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Mark Hewitt wrote:I just remembered the TEOR system which they have in the centre of Rouen. Basically it's just a normal road, but painted down the middle are a set of lines, which the bus uses to steer with.
The advantage here is that it operates in the way you would expect from a guided busway, but it can also be used by normal vehicles to reach breakdowns etc.
Yes, I've seen about this before... aren't those double-bendy buses?
I think from what I remember (though I may be getting mixed up with another system here) is that the second trailer unit has steering rear axles that are electronically controlled in the same way as the front axles are from the overhead unit that 'reads' the guide lines.
"God was probably very proud of Yorkshire when he had finished with it"
- Jeremy Clarkson
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True Yorkie wrote:
The advantage here is that it operates in the way you would expect from a guided busway, but it can also be used by normal vehicles to reach breakdowns etc.
Yes, I've seen about this before... aren't those double-bendy buses?[/quote]
They are pretty long, yes, although I didn't examine them closely or use them. Although I did inadvertently nearly drive into the 'busway' after TomTom decided this was the best way to go..
MJN wrote:Arriva seem to have pulled their services from the guideway, the new buses on the 163/6 don't have guidewheels (unless they have changed their minds after all?)
Ooh, that's news to me - new buses? The other ones were 'new' when the guideway came in, so they can't be more than six or seven years old yet. Nothing wrong with them!
Turns out this is exactly right: on the 163 and 166 routes at least, Arriva has ditched the double deckers and replaced them with new single deckers which do not have guide wheels for the bus lanes. These lines run Leeds-Garforth-Castleford.
From the perspective of Arriva services it brings these routes into line with the (IIRC) 403 Leeds-Garforth-Selby line, which runs outside the Metro area and never had guide wheels. It means all of Arriva's routes east of Leeds now run on normal roads and avoid the guideways. They will definitely make faster off-peak journeys now (top speed 40mph on a dual carriageway instead of 20mph bouncing along a guideway) and will lose no time at peak hours.
Some of the 402/403 arriva buses have guidewheel brackets but not the wheel itself fitted. The only problem with G/Bws is that the rubber wheel will come off, as theres many which are happily littering the Bradfordian version.
Halstead wrote:I read about it in the newspaper as well. If the contractor were Russian it would sounded like "Buses Oily." (hides from the language pedants)
I thought that buses were already oily - and didn't need road markings to tell them that.
"If you expect nothing from somebody you are never disappointed." - Sylvia Plath