Monday, July 13, 2009

Rail/Bus Hybrid?


There was an article today on Stuff outlining the idea of Selwyn District Councillor Annette Foster to run a hybrid Rail/Bus system between Rolleston and Christchurch. The idea would be to run them on the existing rail line and she pointed to the use of the O-Bahn in Adelaide of the success of this concept (buses fitted with small wheels and utilising guide rails).


The problem with this , of course, is that it would be impossible to fit in with a working railway (the O-Bahn is a stand alone piece of transport infrastructure by the way), it gains only the benefits of the railways right of way, and most of the potential gains would be nothing like a railway and could be met with bus lanes which would be much much cheaper. It is, however, nice to see a local politician looking at new ways of improving our public transport system and also looking at transport options that don't just involve roads. Foster is planning to undertake a trip to see Adelaide's O-Bahn in September.

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