THE NORTHEAST BUSWAY: ADELAIDE

The Northeast Busway in Adelaide is to have the longest section of guideway for buses in the world. The system will demonstrate high operational flexibility in that the buses using the system will pick up and set down passengers on normal suburban routes before joining the guideway. This paper describes the background to the decision to build an exclusive busway and the development of alternative operational strategies. The criteria used to evaluate alternative strategies in terms of their ability to meet project objectives are explained and the method and results of the comparison are given. The preferred operational strategy for the busway is then documented. The essential features of the busway are two intermediate off-line stops, a bus cruising speed of 100 km/h, all crossings to be grade separated from the busway, busway stops provided for through routing, transfer, feeder and stopping operations, merge- diverge design features of bus access and egress facilities and a mechanical bus guidance system between stops (a). The number of the covering abstract of the conference is TRIS no 368448. (TRRL)