Guided Busway in Cambridge, England (A comfortable Journey) 

When you want to be a train but your parents want you to be a bus.

A great idea would be to come up with a way to string a series of busses together, for increased capacity. A sort of train...of busses.

There are a number of comments from various people suggesting it would have been better to resurrect the original railway rather than repurpose it as a guided busway. They are all completely missing the main point and that is that the original rail section was just between St Ives and Cambridge rail stations. While the specially adapted guided buses can use that section, they can also travel on all normal roads. This mean the buses also serve the built up areas of Cambridge, St Ives and Huntingdon as part of the local bus service. I can catch the bus at a normal bus stop two hundred yards from my house on the outskirts of St Ives. That then travels into the town centre on normal roads with stops every half mile or so and then enters the guided track at the St Ives park and ride, which is on the site of the original station. At the other end of the main guided part it enters the narrow streets of Cambridge city centre with routes then diverging before part of it enters another guided section on the other side of the city proceeding onto Addenbrooke's Hospital and Trumpington. The original rail route couldn't have hoped to provide a fraction of this flexibility.

Fantastic idea - London bus drivers would love it. Smooth, fast and stress free.

I once used busway in Luton, and it is a great technology, and I'd love more of them

Be nice if you explained how it works. Are there rollers on the buses that keep it centered ? Or do the tires simple rub against the side of the track or what ? This would be a perfect set up for electric buses.

This is how bus rapid transit ought to be done! Cambridge UK & Adelaide, S. Australia. EDIT: Except they need preboarding and/or automatic ticketing

I completely forgot these exist, super neat honestly

Unlike these British cities like Cambridge and Leeds, we have an actual tram network! A big one too! Four lines with a total length of 53.5 km/33 miles. Before the war from 1950 to 1953, there were three tramway systems in the entire Korean Peninsula: one each in Seoul, Busan and Pyongyang. However Seoul and Busan got rid of their historic tramways for the automobile in the 1960s, while Pyongyang's was destroyed in US attacks, and was decided to be rebuilt from scratch. The new system began operations in 1989. The network has three main lines, and a smaller fourth one. The fourth one was created to connect the Pyongyang Metro station at Kim Il-sung University (Samhung) to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the mausoleum of my father and grandpa. A Pyongyang Metro station was once at the palace’s site (Kwangmyong), but once it became a mausoleum in 1995, it became sacred ground and thus it was closed with a new tram line built. Most of the network uses Tatra trams made in the former Czechoslovakia but unlike the rest of the network, the tram that runs on this Kumsusan line uses a Swiss tram built in the late 40s that was retired from the Zurich network in 1994 where it was purchased by us the next year.

Great bus ride.

Very neat concept! Would never happen here in the US - too car-centric…

Great video it really changed my impressions about Cambridge guided bus looks very attractive indeed will try it soon with my kids thanks ❤

This actually looks nice. When a local government can’t afford a metro system. A guided busway can replace it in short distance and more cheaper to build

Amazing!

So cool more reliable than a train and cheaper lol 😆 what a great idea

A guided busway is quite the unique system, kudos to them for beating Adelaide! How did Adelaide get theirs in the first place? The greater Adelaide area experienced significant growth during and after WWII, and thus so did the amount of vehicles registered. By the mid-1970s, transportation had become a problem in the northeastern suburbs. This led to a study that concluded that a light-rail would be the best option. However, there was opposition because people thought it would interfere with the well-designed layout of the city proper, and that light-rail vehicles would be too noisy. In search of a replacement for the light rail project, they examined the O-Bahn system in Essen in what was then West Germany by Daimler-Benz. The system was seen as far superior to previous proposals; it used less land, made less noise, was faster and cost less. In addition, its unique feature of a non-transfer service direct from suburban streets to the city center made it more attractive. Adelaide's track is 12 km/7.5 mi long and includes three interchanges at Klemzig, Paradise and Tea Tree Plaza. Interchanges allow buses to enter and exit the busway and to continue on suburban routes, avoiding the need for passengers to transfer to another bus to continue their journey. Not to mention, the O-Bahn has sump buster devices to prevent cars.

A friend of mine drove route masters in London, whereas i drove trains for BR, but trams i have heard of and been on, but never heard of guided buses before.

In Essen,Germany,we have got this since 1984, builded on an old Tram Trackball.Its called "Spurbus".

Back in 2020 I would race the bus with my bicycle and explore the forests beside it and I remember the bus guide rail was closed becuase of contraction under one of the bridges🤩

This would great to have in the States. Especially in our large cities on the East coast.

I agree tickets should be available at selected stops and just validated on board- buying from the driver should be at a surcharge.

This is exactly what I am thinking of for a long time

I wonder how I’d go about a transfer to this depot for a week to try it … that driver is chilling 😂😂

These are great ive been theyre very fast

Brilliant

There has been one in Adelaide South Australia since 1986.

I'm so confused. I'm also very amazed by how smooth and pretty it all looked, but mostly I'm confused 😂 Don't the wheels get scratched by the tracks on the sides? How is it safe to let it go without hands on the steering wheel? What advantages does it bring as opposed to a tram? Thankfully there are other videos that seem to be explaining how it works, so I'll watch those next, lol

Wow😊

I remember this being built in the late 2000s, I lived in the area during this time and news back then was what a white elephant was as it ran over budget and took years longer than expected. The buses don't seem that busy and I have never used it, I wonder what the return on the invest has been over the last decade or so since it opened, I recall a few 100 million to construct. There is a big car park in St ives and the concept was for cars to park there and then take the bus to Cambridge, given that the A14 has vastly been improved since then, I wonder how many people use it.

