Buses What???

[Super]

What the heck??? Buses that use a type of road & rail system???

Yes Super there is.
There is one in Adelaide, South Australia.
They call it the O Bahn.  It is on the Metro system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Bahn_Busway
I used to live in Adelaide so know of it.  I have been on it once, But didn't live in its area of operation.

[Super]

It is different for me to see. Is it like a long distant Bus ride where the rail part is faster because they aren't waiting in traffic? Does the driver still have to steer or does the Bus follow the raised side just like our Plarail Trains do?

Similar systems in Manchester, Cambridge, and Bristol, UK., where they are called Guided Busways.

it probably doesn't require the driver steer.  If it requires the driver to steer, lets just hope the driver doesn't oversteer.  Otherwise the ride will be very unpleasant as the bus kept on bounce sidewalks.  

You probably have seen road vehicles ride on tracks.  I imagine this bus uses the same technology or concept.

[Super]

I would think that the chances of tire blowouts would be great and the wear on the rubber tremendous. Those concrete walls would play havoc on the tires sidewalls if they guided the steering alone. There must be something I am missing in the pictures.

I believe it has guiding wheels that pop out on the sides by the wheels to guide it along the track. Chrisjo's link shows the wheels. I believe they call it kerb-guiding system.

To this day i still dont see the purpose of the guide rails on buses.

[Super]

Ah...that makes sense and explains it AOF, I totally missed that in Chrisjo's Link.

Here is what I don't understand and maybe its just me. I can't wrap my head around this idea as it seems to be a financial waste of money. It must cost millions if not more to construct the miles of special roadway and station stops not even factoring in the cost of land purchases and right-of-way costs. Plus you have to add in all the costs of specially equipping the Buses that will use it. I just don't see any feasibility of justifying all that expense with little return...I must be missing something. Then there is all the maintenance associated with the care for the roadways and the station stops and what about the cost of maintaining those side wheel roller guides on all the Buses?

Seems to me that since they are still paying the driver and the fact that there are already regular roads built that this is a total waste of money. Add to that the savings of fitting the buses with special side roller wheels, I just don't get it.

What am I missing?

I think good ones is bus can go 90km/h where road is either 50 or 60km/h and can avoid traffic.