• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Belfast BRT 'Glider' network; opening September 2018

Status
Not open for further replies.

nerd

Member
Joined
4 May 2011
Messages
524
Not sure if these have been posted here:

https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/articles/belfast-rapid-transit-glider-introduction

https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.u...structure/new-glider-interactive-document.pdf

http://www.exquicity.be/en/

The Glider Network should demonstrate, in my view, the alternative potential configuration of BRT to that offered by the Leigh and Cambridgeshire guided busways. Not high specification double-deckers running on longer routes from outlying suburban residential areas with comfy spacious seating; but shorter routes within the urban area itself, running slower, but with provision for rapid boarding and alighting, with the majority of riders standing.

Articulated buses with three doors; 44 seats and 61 standing spaces.

Most of the route along dedicated bus lanes (also available to be used by standard buses).

Stops at approx 400 m intervals

Frequency at 8 per hour throughout the day.

Speeds not stated; but likely limited to 50 kmh; because of the high proportion of standing passengers.
 
Last edited:
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

nerd

Member
Joined
4 May 2011
Messages
524
They do, don't they?

A bit perhaps; but thereby hangs a tale.

The old Wrightbus FTR units being made in Belfast; while these Van Hool Equi.City buses for Belfast are made in Lier, Belgium.

The big difference though is in the balance of investment between route and vehicles. The FTR embodied an understanding of BRT as "a bus that thinks its a tram'; so the idea was to run near-tram vehicles along routes which were otherwise no different from 'quality bus' corridors or the equivalent..

As I understand the 'Glider' proposal, a much higher proportion of investment is going into providing a dedicated buslane along most of the route - and introducing widely spaced level-boarding stops with PIDs and off-board ticketing. The vehicles still have the tram 'look'; but (compared to the FTR) carry a much greater proportion of standing passengers.

I think.
 

ste898

Member
Joined
20 Dec 2012
Messages
72
Another stupid waste of money

plus they look pretty ugly and silly tbh
 

F Great Eastern

Established Member
Joined
2 Apr 2009
Messages
3,580
Location
East Anglia
They apparently will have a 40-50km/h speed limit on them because of the high number of standing passengers, instantly putting them at a disadvantage to conventional buses.

Just like the FTR had some fatal shortcomings compared to a standard bendy bus, these appear to have at least one also.
 

Jordeh

Member
Joined
18 Aug 2010
Messages
372
Location
London
Another stupid waste of money

plus they look pretty ugly and silly tbh
'Cheers' for your honesty but why a waste of money? Investment in bus corridors has been often been shown to be a good value way to improve public transport usage. Look at Dublin, Cambridge, Bogota, Curitiba etc

Would you rather there wasn't investment?
 

F Great Eastern

Established Member
Joined
2 Apr 2009
Messages
3,580
Location
East Anglia
I don't think investment in bus corridors is bad as such - it's just like with the FTR in Swansea, ordering vanity project buses that look nice rather than something that is more practical and cheaper and will do the job better.

The fact that the Eden Project wouldn't use Streetcars because of their impracticality and they prefer standard and older Citaros tells you all you need to know about that.
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,540
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
They apparently will have a 40-50km/h speed limit on them because of the high number of standing passengers, instantly putting them at a disadvantage to conventional buses.

Just like the FTR had some fatal shortcomings compared to a standard bendy bus, these appear to have at least one also.

How bizarre; there is no legal reason for such a requirement.
 

nerd

Member
Joined
4 May 2011
Messages
524
How bizarre; there is no legal reason for such a requirement.

Its called a speed limit; 32kmh (20mph) on local roads, 50kmh (30mph) on main routes. If a service is to be economic with these vehicles, then it will necessarily be running though dense urban areas; so no prospect of travelling faster than 30 mph anyway.

But there is no doubt that riding a bus standing up is far less comfortable at speed than riding a tram standing up. Buses have a bouncier ride; are much more likely to jerk; and take tighter corners.
 

radamfi

Established Member
Joined
29 Oct 2009
Messages
9,267
It might be worth mentioning that it is quite normal for people to stand for fairly long distances on articulated buses in other countries, on both BRT and "normal" bus routes.
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,540
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
It might be worth mentioning that it is quite normal for people to stand for fairly long distances on articulated buses in other countries, on both BRT and "normal" bus routes.

It's quite normal for people to stand on regular seated buses in the UK as well, including on MK's 60 and 70mph road network.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top