cambridgeuncut @cambridgeuncut-blog - Tumblr Blog

Dirty buses

Back in the summer Stagecoach reported a pre-tax profit rise of 8% to £218.9 million with overall revenues up 8.2% to £2.8 billion.

Impressive figures I'm sure you'd agree. Yet despite this strong financial performance it seems that its Cambride-based bus operation can't afford the price of some soap, sponges and water.

To put it bluntly, some of its buses currently driving round the streets of Cambridge are in a disgusting state with mud and dirt covering all but the front windscreens of the vehicles.

This raises a number of questions:

1. How do passengers know when they're meant to get off? The simple answer is they don't as they can't see out of the windows. It seems you've just got to go with gut instinct or memorise each turn, roundabout and set of traffic lights on your journey. Say a prayer for the thousands of foreign language students who must really be struggling.

2. Can bus drivers see as well as they need to? Given the state of many of the buses, most drivers must just be relying on their wing mirrors, which is far from ideal given the narrow nature of many of Cambridge's roads.

3. Are the businesses who advertise on the side of buses going to be compensated because no-one can see the adverts?

4. What impression does this give to visitors? Cambridge is starting to get really busy in the run-up to Christmas with lots of shoppers and tourists. Let's be honest, dirty buses aren't really top of the tree when it comes to selling our city to the rest of the world.

So the message to Stagecoach with just six days to go in November is surely "ditch the dirt for December"!

#stagecoach

Bye-bye ASK

Sad to see that ASK Italian has closed in Bridge Street. It was always busy when I visited and the staff were nice and friendly.

However, it does seem a bit strange that a national restaurant chain in a prime location couldn't turn over a decent profit. Could it be that the only people eating there were cashing in on their Tesco Clubcard vouchers? I certainly was!

#Bridge Street #tesco

Don't you just love this artist's impression of the proposed student accommodation on the corner of Huntingdon Road and Histon Road.

Well I don't. It's just plain deceitful (as well as being a terribly uninspiring building - the architect who designed this must be terribly pleased with themselves).

No traffic? Is it 5am in the morning or something? The sunshine would suggest otherwise. I can guarantee that this will be a significantly busier scene most days of the week, never mind the start of the Michaelmas Term with mummy and daddy dropping off Freddie in their 4x4s.

Those trees look lovely don't they? Shame there will be barely space for a pot plant after a building of that size is built.

The most realistic aspect of this is that you can almost see the Tesco Express on the bottom floor. That will take the number of Tesco stores in Cambridge into double figures. Yes, read it and weep.

This has all thankfully been thrown out by the city council's planning committee but cambridgeuncut understands a new application is on the cards very shortly. Amazing, that after having numerous plans rejected, not just by the council but also on appeal by a Government planning inspector, the developers keep on coming back for more.

They must have spent tens, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds on the planning process, but I guess if you can cram nearly 100 bedrooms on a site like this and be conveniently oblivious to the carnage that it will cause in terms of traffic chaos in the future, you're onto a winner. Shame about the local community.

#Huntingdon Road #histon road #Tesco #students

Visit Original Link

Duran Duran finished off their set at The Junction last night with a rocking version of (Reach Up For The) Sunrise. Enjoy!

Full set list courtesy of @duranduran

1. Before the Rain

2. Aynin

3. Blame

4. Networker

5. Come Undone

6. Safe

7. Other Peoples Lives

8. Tiger Tiger

9. Secret October

10. Shadows

11. Mediterranea

12. Too Bad

13. Notorious

14. Hold Back The Rain

15. Leopard

16. Girl Panic

17. Sunrise

#The Junction

Drum roll please... here's Duran Duran playing a 'rehearsal' show at The Junction last night, ahead of bigger dates at the likes of the O2 as part of their All You Need Is Now world tour.

#The Junction

Guided bus drivers told it's okay to run things over

According to the 'Cambridgeshire Guided Busway Operations Handbook v1.2', drivers will be tempted to relax concentration, be less likely to prevent minor incidents developing into major problems, and be prepared to run over small obstructions at speed.

"Whilst driving in a guideway you are faced with circumstances quite alien to everything you have previously faced in driving a bus or a car. Because you do not have to steer (are unable to steer!) and are physically removed from other vehicles there is an understandable temptation to relax concentration compared to that needed when driving in general traffic... It is certainly true that the frequency of potential incidents will be far lower in a guideway than in ordinary driving on road, but the probability of being able to avoid such incidents developing into problems is also significantly reduced."

Okay, so drivers will find it hard to stay fully focused, and if an incident occurs they will be less likely to stop it developing into something more serious. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

“Tail-gating or following too close to the bus in front, is particularly dangerous as neither bus can swerve to avoid a collision in the event of the lead bus stopping or braking hard. A distance of not less than 500 metres must be maintained between guided buses in normal operations. You must be vigilant of potential problems and develop a driving ‘culture’ whereby your speed is regulated so that you always have enough time and space to brake safely prior to reaching any potential problem."

Will be interesting to see how this is adhered to, especially considering the poor driving demonstrated on a regular basis by other Stagecoach drivers. The driving 'culture' currently on display is a little uncouth to say the least.

