A misguidedbus requires a far greater standard of maintenance than a normal bus(3X)and inview that the traffic commissioners give Stagecoach a formal warning in April concerning poor maintenance standards. In Adelaide it is not unknown for a bus to be taking out of service two or even three times a day to have a guide wheel replaced. Odds on Stagecoach will keep the bus in service ('If a bus is not working, its not earning' CEO Stagecoach).
When compared with Adelaide the busway is built to a lower standard. The Adelaide busway is compleatly fenced off and all crossings are by bridge or overpass. In Cambridgeshire the busway is unfenced and most crossing are on the level. With buses racing across the gaps at full speed with the guide wheels rengaging with a bang with this sort of abuse how long before a guide wheel rips off (This did happen in Scotland and that with a 30 mph speed limit after this, the speedlimit at crossings was set at 10 mph .
And then there is the weather, Fog is common in Cambridgeshire,In Adelaide it is very rare (On average 4.7days of light fog per year). For a system which depends on line of sight (The same as a railway built in 1830) there are going to be crashes. The Adelaide buses are painted dayglow yellow at the front and dayglow red for a good reason and the flashing rear light. The Stagecoach buses are painted dark green at the rear. Which do you think will stand out in a dark and fog night. In winter Stagecoach buses are amix of blacks and greys.
In Essen they have a problem with getting replacment buses as the busway were built to width of 2.5m, Buses today are 2.7m wide. With in a few years this will be a problem for Cambridgshire.
The council dropped the court case and handed over 64 millon pounds of Taxpayers money to BAM, when they relased that the facts would comeout.(BAM were under contract not to speak anyone on the subject).
Firesprite
In the Office
For the record,I was working in Adelaide between 1990 and 1993