Forget building a new busway between Cambridge and Cambourne – let's use a Chinook helicopter instead.
That's the uplifting idea from transport campaigners in Cambridgeshire, who reckon one of the giant US-made military choppers could be picked up for £20 million, which they say is a tenth of what City Deal planners are thinking of spending on the busway.
The helicopter can carry more than 50 passengers – and at a speed of 180mph, it could cover the 10 miles between Cambourne and the city in about three minutes.
Dr Gabriel Fox, a parish councillor at Coton, said: “Although the price tag for a new one seems hefty at around £20 million, that's only a tenth of the cost of the new busway being proposed by the Greater Cambridge City Deal to link up new settlements to the west of Cambridge.
“The City Deal team is considering spending £140 million to buy up greenfield land and build a two-lane busway from Cambourne to Cambridge, plus another £60 million to maintain it and subsidise the bus companies to use it.
“Our provisional estimates indicate that a Chinook shuttle can be operated for considerably less than half that daily cost, including acquisition of the aircraft, crew salaries, fuel, maintenance and hangar fees. City Deal appear to believe that their busway will generate 780 new jobs in the region.
"Shuttling back and forth at rush hour, we could pick up those lucky 780 individuals and get them right to their place of work in just three minutes, a massive 500% time saving over the bus. The Chinook wins on journey time, daily cost and environmental impact. And if a busway can attract that many workers, imagine how many more would be lured by the thrill of soaring above the congested roads in a twin-rotor, military-grade helicopter."
Fellow councillor Helen Bradbury added that if City Deal planners push ahead with the proposed busway, residents would consider offering the rival helicopter shuttle service under “right to challenge" provisions introduced in the 2011 Localism Act, which allow communities to bid for local authority services which they could offer more cheaply.
Chinook...pah !! Buy British(ish) & get a Merlin , you can cram almost the same number of bodies in the back. Their claim of "more than 50 passengers"....I assume whichever hack wrote that article just looked at the specs on Wiki , or would they plan on having the pax either standing or sitting on the floor as squaddies have to , as opposed to sitting in proper seats ( granted they're a couple of decades old , but my copies of Jane's lists the civi version of the 'hook as having around 40-44 passenger seats )
Tôi chỉ đặt cái này ở đây để giữ cho người điều hành bận rộn 아직도 숨어있다
"the helicopter can carry more than 50 passengers – and at a speed of 180mph, it could cover the 10 miles between Cambourne and the city in about three minutes."
So they're not going to land but simply throw them out of the back whilst travelling flat out.
Sorry, have I slept through several months? It's not 1 April already, is it?
I would love to see the looks on the faces of the appropriate people at the CAA should this proposal land on their doorstep. The obvious question concerns the competency of our elected officials, for if they honestly think it's as easy as this they're absolutely barking. In any case, if they think getting a new bus route is a bureaucratic nightmare, they ain't seen nothin' yet. If this was even a serious proposal, the Commercial Chinook's career in the UK ended following the Sumburgh crash in November 1986, and as for getting a military Chinook passed for civilian passenger ops...
Just in case anyone has genuinely missed the point here; no, they are not being serious about using a Chinook for a commuter service. They are using a hypothetical and ridiculous example as part of a campaign to challenge the enormous cost of a proposed bus-way...
And as the smart ship grew, In stature, grace and hue, In shadowy silent distance grew the iceberg too....
I do take the point about the bus way. Why louse up more countryside with a stretch of concrete just for buses when it could be used to even out all traffic by making a proper road? Why should those who travel by bus get preferential treatment anyway? the things are dreadfully inefficient anywhere outside a city centre.
But a single Chinook - a single anything? I give it five minutes before they have to put on a replacement bus service!
FarnboroJohn wrote: the things are dreadfully inefficient anywhere outside a city centre.
No they are not. I use The Busway (Cambridgeshire Guided Busway) regularly and it's when they get into Cambridge that they become inefficient because of traffic especially during school run times. During rush hour it can take as long to get from the Cambridge Science Park, where the guided bus route stops and onto normal roads, to the train station which is about 4 miles as it does the 12 miles from St. Ives to the Science Park.
FarnboroJohn wrote: the things are dreadfully inefficient anywhere outside a city centre.
No they are not. I use The Busway (Cambridgeshire Guided Busway) regularly and it's when they get into Cambridge that they become inefficient because of traffic especially during school run times.
I think the point is that outside cities a bus is overkill for the number of passengers, a car could often do the job and use less fuel.
FarnboroJohn wrote: the things are dreadfully inefficient anywhere outside a city centre.
No they are not. I use The Busway (Cambridgeshire Guided Busway) regularly and it's when they get into Cambridge that they become inefficient because of traffic especially during school run times.
I think the point is that outside cities a bus is overkill for the number of passengers, a car could often do the job and use less fuel.
Absolutely correct. Round here the load factors except on sectors entirely within towns are pathetic. And buses, especially when councils are too cheap to make proper off-road stops that allow traffic to flow normally, are a big factor in screwing up traffic flow. Luckily our local council has come somewhat to its senses and got rid of most of the bus lanes that were having an additional negative effect on normal traffic flow.
The buses are mostly used by pensioners without either cars or the ability to order food deliveries over the internet.
Biggest problem with the buses round here is the price. All the time it costs more (for one person, let alone a family) to go into town on the bus than it does to park for the whole day in the city centre I'm afraid their not going to get my business, however environmentally minded I might be feeling. Although as others have suggested it's probably better for the environment to drive a modern low emission car with 5 people in it than a stinky old bus with 6 or 7. I actually think a few buses near me might run on rabbit poo or something but most of them certainly don't.
Buy the sky and sell the sky and lift your arms up to the sky and ask the sky"
FarnboroJohn wrote: the things are dreadfully inefficient anywhere outside a city centre.
No they are not. I use The Busway (Cambridgeshire Guided Busway) regularly and it's when they get into Cambridge that they become inefficient because of traffic especially during school run times. During rush hour it can take as long to get from the Cambridge Science Park, where the guided bus route stops and onto normal roads, to the train station which is about 4 miles as it does the 12 miles from St. Ives to the Science Park.
I too have used the the Busway, but because I have to drive to to use the park and ride service it becomes pointless, as Brian points out when the Busway ends the bus joins the main road and travels at the same speed as everybody else, thus losing all its advantage. In the case of the St Ives / Cambridge service the Busway actually uses the old railway line, closed many years ago, a far better solution would have been a Docklands Light Rail (DLR) system using semi-automated track mounted trains or a Sheffield/Nottingham style Tram system. Neither happened, most likely because of lobbying from the bus companys. Expect a Cambourn / Cambridge Trams system would work as well and be more environmental.
