Paper 5: Guided Buses on Segregated Ways

Abstract

Throughways is the name given to an urban rapid transit system that is based on the use of standard buses operating on ordinary urban roads for part of the route and on reserved tracks, either at ground level or as elevated structure, on sections of routes where traffic congestion would ordinarily restrict the speed and make it difficult to predict schedules. On the reserved tracks the buses are automatically steered by a guidance unit. By this means narrow tracks can be used, and the buses can keep up a higher average speed (which is largely independent of weather) than would be possible with manual steering. The system includes automatic signalling equipment, to ensure safe merging of buses from lay-bys and feeder routes into a main stream operating at high density. This is intended not only to help maintain high schedule speeds and high capacities, even in bad weather or poor visibility, but also to reduce braking and acceleration rates, thus contributing to passenger comfort.