A guided bus is a dual-purpose vehicle – on normal roads it functions as a ‘normal’ bus, but it is also able to run on its own special guidance track using its special adapted guide wheels.
What is the special guidance track?In our proposal, for a London Guided Busway, we plan to use land alongside railway tracks, converting them to a guided bus track. These guided bus tracks consist of twin track made from reinforced concrete with vertical guide kerbs.
The guided bus enters the track from the road and the guidance system automatically takes over the bus’s ordinary steering. The guide wheels maintain contact with the vertical guide kerb and steer the bus using the steering arms on the wheels.
There are seven operational examples of kerb guidance in the United Kingdom including major schemes in Cambridgeshire and connecting Luton and Dunstable. A key advantage of kerb guidance is that a two lane, two way guided busway can fit in the same space as a double track railway and make use of unused rail alignments.
