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Guided Light Transit (GLT, French: Transport sur Voie Réservée or TVR) was the name of guided bus technology and associated infrastructure designed and manufactured by Bombardier Transportation (now Alstom). It was installed in two French cities: Nancy and Caen. The Caen system was closed in 2017 and replaced by conventional trams,[1] while the Nancy system was closed in March 2023 and is to be replaced by trolleybuses.[2]
Both of the systems in these cities are referred to as "tramways on tyres", and in common with tram systems they use a surface guidance system and in normal operation are powered by electricity drawn from an overhead wire. However, while the vehicles are guided by a central guidance rail, they ride on rubber tyres, not on rails. There has been disagreement about whether they should be called "trams",[3] for that reason and also because they are capable of being steered and operating independently of the guidance rail, using auxiliary diesel engines. GLT is effectively a model of guided dual-mode bus, but when GLT vehicles use a pantograph to collect current, as do those in Caen, they are not commonly considered to be trolleybuses.[3][4] English transport publications generally refer to the GLT and the competing Translohr system as "rubber-tyred tramways",[5][6] but rarely simply as "tramways", as they are not tramways in the conventional sense, but neither are they buses when pantograph-equipped and operating in service as designed (i.e. in electric mode).[3]
GLT was one of the few models (together with the Innovia APM) of rubber-tyred vehicles produced by Bombardier's transport division, which is otherwise focused on rail transport.
- ^ "Guided bus to tram plan confirmed". Railway Gazette International. 5 February 2016.
- ^ "Grand Nancy. Le tram sur pneu bientôt au rebut : retour sur 22 ans de péripéties et de ratés". www.estrepublicain.fr (in French). Retrieved 2022-12-12.
- ^ a b c "Is it a Bus? Is it a Tram?". Trolleybus Magazine (230). National Trolleybus Association (UK): 26. March–April 2000.
- ^ Box, Roland (July–August 2010). "More about the 2000s". Trolleybus Magazine (292). National Trolleybus Association (UK): 78–82.
- ^ Webb, Mary, ed. (2010). Jane's Urban Transport Systems 2010-2011. Coulsdon: Jane's Information Group. pp. 20, 23. ISBN 978-0-7106-2915-9.
- ^ "A complete listing of Light Rail, Light Railway, Tramway & Metro systems throughout the World". Light Rail Transit Association. January 2006. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2011.