"If you see one or more people standing or moving close to a guideway section a light toot on the horn may be appropriate to highlight your presence."

Absolutely love the phrase 'a light toot'! Can just imagine a slightly stressed bus driver who is running late acting accordingly?

"A very small obstruction in the guideway can, in practice, be run over at speed in safety. However it is always better to try to stop safely before any such obstruction and remove it."

This section is just plain wrong. It's giving bus drivers carte blanche to mow down all unidentified small objects.

"When leaving a guideway you are returning to a normal highway environment in which vehicles and pedestrians will be encountered and are likely to do unpredictable things. Make sure you are back fully in a frame of mind for on-road driving before you reach the end of the guideway."

Shock horror! People are likely to act unpredictably. You have to feel for these guided bus drivers back at the mercy of real road users. Especially if they've not been able to get back in the right frame of mind...

#Guided Bus

Two things jar with this photograph of the recently repaired Sidney Street. The first is, why on earth could the county council not find bricks that actually matched? This is a major city centre thoroughfare, trod by hundreds of tourists every day. It really doesn't look great when the road looks like it's been patched together by people who couldn't care less.

Second, Sidney Street falls slap bang in the middle of a conservation area. A fact the city council are very quick to remind residents and businesses of when submitting even the most trivial of planning applications. However, it seems they are less concerned about this blight on our beautiful city.

#Cambridgeshire County Council #Cambridge City Council #sidney street

Enjoyed a lovely pint of Silver King at the recently reopened Hopbine in Fair Street last night. A good session beer as my father-in-law would say, coming in at a mellow 4.3% ABV!

#The Hopbine #Fair Street

I'm not sure what's more shocking about the armed robbery at the Royal Selangor, in Rose Crescent - the fact that a member of staff was threatened with a knife, or that anyone would pay thousands of pounds for a silver lobster serving dish (the only one in the country apparently)?

If you've been offered this truly bizarre item, or some just as disturbing ornamental frogs and owls, which is of course highly unlikely as they've probably already been thrown into the smelting pot, then go to Cambridgeshire Constabulary's website.

#Royal Selangor #Rose Crescent

Some great free running action all across the city, including Shire Hall, the River Cam, Kings Parade and Lion Yard, and a great video to boot courtesy of turbolenza.eu

#Shire Hall #River Cam #Kings Parade #Lion Yard

Council hands out gold stars... for wheelie bins

Talk about treating Cambridge residents like children. The city council, in its infinite wisdom, is handing out gold stars to families who manage to cut down on their rubbish.

If you can dispense with the services of a standard 240-litre black wheelie bin and switch to a leaner 140-litre model, your new bin will be adorned with a gold sticker with the catchy tag-line 'I've slimmed my bin, you can too!'

Patronising? Check. Adopting a policy last seen in a primary school? Check. A real incentive to encourage people to recycle more? Probably not. Sorry, but it's back to the drawing board on this one.

#Cambridge City Council

The restaurants on offer at Cambridge Leisure certainly leave something to be desired. Mundane and mediocre and just two of the words that spring immediately to mind.

However, nothing could fully prepare me for a recent visit to Frankie and Bennys when this pathetic effort passed for a side salad. Yes, it really is a rather dirty looking tomato balancing on a lonely slice of cucumber.

#Cambridge Leisure #Frankie and Bennys

Picture Exclusive: This was the scene in Sidney Street this morning (July 13) as police continue investigations into a serious assault last night. Two men were arrested close to the scene of the attack at around 3.15am and are still in custody. One of the victims has now been discharged from Addenbrooke's but the other is still being treated for serious injuries.

#Sidney Street #Addenbrooke's

How incongruous. Habitat plastered in garish 'everything must go' bright neon posters.

You could argue that's what you get when you move to a soulless out-of-town retail park.

Not to worry, you'll be able to pop next door to Homebase in the near future for concessions. Now that really does sound all wrong doesn't it?

Where do estate agents learn the lingo?

Used in isolation they seem harmless enough, but when 'Newnham' and 'Village' are tacked together, they induce a sense of relatively mild rage in me. This now happens pretty much every week when I open the Cambridge Property supplement.

Is Newnham really a village? Of course it's not. It's no more a village than Chesterton or Arbury. But is makes it sound so lovely, don't you agree? So lovely, that you'll be willing to pay around £400,000 for a two-bedroom terrace house with no garden. House prices are incredibly high in Cambridge, but Newnham Village takes it to another level.

But, not content with turning Newnham into a village, Cambridge estate agents have now turned De Freville Avenue, Belvoir Road et al, into the 'De Freville District'. It sounds like something you'd find in New York not Cambridge but sadly you're unlikely to find any trendy coffee shops, bars, or boutiques here, just some more massively inflated house prices.

#Newnham #Chesterton #Arbury #De Freville Avenue #Belvoir Road

Pete Doherty was accosted by the fuzz when he played his sell out Junction gig on Sunday night. But despite his 'previous' it was a big furry panda rather than a Panda car briefly interupting proceedings. (Photo courtesy Jean-Luc Benazet)

#junction

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

cambridgeuncut