Cambridgeshire guided busway, UK – an analysis of usage

The UK's Cambridgeshire guided busway, the longest in the world, opened in the UK in August 2011, providing high-quality bus services in the corridor connecting Huntingdon, St Ives, Cambridge and Addenbrooke's/Trumpington. The opening of the busway resulted in an immediate near doubling of bus patronage being reported by the main operator in the corridor, with busway patronage at a level not expected until 2 years after opening. Atkins and Cambridgeshire County Council have jointly funded a programme of surveys and research to develop an understanding of who is using the busway and why they are using it. Detailed user surveys were undertaken in April/May 2012, with more than 800 completed interviews at stops across the busway system. The analysis shows some unexpected results, including very high numbers of users who had a car available and also a high proportion of new users with free parking available in Cambridge. This paper provides an overview of the research results with comparison to other data sets where available. The paper concludes by considering the implications of this research for patronage forecasting and scheme design for future high-quality bus systems.