[Discuss] new bridge

[Joanna Gordon Clark]

New Station
not sure if i am replying to both of you or just one of you, but;  am entirely happy to have a station that operates on the north side of the river, to cut down on difficulties in getting to the existing station from anywhere north of city centre.
 
I am speaking as an older person who cannot walk far, so use busses enormously and am vulnerable to the already impossible timetables of these busses, caused in part by serious city centre and A14 traffic problems, but only in part.
 
Existing station bus stops
I would like to take this opportunity to make a plea for bus stops at the existing station to be concentrated down to one or two just outside the station, as is currently being done (temporarily) on the outward bound side.  When I come back around 10.20pm by train from Ely at night, I have to walk, using crutch, so, slowly, to a bus stop that is nearly all the way up to the corner at the far end of that road. Luckily I have no luggage......
In the winter, or other times indeed, in high wind or rain, this is very very difficult for me and no doubt for others, and it can mean that I miss the bus i need to get me home (no.8), and at that time of night I would have to wait another hour for the next bus.  OK not quite so bad in summer but in winter!!!!! in the rain and wind!!!! And no, I cant afford a taxi, nor can I bicycle so forget the helpful other suggestions...just try to make this and the other station bus service better by having all busses stop right by the station entrance.,..
 
Back to the new station:
Cycling
I am constantly aware of people cycling on the pavements, narrow ones at that, near my house.  This is dangerous as most of them dont realise that they have to go v slowly if they are going to do it at all on pavements.  It is after all illegal.  
Suggest all bicyclists should now have to pass a test, which includes pedestrian awareness, highway code knowledge and the illegality of cycling on pavements.  This should be adjudicated by people similar to car test examiners, and the cyclists should have to carry a card once they have passed.  no bike should be sold to anyone without a card. 
Had a woman bicyling up the pavement towards me, very narrow adn I have a crutch, and as she came level, I said, nicely, you should not be biking on the pavement, to which she replied, oh look I smile at you and then you say that and spoil my mood, as if her mood was my fault, rather than her reaction to my reminding her of the law.  I then called back at her, it is illegal and get off the pavement. 
 I have had worse reactions....  Once got off a bus onto the pavement and a young cyclist came whizzing by at speed, could easily have knocked me into the road, or I him into the road..  Not good.
 
In consequence am totally opposed to any further helping of cyclists until better training is achieved for all.  A lot of foreign students come here with no idea of our cycling regulations, yet get bikes and set off cheerfully.  They need proper training, and good examples.  
We could also do with' no biking on pavement signs', big ones, in red, to compensate for the 'Bike Lane' signs we are getting in some places, and to make things clearer
So spending on bikes needs to be low until we 
have a proper training course for all cyclists, and 
get the bus services that we need, desperately.  Better stops at the station, better digital signal provision, and better timetables and routes.
Or do we want to be known as the city where bicyclists run over elderly pedestrians and get away with it, but lorries/cars hit cyclists and don't.  Do you have any idea of how traumatic it is to be invovled in an accident with a bicyclist in which the bicyclist is hurt?
I spent my schooldays in London bicycling alone to school, and had no fear of traffic then, but that was in the 50's mostly.  Now i am beginning to hate cyclists.....because I can no longer bicycle, yes, a bit,   but because they are so all over the place.  I also know that when I did cycle in Cambridge I could get quite egotistic  so I don't think it is helping the young men who whizz around - one or two of whom may be bicycle riding thieves - ignoring possible actions of pedestrians( including those with crutches.)..
 
Suspect that most people living near to Chesterton station will get to catch trains, either by car, bike or motorscooter, or indeed taxi. and we dont have to build yet another bridge over the Cam in a highly sensitive open space, just to make life easier for them. Apart from anything else those bike bridges can be very demanding to cross, if the one at the station is anything to go by, tho a lift at each end woudl make a difference.  
also will station have lift facilities/escalators for those of us who find stairs difficult?
So Simon it isnt jsut the villages out to swavesey that will use the guided bus to go to the trains, it will be large chunks from St. Ives as well, and anyhow why didnt you think of that when doing the train station proposal. This comes a bit late, 'oh yes and we'll have to build a cycle bridge in a sensitive area just to make sure we have enough passengers.  Do you really think the passengers that you think need a bridge will otherwise go to the main station, so far away?  I dont like your reasoning here.
 
also we cannot continue to let bicyclists caused degradation of or otherwise beautiful green spaces.  this is what SoS is all about isnt it?  and the idea of widening the footpath from cutter ferry bridge, I think it's the right name for it, the one right next to the Fort St, George, down towards Victoria Avenue, because it is getting crowded and its edges are being encroached on so the grass on either side is a bit churned up,  is rubbish.  It will only lead to people bicycling faster and asking for yet more widening, just as roads are made wider and then there is more traffic, etc. ,, 
 it was always meant for pedestrians and the occasinal cyclist.  The only people who will have accidents are cyclists, pedestrians walking out in a green space dont usually have accidents with each other, nor bny and large do they cause muddying of the edges,  so we need to restrict the cycle flow if necessary.  dont care if they are foreign students, this is our city.  And we could put a low low railing along both sides of the footpath, to help prevent too much muddying of the ground.  Instead of expensive and unnecessary widening, whcih will remove a chunk of land from our best and most loved common 
 

      Joanna 


On Monday, 21 July 2014, 22:19, Simon Norton <simon at dpmms.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
  


The new station won't work if people can't get to it, and I am not very
satisfied that it will provide adequately outside the peaks either for people
needing to get to/from the Science Park (as it is quite a walk away) or for
people using the guided buses to get in from the villages towards Swavesey.

It is, therefore, all the more important that access to/from other parts of the
city should be as easy as possible, and this includes the eastern suburbs that
will be linked by means of the proposed bridge.

Incidentally I have made proposals for a new bus link to the station. This would
replace existing route 17 and fill quite a few other gaps in the existing
network. It would require a subsidy but this should be tiny in comparison with
what is being spent on building the station.

The route can be divided into 3 sections.

Eastern section: loop from Teversham to Quy, Lode, Bottisham, the Wilbrahams and
Fulbourn, alternately in each direction.

Southern section: one way loop from station to Addenbrookes, new link road,
Trumpington, Trumpington Road and Brooklands Avenue.

Central section: from Teversham via Coldhams Lane, Elizabeth Way, double run to
Fen Estate for station, Chesterton Road, Bridge St, then through central section
to station.

I think the service would work at an hourly frequency though I'd prefer more.

The reason why I've mentioned it is that it would link some parts of the
Newmarket Road corridor with the station, but not the estate centred on the
roundabout at the north end of Barnwell Road (what's this estate called ?) which
would be the major beneficiary of the new bridge. In other words, the two
schemes would complement each other nicely.

Simon Norton

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