You may have heard of ‘Mobility as a Service’ and ‘micromobility’, but what exactly do these mean?
Author - Edward Leigh
Carrots and sticks are not the answer
Almost nothing the Greater Cambridge Partnership has delivered in nearly five years has increased people’s travel options. That needs to change.
Does building more roads reduce congestion? No, and here’s why.
For now, we have no choice but to reduce our energy consumption by travelling less and, instead of driving, using more energy-efficient transport modes
Recent traffic chaos is a wake-up call: priorities need to change
Had the Greater Cambridge Partnership invested in smart traffic signalling technology in 2016, the network would now be more resilient to roadworks and seasonal variations in travel demand.
Emerging vision for Cambridge city centre skirts around painful choices
We cannot keep kicking the can down the road. We have to make big changes, some of which will be painful and unpopular.
Roll-on access to trains and stations is a benefit to everyone
Greater Anglia's new trains' most innovative feature is level boarding from the platform. Why isn’t it universal on our railways?
Have your say on the Local Transport Plan
There’s a consultation (yes, another one) on the region’s most important transport strategy document.
Where did the Mill Road traffic go?
It is difficult to draw firm conclusions even from a rich data set like this
Will you one day hear: “All change at Girton Interchange?”
Where else might we find a permanent home for a coach station, with excellent connectivity to the city and surrounding villages, and all the facilities you’d expect to find at a city train station?
Citizens’ Assembly this autumn could shape Cambridge transport
This really is different from the forums and workshops used to date.
What did I learn from a field trip to the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany?
Ghent is an interesting comparator for Cambridge: a bold transport plan has all but removed cars from the medieval city centre.
How much does it cost to run a bus?
What would make the bigger difference: another 2,500 people using Park & Ride or 55,000 more people using buses in the region?
All change at Stagecoach East: new management, new buses
At a recent open event, staff were refreshingly honest about the shortcomings of Stagecoach’s service in recent times
‘Through the Looking Glass’ economics used to justify a new P&R at Hauxton
On every single metric, the ‘preferred’ option scores worse than all scenarios considered, including not building the P&R!
Can a Citizens’ Assembly break the Cambridge transport deadlock?
Citizens’ Assemblies to date have produced recommendations that are well-supported by the populations they represent.
Will closing Mill Road create mayhem or show us the future of low-car living?
Let’s learn from Mill Road closure, and use it as a template for running experimental closures elsewhere in the city.
What’s at the top of the urban transport hierarchy?
How closely do you think highway planners and engineers adhere to this?
The road to zero carbon will carry fewer cars
We need more train and bus services, an extensive network of cycleways, and for towns and villages to be walkable.
Railway plans for Cambridgeshire lack vision and ambition
Assertions in Network Rail’s assessment of rail needs for the next 25 years beggar belief.
Will making the bus driver redundant save public transport?
Even if a computer can drive the bus, it doesn’t mean we won’t need any staff on board.
How to transform a city at a pace people can cope with
The Greater Cambridge Partnership would do well to talk with the team at Leeds City Council
“Technology is the new asphalt” – Inspiration from Eddington and Las Vegas
How technology could be transformational and sustainable for the whole region
10 practical ways to reverse the decline in bus usage
What can we do to encourage, support or force Stagecoach to up its game?
East West Rail: Final nail in the coffin for the Cambourne busway?
There is an obvious conflict with the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s flagship project, the Cambourne–Cambridge Busway.
Obituary: Dr Simon P Norton, 1952 – 2019
Simon was an extraordinarily knowledgable campaigner, and a friend of Smarter Cambridge Transport.
Getting transport right is crucial to a sustainable housing strategy
Let's hope politicians share this sense of urgency and support radical but practical changes along the lines we have suggested.
How can Cambridge City Council reconcile social equity with sustainability?
We are still planning and building as if the future will be only slightly different from 30 years ago.
Bus lanes provide just 0.5% of the economic benefits of the Milton Rd scheme
How much greater would the benefits be if the space was used for wider footways, continuously protected cycleways, more trees and sustainable drainage?
£40m spent so far on transport schemes: where has it all gone?
The biggest problem stems from an accounting practice that makes a hard distinction between capital and operating expenditure.
Now is the time for personal and communal action
Be the change you want to see in the world – and use the power of community to multiply your influence.
Cambridge Station plans for 2019 sure to upset everyone
For the large majority of people who access the station on foot, the proposed changes will significantly worsen their experience.
Back where we started with the Cambourne to Cambridge busway
You can let politicians know you want a change of course for the Cambourne to Cambridge busway.
We need to reinvent multi-operator ticketing now
The Combined Authority and GCP should be reinventing the Busway Smartcard to work county-wide with all bus operators.
How can we improve mobility in the city centre?
Would excluding motor traffic from more of the city centre make it more accessible, more enjoyable and safer?
What kind of city centre do you want for Cambridge?
Start thinking and discussing with friends and colleagues what kind of city centre you want for Cambridge.
A perspective from Leeds
Trying to figure out why transport economics so often fails to feed good policies to politicians...
Three new Cambridges by 2050, but no credible plan to cope
How did our local politicians allow us to be steamrollered into accepting this scale of growth?
Station Square final phase: fiasco or redemption?
There is one last chance to make this space right. People need to lobby Brookgate now.
A message from Edward Leigh, September 2018
Over the past few months, I have been drawing up a plan for how SCT can transition. Now we need to pull the pieces together.
Could we make buses free for everyone?
Those over retirement age are entitled to a free bus pass; what would it cost to extend this to everyone?
The state of our bus services
The whole service provision needs redesigning – as is happening now in Dublin.
Cambridge city bus hub
Cambridge has one central hub, and secondary hubs at Cambridge station and Addenbrooke’s hospital. What are the alternatives to make it easier and quicker to travel around by bus?
Why not to trust transport forecasts
Actual costs and benefits would have given the Guided Busway a ‘poor value for money’ rating, which would not have qualified for taxpayer funding.
Why Park & Ride is NOT the solution
The social and environmental benefits of radically improving rural bus services far outweigh those of Park & Rides.
Response to the Waterbeach New Town planning applications
Smarter Cambridge Transport supports the relocation of the railway station as being the only practical way to improve access and facilities for the full range of users
Before a congestion charge
Neither the Greater Cambridge Partnership nor the Combined Authority has a plan to transform bus services across the region.
Future-proof, not temporary
We can build an extensive public transport network now using buses. Here's how.
Multi-operator bus ticketing
We just need politicians, council officers and bus operators to sit down together and agree to make this happen.
The Case for Bus Franchising
Planned well, franchising could deliver a Swiss-style integrated, comprehensive public bus service.