Quality bus corridors and green routes: can they achieve a public perception of 'permanence' of bus services?

Research suggests that the bus is usually perceived as a poor quality alternative to rail-based public transport modes such as light rail. While some sources of poor quality can be readily quantified, such as reliability, it is apparent that there are additional factors which influence the public perception of bus travel. There is a need to recognise these factors and to develop measures which address these perceived weaknesses. This is particularly important given the role of public transport in helping to provide a sustainable transport system and the financial constraints limiting the extent of capital intensive projects to achieve this goal. This paper examines one of these additional factors: the public perception of the "permanence" of the bus system, and whether designs such as Green Routes and Quality Bus Corridors in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, respectively, have been influenced by the need to improve this aspect of bus travel and, if so, whether they have been, or are likely to be, effective. A comparison is made between the scale and type of bus priority measures, the passenger facilities provided and effect on modal choice in completed schemes. The schemes examined include Superoute 66 in Ipswich, the Leeds Guided Busway System, the London Bus Priority Network, the Quality Bus Corridors in Dublin and the proposed Edinburgh Western Corridor Busway. The UK and Irish experience is compared with that in mainland Europe, in particular the Netherlands and Germany as well as Australia, Canada and Brazil. For the covering abstract see IRRD E102382.