I live in Adelaide, Australia and our guided buses can travel at speeds of 100km/h (62mph). It has only three stations meaning that the bus takes only 11 minutes to traverse the 12km (7.6mi) track. It moves 18,000 people per hour and has around 2 million passenger trips per year. Our Busway has been around since 1985.
Excellent real time video It's interesting to see that the cycleway is fenced off from the busway, in Cambridge there's no fence. Also no cyclists, is that a Manchester thing? In Cambridge they opened up the cycleway along side the busway months before buses started to run, it's arguable that the cycleway is the better asset in Cambridge Thanks for this film, I assume it's filmed heading away from Manchester. Check Nodding Cat channel for footage of the Cambridge busway, as well as trams including Manchester.
Seems to go very slow for a busway, surely it could go 50 to 60 since there's nothing to collide with, assuming the guiding is up to the same standard as other areas which do these speeds?
I don’t understand why the guided part of it was ever needed and why it couldn’t have just been a tarmac road, there are that many breaks in the track that it’s hardly relaxing for the driver plus as some in the know the speed limit is low because buses had a habit of de-railing 😂. Typical TFGM wasting money, the X34 wasn’t much difference in time
I note by the industrial estate on the left, the remains of what looks like a station platform...what was this? Also further on, what looks like a station house and remains of platform?
That's clever...how did you photoshop out all the traffic on the East Lancs?? Last time I saw it that quiet was about 40 years ago...lol. It looks a nice run but don't understand the guided bit except if it's so narrow that the buses may collide when passing. Some cars did drive up it at Holden Road , get jammed , and had to be rescued. Leigh College has closed so there goes all hope of getting drivers IQ's into double figures. What's it like at the Manchester end in all the traffic?
The Adelaide O bahn is better as its much faster and totally grade separated from all other traffic and pedestrians. So no at grade crossing other than in bus interchanges. No traffic lights within the obahn route itself.
Where do you catch this bus from Piccadilly gardens or a different stop they are scattered everywhere could you please tell me which stop it is I’m a bus enthusiast 😉😉
Charlotte Conway Have a look at the First bus website for up to date information as it’s been a little while since I did it and things could have changed since then.
Very well produced film thank you. What strikes me is that the stops are solidly constructed very much the same as Metrolink stops. what with the expense of the concrete track I really do wonder whether it would have been much more expensive for this to have been a metrolink tram route, except of course for the cost of the extra trams and the overhead wires, the costs of all that of course are considerable. And the bus option is of course more flexible at either end. For all that I do wonder if 40 to 50 minutes is really that impressive for the Leigh to Manchester journey especially when the train in 1969 took much less. Progress? Interesting to think that somewhere like Preston is in public transport terms much nearer to Manchester! I am not anti guided bus at all, really just wondering what the best option might have been. I I see also that there are no ticket machines at the Stops. Surely they could shave off at least 10 minutes at peak times for the end-to-end journey if they weren't issuing tickets and so on. Finally I was surprised at some of the waiting time at some of the traffic lights.
This is mostly (informed) speculation but it's long been an aspiration to convert the Manchester to Wigan via Atherton rail line to tram-train operation, if that were ever to happen I suspect this bus way will act as a feeder service with a new eastern terminus at Walkden station which is just a mile away or so away from the end of the guided section at Ellenbrook.
Thanks for the video. But it does very clearly illustrate the issue with these busways - they whizz along the rural bits, then get stuck in traffic at either end! It should have been a railway or tram-train, and hopefully common sense will eventually prevail
jobby onewards I agree. As pointed out above the train in 1969 took around half the time! In travel terms Leigh is around 50 to 60 miles away from Manchester! People are still travelling from Leigh to Atherton, Daisy Hill and even Newton-le-Willows railway stations, because it's quicker. Also as transport planners have discovered people really don't like buses that much. Commuter trains can be packed especially at peak time but the legroom on buses is terrible, and getting on with a pram or shopping is still a bit tricky.
Public roads would be a much nicer place if there were more guided busways. Lost count how many times I've been stuck in traffic behind a public transportation bus.
Or maybe it's the cars with single occupants causing the jams, not the multiple occupancy bus. What a weird way of looking at it. The people on buses need to go places too.
