List of guided busways and BRT systems in the United Kingdom

File:Guided Busway West Edinburgh.jpg

A Lothian Buses guided bus traversing the former Fastlink guided busway in Edinburgh (alignment now used for Tram Line 2)

File:York ftr.jpg

A First York operated Wright StreetCar
on an FTR bus rapid transit scheme in York

This is a list of the past, present, planned or abandoned guided bus systems or bus rapid transit schemes in the United Kingdom, including segregated busways. Not included are bus priority schemes, bus lanes or local authority bus company quality contracts that do not involve guidance, significant segregation from the public highway or other bus rapid transit features. The UK does not have any implementations or proposals for rubber tyred trams such as Translohr or Bombardier Guided Light Transit.

Past systems

• Birmingham. Tracline 65 was an upgraded route with the first guided busway in the UK. There was a 600-metre section of guideway in Erdington. It opened in 1984 and closed in 1987.
• Edinburgh, Edinburgh Fastlink operated by Lothian Buses. Originally called WEBS, the West Edinburgh Bus Scheme, a group of bus priority improvements that included a 1 mile (1.5 km) section of guided busway.
  • Stenhouse - Broomhouse, opened in December 2004, designed to be utilised for Line 2 of the Edinburgh Tram Network. In January 2009 it closed to enable conversion, with the two services using the guideway being re-routed.

Present systems

• Ipswich, Suffolk, Ipswich Rapid Transit operated by First Norfolk & Suffolk, branded Superroute 66, incorporating a 200-m section of guided busway
  • Kesgrave - Grange Farm, opened 1995
  • regauged in 2005 for larger double-deck buses
  • a second stretch of busway has been abandoned
• Runcorn, Cheshire, Runcorn Busway, operated by Halton Transport and Arriva North West and Wales, an unguided network built as part of the new town extension of Runcorn The busway is 14 miles (22 km) long, with an elevated section into a shopping area at the intersection
  • 1971 - Phase 1 complete
  • 1977 - Phase 2 complete
• Redditch, Worcestershire, Matchborough Circular, operated by Red Diamond and First Midlands, an unguided network built as part of the new town extension of Redditch. The system carries over 1.5 million passenger journeys per annum.
• London
  • East London Transit, unguided with sections of segregated running: first stage Ilford to Dagenham Dock completed February 2010. Phase 2 (Barking Riverside) to open 2013.
• Thames Gateway, Fastrack, unguided with sections of segregated running, opened in phases in concert with planned local development. Operated by Arriva Southern Counties using standard buses,
  • Route A - Dartford - Bluewater, opened June 2007
  • Route B - Dartford - Gravesend, opened March 2006
• Leeds
  • Leeds Superbus, corridors with sections of guided busway, operated by First Leeds
    • A61 Scott Hall Road, four sections, 1 mile (1.5 km), opened 1995
    • A64 York Road / A63 Selby Road, three sections, 1 mile (2 km), opened 2001
  • FTR bendy bus route unguided, operated by First Leeds
    • Between Pudsey and Whinmoor, opened 2007
• Bradford Manchester Road Quality Bus Initiative Bradford end, including 1 mile (2.3 km) of guided busway
  • A641 Manchester Road, opened October 2001
• Crawley, West Sussex, Crawley Fastway, operated by Metrobus, a 15 miles (24 km) two-route system with segregated lanes and 1 mile (1.5 km) of guided busway.
  • Southgate Avenue, opened August 2003.
  • Fastway, opened December 2004.
• Tyne and Wear
  • Centrelink, an infrastructure project including an exclusive busway on the south bank of the River Tyne, for bendy bus services from Gateshead to the Metrocentre, operated by Go North East
  • Route 19 in North Tyneside, operating over a section of exclusive busway, accessed through guidewheel gates. Operated by Go North East using guide-wheel-fitted buses.
• York, FTR bendy bus route, unguided, operated by First York
  • Between Acomb and University of York, opened 2006
• Luton, Bedfordshire
  • The Luton to Dunstable Guided Busway runs between Luton Airport and Houghton Regis via Dunstable following the Dunstable branch line, which closed in 1989, running parallel to the A505 (Dunstable Road) and A5065 (Hatters Way). t runs for 6.1 miles, of which 4.8 is guided track with a maximum speed of 50 mph. The £91 million scheme opened on 25 September 2013.
  • FTR bendy bus route Train2plane, unguided, operated by Go Ahead London between Luton Airport Parkway railway station and Luton Airport, runs every 10 minutes, 19 hours a day.
• Swansea, South Wales, FTR bendy bus route, unguided, operated by First Cymru branded Swansea Metro.
  • From Morriston Hospital to Singleton Hospital via Morriston, Swansea railway station, the Kingsway, Swansea bus station, the Civic Centre and Swansea University.
    • Phase 1 - between the railway station and the Kingsway, opened November 2007
    • Phase 2 - between the Kingsway and the Civic Centre, opened April 2008.
• Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, a BRT corridor incorporating "just over 16 miles" of guided busway, using the alignments of the former Cambridge and Huntingdon railway and also of the Varsity Line.
  • St Ives Park & Ride - Milton Road, Cambridge: construction begun January 2007; was due to open in February 2009 but heavily delayed. The service finally opened to traffic on Sunday 7 August 2011.
  • Cambridge railway station - Trumpington Park & Ride: opened 7 August 2011.
• South East Hampshire Bus Rapid Transit, 3 miles (4.5 km), unguided, between Gosport and Fareham, Hampshire, constructed by Hampshire County Council using the route of the former Gosport to Fareham railway line to reduce congestion on the parallel A32. The scheme was proposed following the collapse of the light rail scheme using the same route and funding was approved in July 2009 for the £20m scheme. It opened in April 2012 with services provided by First Hampshire & Dorset using specially branded "Eclipse" buses.
• Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit, from Leigh and Atherton to Manchester via Tyldesley and Ellenbrook. The 29-stop scheme extends a total of 22km; and makes partial use of a former railway line to form a 4 miles (7 km) guided busway together with pedestrian, cycle lane and bridleway between Leigh, Tyldesley, and Ellenbrook relieving heavy congestion. It then joins the East Lancashire Road running in a dedicated a bus lane. A Park and Ride site has been constructed where the road reaches the M60 and buses continue through Salford and into Manchester city centre along 9 miles (15 km) of segregated bus lanes; continuing through the centre along Oxford Road to the University of Manchester and Central Manchester Hospitals. The scheme will be 80% segregated from highway along its length. The scheme is costed at £68m for the guided busway and £122m for the total project. Road junction works began in late-2011 and it opened on 3 April 2016. It will form part of the wider Manchester Quality Bus Corridor (Manchester QBC) and Cross City Bus network.