How is it better from the normal roads ?

longer than the Adelaide O-Bahn(used to be the longest)

It seems travelling quite fast viewing from inside the bus, is it following the same speed limit on the same road or has a higher limit due to the exclusive use of road that could avoid collision.

Did anyone recognise the automatic steering wheel in position whilst the driver had his arms folded and only had to keep his eyes and focus on site and to speed up and slow down by the pedals using his feets?

Can he hit the curb though? And throw the whole vibe off ?

Adam something has entered the chat

We have non-guided (regular) busways in the US in my city that work very well for many years now. The buses go through regular type roads that are exclusive to buses and in rare cases emergency vehicles and ambulances. The benefit is that during rush hour you can get to downtown (a distance of 12 miles) in 15 minutes as opposed to an hour if you drive a car using the regular highway... I am not sure I understand what problem the guided bus solves. The steering is handled via electronics but you still have a driver monitoring so what's the benefit? Also there is no real road so you can't use it for ambulances, police etc.

Does it damage tyress?

What's the environmental cost of the new infrastructure ?

When did this service start? There wasn't anything like this when I was studying there.

We need to see more of these amazing busway across the whole uk

hey we ran out of budget for the trains we promised, what do we do? me: give them buses. but those are not trains me: just call it guided busway, they will get the same feeling wow you are a genius

The driver don't touch wheel. Great!

How does it work in snow. Can they clear it somehow? Also, what if the engine breaks down, access to it, etc. Also wondering about in case of a medical emergency. These are al legitimate concerns.

What if you youch the wheel?

They can work well in the east of England where it is flat, the land is largely agricultural and it is relatively easy to lay a straight trackway. I can't see them working successfully in many other parts of the country though, unless they build cuttings and embankments as for railways. Light railways and tramways are probably a better option.

Its definitely a interesting system but normal bus lanes are probably better in urban environments because emergency/city services can use them too easily which increases their efficiency too

One of those gadgetbahn projects.

Really enjoyed by watching only😢

Ever heard about brts system in Ahemdabad and surat

Oh so an electric RDC with rubber tires and no rails?

The one in Adelaide Australia the buses could do 100km on the track it also quickier than a car to get from the city to Westfield shopping centre at the other end it seems to popular and has been around since 1986

In china, they have a trackless train. Isn’t that the same thing?

sureley the side walls on the tyres get trashed from this?

-Mum, am I on a tram? -No! You are on a bus! -What?

I’ve never heard of these before.

I wonder how it works?. Like normal bus?

The Little Bus That Could.

Doesent that scrape the tires?

They should have cast rails into this, Essen style (it was called the O-Bahn and was bonkers) that would have allowed trams to use it too.

Can someone explain how he doesn't need to steer because, I saw that precise steering would be a problem in such a narrow path.. looks like they solved it, but how?

5:19 car trap - how does it work?

So a train on rubber wheels... Got it!!

A cross between a Bus and a Tram Looks like a Trolley Bus.

Mother : he will be a train Father : no he will be a bus

Perfect opportunity to electrify public transport, they could either install third rail or overhead. And have a smaller 100kWh LiFePo4 battery pack for it to continue on roadways once the busways end

How is this better than light rail? The construction costs are roughly the same, LRVs would be more expensive but with a much longer service life. Electrification is an upfront cost, but with good ROI in terms of fuel cost. An LRV would provide better passenger capacity, obviating the need for double deckers.

Now imagine if we took this concept and connected multiple buses in a line to increase capacity, then we replace the concrete tracks and rubber wheels with a harder wearing material such as steel, and then removed the engines from each of these buses with an external power source connected to overhead wires to reduce emissions from internal combustion engines.... I'm mostly joking, guided buses are a really good transport solution for smaller cities/towns with a lower infrastructure budget.

can you call this a tram that can go off road?

Is this using a disused rail line?

Es autonomo?

I love the idea of busways! Of all the forms of mass transit, the one kind I can't stand is buses. It would be great to get them off the roads used by people commuting by car.

What is max speed?

I guess at least you have the right of way so that if you need or want to upgrade it to something more substantial and potentially more cost-effective to run you can

it can be electrified so easily

The plantpot driver risking lives by not holding the wheel... 100% spanner

When ask your parents to buy you a train and they say we have trains at home..

How it works in centre?

it would make a Nice Tramway one Day! it was a sad day when the ripped up a perfectly good Railway. 😢

Does that follow the old railway line??

From all more efficient transportation such as tram or train, why bus??

It's Beautiful.

That's MUCH better unlike the FAKE trams which they dubbed "trackless Trams" which is a bus that LOOKS like a tram hahah

"Your mum is a train, and your dad is a bus be like:

I imagine the tyre walls must take a bashing. Maybe specially developed?

Can someone please explain to me how it works?

Why does it look like i wanna name it buam (mixture of bus and tram)

5:15 if society was like this part the world would be a great place.

How is this better than a tram? Has steering become too difficult? Doesn't eliminate the cost of a driver, so what is the benefit?

Wouldn't that kill the sidewalls of the tires?

Should be the east west rail route

✌️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️😍😍😍😍😍

why?

aaa metrobüs yapmışlar :D

the Malaysian bus for trek bus BRT Sunway Line

and then comes a roundabout, which is guided too ...

This seems a good idea, but may I ask why they removed the existing rail line & replaced with this bus service? I think in US cities that can't afford a full tram or "light rail" line this would be a fine alternative. What's the highest speed the buses reach?

Why not turn it into a Tram system?

為何車能那麼穩?

In istanbul they have longer distance. I think is almost 150 km metro bus

very nice the concept but it is also very dangerous, if the AP gets broken can have a nasty accident !