The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) is asking people to have their say on changes which would create faster, cheaper, more reliable bus services running from earlier in the day to later at night, as well as more investment in better walking and cycling routes.
From as early as 2023, the GCP is proposing to transform the bus network through more services to more locations, with cheaper fares at £1 or £2 per journey.
These changes would be paid for upfront by the GCP and phased in over four years before the proposed introduction of a Sustainable Travel Zone with a road user charge. The zone would fund the bus network in the future and deliver the space needed for ambitious walking and cycling improvements.
Key features of the London-style bus network and active travel improvements are:
- New bus routes, additional orbital and express services to key sites across the city, and a huge increase in services for villages and towns across the travel to work area.
- Buses supported by flexible services known as Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) – which you can book that picks you up from near your home, such as the popular Ting service currently being trialled in West Huntingdonshire.
- Longer operating hours from 5am to 1am and more frequent services - 6-8 buses every hour in the city and from market towns, and hourly rural buses.
- Flat fares to make public transport cheap and accessible for all; with passengers paying £1 to travel in the city and £2 in the travel to work area.
- Options for new cycling routes in the city and connections between villages and the wider active travel network, including the 12 Greenways routes.
- Improvements to public spaces to make Cambridge more ‘people-centric’. All vehicle movements into, out of and within the proposed Sustainable Travel Zone (STZ) would pay a flat daily charge between 7am and 7pm on weekdays. There would be discounts, exemptions and reimbursements for some, including those on low incomes and blue badge holders. The money generated by the zone, which would not be fully introduced until 2027/28, would be ringfenced to provide better buses and other improvements to the transport network.
The package has been developed following extensive public consultation over many years and would result in 20,000 extra journeys made by bus. An additional 60,000 trips would be made by active travel every day to create a greener city region for all. The scheme would also cut the number of car trips in Cambridge by 50% and reduce carbon emissions from transport by about 5%. The City Access package is central to the GCP’s integrated transport network – providing the thread that links together the GCP’s busways, active travel schemes and plans to provide 10,000 additional Park and Ride spaces around the city region.
You can complete the survey online or contact the GCP by post, phone, email or social media until midday Friday 23rd December. Find out more about the ways to respond online: www.greatercambridge.org.uk/mc-2022.
You can hear more about the proposals at a series of drop-in events across the region. There are also online events. All events are listed here: www.greatercambridge.org.uk/mc-2022.
