Self-Steering Buses on "Train Tracks" | Cambridgeshire Guided Busway (World's Longest) 

Thank you! Cheers!

Yeah I'm told the wheels come off occasionally

Reading through all 5 derailments in its history, only one gives a wheel falling off as a "cause" of the incident. The reason the left guide wheel fell off, though, is due to the driver slamming into the start of a guided section at 50+mph

@@waity5856 I see, the driver I spoke too about the guide wheels coming off was from the Leeds guided busway

Perhaps the drivers should I least rest their hands on the wheel instead of on their lap.

Nyoomm

Looks cool tho!

Hahah ye I know what you mean

I too wonder about what happens in the event of a breakdown

I've always wanted to visit the Adelaide one actually , one day I will 😁

Yeah all the enthusing buses across Australia are gone.

Or could I say high floors

@@just10618 that's a shame really. I love the B10M

Yes I did! There will be a video on that too :)

I'm back in Manchester now, was only visiting Cambridge for a day

@@glitchFan2428 oh haha okie, well lmk if you stop by at Cambridge again, maybe can meet up :)

Since no cars allowed, Yes.

A (Trumpington P&R to St Ives), B (Cambridge to Hinchingbrooke Hospital) and C (Addenbrooke’s Hospital to Huntingdon)

Why?

Yeah, it's designated as an emergency exit apparently

It seems like most of these guided busway systems used to be railway lines. Or at least the Leigh guided busway in Greater Manchester was too. Interesting since as you mentioned, there are actual trams there as well.

What they also don't know is the railway closed to passenger services over fifty years ago so there was no useful railway infrastructure left apart from the land. The buses use the guided portion to maintain a higher than average bus speed over the guided parts but can also transverse the narrow streets of Huntingdon, St Ives and Cambridge City centre at either end of the route. Something that would be impossible for any tram. The nonsense about reinstating the rail line or some kind of light rail system was proposed by some campaigners when the Busway was first proposed but rejected as completely impractical following serious analysis.

@@Derek_S Thanks for your effort in providing a detailed answer. From my professional career as an urban planner, I have sufficient experience with so-called “serious analysis”. Their results often correspond to what is politically desired in the city, that pays for these studies. That trams cannot run through narrow centers is a fairy tale, often told by those, who are still addicted to the illusion of a "car-friendly city". A failed concept of the 60s and 70s. They want your citizens to believe that. In fact, trams can travel with radii of up to 18m and gradients of up to 12% without any problems. This even with a street cross-section of only 5m. Cities like e.g. Gmunden (A), Lisbon (E), Erfurt and Freiburg (GER), or Ghent (BE), are proving this day after day. Because it's not about breaking a high-speed route through an old town, but rather an absolutely normal tramway. The old rule of thumb applies here in Germany ... "Where an articulated Bus can run through, Trams can also operate without any problem." However, the tide has now changed in Cambridge as well, because it's confirmed that trams are significantly cheaper than buses, on routes with high ridership. I know this. Camebridge is the twin town of Heidelberg. Now, delegations from there shuttle here to look at our tram system ... for their own considerations. 👋🎅🎄 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from Germany !

No 😂

It's actually quite an old concept, been around since the early 90s I believe

yea no space

Nah we can do without train tracks

@@psgistheworstclubineurope imagine LTA starts making retired trainsets a bus

@@josephinthechickensoup123 I would leave the country

Essentially yes

I'm assuming the buway will be closed in the direction until they can remove it

You might as well ask "What if the regular wheels fall off". Stuff goes wrong, but it's incredibly unlikely

Then it will no longer be a guided bus and the driver will have to control everything until the bus can safely depart the track

Scania N250UD/Alexander Dennis Enviro 400MMC

​@@westmidlandstravels7110I didnt know the 400MMC had a Scania variant

@@psgistheworstclubineurope yup, there’s a Volvo B5TL variant too.

Yes

I believe it was a repurposed train line

@@glitchFan2428 Yeah,understood,as an ex bus driver I think it would have been cheaper to just buid a 'road' rather than all the added concrete guide mechanism and also that fitted to the buses!!🙃👍

Cause that would be boring :p

I would guess it's much cheaper to construct than a normal road in theory as the tracks are precast reinforced concrete sections. that are simply laid over the prepared track bed just as in a normal steel rail system. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the soil at the edge of the Cambridgeshire fens, they did have some problems with subsidence making it difficult to keep the bed level. This made the project go over budget but I'm sure the same problem would have arisen with a road or conventional railway too.

@@christopherdaly9384 I would imagine the guide mechanism fitted to the buses costs peanuts, It's just a pair of small wheels similar to the castors you see on hand pushed trucks in factories and warehouses attached by steel links to the steering track controls.