On demand 24 hours a day, seven days a week driverless pods are on track to link up the town centre with Royal Bolton Hospital. Bolton Council and its partners sent a “feasibility study” to the government which looked at how a project like this could be undertaken. A letter sent to the borough’s MPs seen by The Bolton News stated that the network could make use of a disused railway line and could potentially link up areas like Middlebrook and Logistics North.
The letter stated: “The proposal is to provide a fast, sustainable, space-efficient, on-demand 24/7 public transport service between the Bolton Interchange (Bolton Town Centre) to the Royal Bolton Hospital. The scheme aims to link up the town centre with Royal Bolton Hospital (Image: Newsquest) “A large section of the route will be off-road utilising the alignment of the disused rail line, complimenting the existing pedestrian and cycle path by increasing surveillance along what could be a multi-modal corridor. “At this time, the proposal looks to benefit from level three autonomy which requires segregation from existing highway users and therefore the on-highway sections of the route along Thynne Street and Bridgeman Street will be elevated.
” It added: “One of the key aspects of the feasibility exercise is to demonstrate the technological benefits and the ability to apply this technology to other routes and applications. “On this basis the feasibility exercise has also considered other routes across Bo.