Cambridgeshire County Council has issued a pipeline notice for a new busway and park and ride between Cambourne and Cambridge, with the proposed contract valued at roughly £180m.
With the contract expected to run five years from 1 January 2027 until 31 December 2031, the new bus route is set to include:
- A bus route via the Bourn Airfield development, Hardwick, Coton and the West Cambridge site
- A new, 2000-space travel hub at Scotland Farm, Dry Drayton
- A new path for walkers, cyclists and, where appropriate, horse riders alongside the whole route.
According to the council, the route would mostly consist of a single carriageway road with no access for private cars, but at times it will need to run on existing roads at some locations.
In addition to the main route, the council also plans to include an emergency access and maintenance track that would run alongside the busway, which is where the pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders' path would be.
This additional path is expected to connect with new and existing routes to ‘complement the growing rural walking and cycling network'.
This pipeline notice comes after Cambridge County Council was fined £6m in 2025 – which it was ordered to pay over three years – after three people died on its existing guided busway.
Between 2015 and 2021, Jennifer Taylor, Steve Moir and Kathleen Pitts died after collisions on the busway that runs 16 miles and connects Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon.
In sentencing at Cambridge Crown Court, Judge Mark Bishop criticised the authority for its 'rigid and blinkered response' to the fatalities, as well as numerous near-misses and other incidents.
The council stated it plans to publish the official tender notice on 11 May 2026.
Full details of the pipeline notice can be found here.
