(Aidan Stanger) wrote in message ...
Rupert Candy wrote:

(Dominic) wrote...
I didn't live in London then, so it seems I've missed my chance to
travel on this optically guided bus route. I can't find any posts
mourning its passing, so am I right to assume the Railway Inspectorate
never approved the Alstom (!) guidance system and it ran unguided
until its end? I've found this news story:
http://ivsource.net/archivep/2000/se...enniumbus.html

What remains of it? Infrastructure, vehicles, incorporation into
another route?

Route and vehicles incorporated into route 486 to Bexleyheath.

AFAIK the busway was never used. It's still there (running between
North Greenwich and somewhere near Charlton Sainsbury's) and actually
marked on A-Zs. It doesn't look any different to an ordinary bus lane
(i.e. dark red road surface).

By the time the'd sorted out the problems with the regulations, they
found that buses all running with their wheels in exactly the same
alignment was incompatible with a tarmac road (they should've used
concrete) and anyway there's no significant advantage running guided
buses in London.

The vehicles are now on (I think) the 422 and 486 feeder routes to
North Greenwich tube, so you can still experience that part of it.
They are some sort of DAF with (the first ever) East Lancs Myllennium
bodies and "ultra-modern" non-standard interiors (which now look
pretty tired).

And worse still, there are no opening windows at all! Once I had to get
off a 486 because it was too hot and the driver refused to resort to the
low-tech solution (driving with the door open) despite the passengers
all being seated.

Thanks, everyone who responded. I'll definitely take a ride on the
486. I've found a webpage about it he
http://www.londonbusroutes.net/photos/486.htm
I made a mistake in my first post - it's electronically guided, not
optically guided.

I didn't realise there was a guided bus system in Ipswich. Searching
for it led me to a page listing all of Firstgroup's guided systems:
http://www.firstgroup.com/corpfirst/.../guidedbus.php
Clearly it doesn't mention Fastway in Crawley, which is the only one
I've been on. It's pretty short, but worth a visit.

Is Leeds the longest in the UK? Apparently the longest guided busway
in the world is the O-Bahn in Adelaide, and that's only 12km long.
Aidan has taught me why all the other systems use concrete rather than
tarmac!

Dominic