Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Phyllis Starkey (Labour) on Monday, 18 January 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 20 January 2010. It was answered by Lord Khan of Tooting (Labour) on Friday, 29 January 2010 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Bus Services

Question
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport (1) which guided busways are in service in each local authority area; on what date each commenced operations; and what the length of each is;
Answer

There are currently five guided bus systems in operation in England. Details on when these started operations and the length are in the following table:

Name of scheme Local authority Date scheme opened Length of guided bus section
Leeds "Superbus" Leeds city council 1995 1.5 km of segregated bus guideway
Ipswich Suffolk county council 1995 200 metre section
Leeds "Elite" Leeds city council 2001 2 km of segregated bus guideway
Bradford "A641 Manchester Road Quality Bus Initiative" Bradford metropolitan district council 2002 2.3 km of guided busway.
Crawley "Fastway" West Sussex county council 2003 2.2 km of guided busway

The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, which includes 25 kilometres of guided busway, was given funding approval by the Department in 2006 and construction is now under way with the scheme expected to be completed and open for operation in 2010.No assessments to date have been undertaken by the Department with regards to the safety of operation of guided busways. Guided busways are exempt from the requirements of the Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety Regulations) 2006 and it is, therefore, the responsibility of the promoter of the scheme to satisfy itself that safety systems are appropriate both prior to the system commencing and once in operation.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
504 c1109-10W; 312525
Session
2009-10
Subjects
Rapid transit systems
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk