Guided bus overview
The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) wants to build a 14 metre wide, tarmac and concrete guided busway, cutting across the fields from Babraham, on green belt fields through Stapleford and Great Shelford to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC).
The cost would be £162 million.
The route proposed for the busway will include bus stops on the edges of Great Shelford and Stapleford. However, these are far from village centres and won’t have any car parking.
GCP states the purpose of the busway is "to prevent congestion on the A1307".
GCP's proposed route could create an opportunity for developers to infill the adjoining farmland with new houses.
The GCP’s busways will also cut across roads on the edge of villages, including Hinton Way and Granhams Road in Great Shelford, requiring level-crossings which will disrupt traffic.
In the March 2024 budget, the Greater Cambridge Partnership was given £7m funding from the Government to progress its planning and detailing of the busway, in preparation for GCP board approval in June 2024 ahead of a public enquiry.
If it has a successful public enquiry then it is ready to go ahead subject to securing the necessary money.
Campaigners Better ways for Busways! proposes adding a dedicated bus lane to the A1307 with a new access road into Addenbrookes. This can be done at much lower cost, with less technical risk and more quickly than the GCP's guided busway without cutting through the green belt.
Posted March 14 2024
The proposed Guided Bus route in pink showing the crossings at Hinton Way and Granham's Road. Image courtesy of Better Ways for Buses!
The proposed route for the Guided bus is shown in pink. The campaigners preferred route is shown in orange. Image courtesy of Better Ways for Buses!