Almere: busbanen

Almere, a new masterplanned town in the Flevoland region of the Netherlands, boasts one of the earliest and most comprehensive systems of bus-only roadways. Opened in 1980,called busbaan in Dutch, the busways that carry most of the Almere Metro rapid bus service serve low-density neighborhoods along alignments that are entirely independent of general vehicular traffic, as well as of pedestrian and bike paths. Most intersections are managed at grade with actuated signals similar to those used in tram or LRT systems, but a few arterial intersections are grade-separated. The system is designed in loops that feed into the railway network at six stations and has widely spaced stops. Stops are basic bus platforms with no special features, and frequencies range from 4 to 12 buses per hour in each direction. Although not on the same scale, similar busbanaan networks are common in the planned postwar suburbs of other Dutch cities, such as Utrecht.