The polarization properties of cascaded substrate-mode holographic optical elements are analyzed and demonstrated. The design criteria for polarization selective and nonselective elements are given and verified with experimental volume holograms formed in dichromated gelatin emulsions. Using the experimental grating parameters, it is estimated that a reconfigurable optical bus with eight nodes can be made. Improved control of hologram construction parameters can increase this to more than 500 nodes. Use of this device with a reconfigurable interchange coupler and a multistage optical bus is also examined.