A guided busway is usually a dedicated, buses-only route with buses running on a purpose-built track. The bus is guided along the route so that steering is automatically controlled and, like a tram, the vehicle follows a set path. The bus driver controls the speed of the vehicle.

Kerb guided buses are normal, every day buses with a driver at the wheel. What makes them different is small guide wheels attached to the front wheels of the bus, that run along the vertical face of kerbs on a purpose built track called a guideway. The guide wheels steer the bus whilst it’s in the guideway.

Guideways can be used for part or all of a bus route. Guided buses can be either low-speed operations, introduced to relieve congestion in busy towns, or high-speed operations, which provide ‘light rapid transit’ (LRT) over longer distances.

Other guided bus technology uses remote guidance by radio, electro-magnetic or optical systems, but Britpave, and this website, is concerned with kerb guided bus systems, and the role of slip-forming in constructing the guideways.

Britpave (the British in-situ concrete paving association) promotes and develops the use of concrete paving in all areas of transport infrastructure including bus and rail. It is particularly involved in guided busway schemes constructed in slip-formed in-situ concrete.

Britpave liaises with government agencies, local authorities and private clients in maintaining and developing the best practice and standards.

Britpave lobbies MPs, commissions research, promotes the use of concrete, improves understanding among the public and official bodies of its activities and contributes to the preparation of British and European standards.

It provides knowledge and networking opportunities through its websites, seminars and study tours. It aims to develop technical excellence through its publications and other media.

Members are based in the UK and internationally, including contractors, consulting engineers and designers, suppliers of plant, equipment and materials, academics and clients.

Slipforming allows a guideway to be created on site (in-situ). Ready-mixed concrete is poured into the front of a paver (effectively a large, slow moving mould), which places the concrete so that it emerges in the shape of a guideway from the back of the paver.

Like a railway line, the guideway excludes all other traffic, giving the bus a clear road ahead, even in congested areas during rush hours. Therefore the service is fast and reliable: at peak periods, guided buses can arrive at frequent intervals.

All these factors mean guided buses can deliver a high quality of public transport akin to a metro, light rail or tram system. Unlike a train or tram, though, the bus can leave the busway at certain junctions and drive on normal roads, giving it the flexibility to provide on-road services too, allowing passengers get on or off close to their homes, or at any key location in the area.

Guided busways operate using standard buses that are cheaply and easily modified. The guideway can be designed to take double-decker buses and flexi-buses if required.

No special facilities for the vehicles are needed; they can be serviced and maintained along with the rest of a bus fleet at any depot.

Bus lanes and bus-only roads are open to illegal use by other road users for queue jumping and parking. This abuse slows bus journeys and drains resources as breaches of bus lanes need to be monitored and fines have to be issued for misuse. With its kerbs and narrow width, a guided busway is not accessible by most vehicles, virtually eliminating the abuse of the bus route.

Guided busways can also be built in areas too narrow for standard bus lanes, including disused railway lines with embankments - land that could never be made into a road.

If costed on a like-for-like basis, guided busways are considerably cheaper than an equivalent heavy rail line. Guided buses can travel on much steeper gradients, avoiding the excavation and construction work required to level land for trains. Even if level ground is in place, slip-forming a guideway is cheaper than building a railway. Other requirements such as signalling, telecoms and level crossings, that are not required for guided busways, also add to the cost of heavy rail.

Guided bus systems are less expensive than light rail or metro systems. Like light rail, a guided bus service can be high speed, reliable and comfortable. It also has the advantage of the transport not being fixed to the rail, with the bus being able to leave the guideway and drive down any road as does a standard bus, enabling bus stops to be located within the community.

Guided busways do not require the overhead electrification or signalling systems usually needed to operate light rail or metro systems.

In most cases, a guideway lane is slightly wider than a standard bus, around 2.6 meters (8 feet), so requires significantly less land than a normal road or bus lane. If two or more guideway lanes run parallel (a dual-lane guideway), buses can pass more closely together than they would on two lanes of normal road because they are contained within the kerbs of the guideway. This keeps the costs of guided busways down as less land has to be bought, and in turn reduces impact on the environment.

A guided busway has many environmental advantages over a traditional tarmac road. A guided busway can offer better drainage than a solid tarmac road, as water can drain away between the guideway tracks. The guideway also takes up less space than a standard road lane. The route can be landscaped and planted alongside and between the tracks, making the busway very green to the eye, absorbing engine noise and allowing the biodiversity of an area to exist alongside the transport system. Such landscaping also makes the busway look very different to a road, discouraging other road users from accidentally entering it.

Studies have shown that more people use the guided buses than use conventional buses in bus lanes or bus-only roads. This indicates that guided buses are more successful in encouraging car users to switch to public transport, another benefit for the environment.

To bring further benefits to the community, Britpave recommends building a maintenance strip / bridleway alongside a guideway to open up access for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders. This also discourages trespass on the guideway as people have a clear and safe alternative to dangerously entering the guideway.

Finally, with many low emission and now hybrid buses available, the bus itself can be seen as an increasingly green method of transport.

Guided busways are equipped with platforms at stops and halts to allow fully level boarding into buses. There is no need for the bus to “kneel” to the kerb – a time-consuming operation that can delay services and make some passengers feel self conscious if their personal circumstances require the bus to “kneel”.

At the stop, the bus is guided against the platform, ensuring that there is no large gap between the kerb and the bus. This makes bus transport easily accessed by wheelchairs, buggies and people with reduced mobility.

To achieve full accessibility, buses selected to be guided buses would be easy access models (with level floors and wide door ways).

With its narrow width and raised kerbs the busway is not suitable for other vehicles, so will not suffer from other road users ‘nipping into’ the guideway to park for 5 minutes or jump traffic queues, a problem that is common for bus lanes and bus-only roads.

Other vehicles, such as maintenance vehicles can be adapted to run on the guideway.

Guided busways look significantly different to normal roads, but would still be clearly signposted to stop people accidentally or deliberately attempting to enter them. Physical deterrents like car traps (pictured left), automatic bollards (which only lower for the guided buses) and pedestrian unfriendly surfacing are just some of the measures that can be used to deter pedestrians and other vehicles from entering the guideway.

Guideways are usually built either alongside conventional roads or with an evacuation strip of 0.7 metres (2’3”) to use in emergencies. This strip can also be used as a maintenance walkway. Britpave recommends that a wider track (4 metres / 13’) be added for those sections of the track where space is available, for rescue vehicles to access a stranded bus.

Many existing guided bus systems have recovery vehicles that are designed to enter the guideway at the nearest junction and then run on the guideway, to reach any incident on the guideway safely and efficiently.

A guided bus system can be cleaned with a standard road sweeper. As sweepers move very slowly, they can be steered on the guideway so do not require modifying with guide wheels.

Gritting vehicles can to suppress frost, ice and snow as with any other bus lane or road.

With extreme snowfall it is likely that all bus services would be suspended, whether guided or non-guided buses.

The guideway is arranged like a funnel where the bus enters, with asymmetric splayed kerbs allowing the driver to engage the guide wheels smoothly. On leaving the guideway, both kerbs stop at the same time at which point the driver resumes steering the bus.

The bus can reach the same speeds as it would on a normal road, and speed limits should be set according to the area, route, presence of standing passengers on the buses and the type of guideway in place. For example, the Australian Adelaide O-Bahn is a 12 km (7.5 mile) guided busway with a continuous guideway where buses can travel up to 100 km/hr (60 mph).

Yes. All guided busway drivers undergo special training. With this training, the bus can enter the guideway so smoothly that the passengers will not notice!

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