!!! Politicians from whatever level or political persuasion (or their Civil Servants) are simply incapable of dealing with complex technologies, to get the public the best "deal" for the TAX payers money.
We have non-guided (regular) busways in the US in my city that work very well for many years now. The buses go through regular type roads that are exclusive to buses and in rare cases emergency vehicles and ambulances. The benefit is that during rush hour you can get to downtown (a distance of 12 miles) in 15 minutes as opposed to an hour if you drive a car using the regular highway... I am not sure I understand what problem the guided bus solves. The steering is handled via electronics but you still have a driver monitoring so what's the benefit? Also there is no real road so you can't use it for ambulances, police etc.
