In message , at 08:19:03 on Thu, 20 Apr
2017, d remarked:
On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 16:14:24 -0500
wrote:
This is probably true but the unguided section at Orchard Park probably and
the approach section to Cambridge North station definitely are unguided on
cost grounds.

Comparing to clearing the ground, casting the concrete and moving into place,
how much extra in percentage terms would bolting a pair of steel guiderails
into place cost? It can't be that great and I'd be surprised if they didn't
recycle the old rail track to create them.

Isn't Colin saying they *didn't* cast concrete guided sections for
Cambridge North. In effect it must be just "a normal road, buses only".

Which has other benefits, such as not being restricted to
buses-with-guide-wheels.

See this Streetview of the somewhat ******* child. Presumably the short
length of guiderail is to prevent guided buses falling into the "car
trap". But an unguided bus could drive through the gap if done carefully
enough - a couple of inches clearance either side.

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/...9_42dd46aa.jpg

Of course, it's an accident waiting to happen, because sooner or later a
driver will forget that the onward road isn't guided and take his hands
off the wheel. The drivers are not the sharpest tools in the box.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-20427214

"[Stagecoach] said it thought the driver had misjudged the entrance to
busway, causing it to leave the tracks.

The bus was left at a 45-degree angle across the entrance, before being
recovered from the scene a few hours later."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-21479277

"Passenger Michaela Murray said the bus she was on slowed down for
horses and another bus hit it from behind."

http://assets9.heart.co.uk/2016/27/c...ay-crash-july-
2016-1467897287-article-0.jpg

and probably the worst:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-35841300

"A guided bus driver who crashed near Cambridge injuring five passengers
was travelling at more than 53mph in a 30mph zone, a report concluded.

....

The "excessive speed" at a junction between one set of guide tracks and
another made it "unlikely the bus was under the driver's control".

--
Roland Perry