Under construction

• Sheffield, The Sheffield to Rotherham, approved recently by the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly's Regional Transport Board. It will operate on bus lanes on two routes:
  • Sheffield to Rotherham via the Waverley Development site, which will include employment and housing
  • The Northern Route, via Meadowhall Centre and Templeborough
  • A circular line to link these two routes is planned, but yet to receive approval.
• Belfast: Since 2008 Belfast has been formally exploring the idea of a rapid-transit system. This quickly settled down to be a high-quality bus-based system, with modern vehicles with a tram-like feel with off-vehicle ticketing and fast journey times that hinge on the use of a dedicated traffic lane that is not used by general traffic. The ultimate ambition seems to be for routes running from the city centre to the north, east, south and west with an additional line to Titanic Quarter. The network is in the middle of being constructed and is planned to be opened by 2017/18.
• Bristol: Bristol City Council, in conjunction with the West of England Partnership, approved three MetroBus routes currently under construction which consists of Ashton Vale to Temple Meads (AVTM), the North Fringe to Hengrove Park, and the South Bristol Link (SBL) and will be operational by 2017.

Planned systems

• Coventry Sprint. A proposed application of the FTR (bus) over a 19 miles (30 km) route, 34% segregated
  • Nuneaton - Coventry - Kenilworth, route consultation ongoing
• Glasgow, Clyde Fastlink, along the north bank of the River Clyde, with segregated running for the majority of its length outside the city centre. It has been approved by Scottish ministers and is expected to be ready for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
  • Glasgow City Centre - Glasgow Harbour with the majority of the route segregated.
• London
  • West London Transit, being considered following the abandonment of plans for the West London Tram in August 2007

Abandoned proposals

• Leeds, following refusal of funding the proposed Leeds Supertram, a replacement system was proposed by the government, which included a three-line 12 miles (20 km) trolleybus network. 38% would run on guideways or on bus lanes. The scheme received a negative assessment from the inspector at a public inquiry, and approval was refused in May 2016.
• Bath, Somerset, the Department of Transport approved funding with 1 mile (1.4 km) of busway, but this has been abandoned.
• London
  • Millennium Transit, a segregated busway intended to link the Millennium Dome with Charlton and Greenwich railway stations, part of which was to include a 1 mile (1.3 km) section of electronic guidance. Intended to be operational when the Dome opened, the electronic guidance technology was abandoned following concerns that neither the system nor the driver was in a position to avoid sudden obstacles. The busway remains in use, unguided.
    • Route M1, Charlton - Millennium Dome
    • Route M2, Greenwich - Millennium Dome
  • Greenwich Waterfront Transit, planned for completion by 2011, abandoned in 2008 due to cancellation of Thames Gateway Bridge.
• Stoke-on-Trent Streetcar, primarily to link the railway station to the city centre, but would have also linked the rest of the city's six towns and neighbouring Newcastle-under-Lyme and Kidsgrove. Major destinations included both universities, the hospital and both major football stadia.

See also

• List of bus rapid transit systems