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I have recently returned from Prague and was impressed with the way that trams and road vheicles integrated on city centre streets. Can anyone explain how the introduction of trams has gone anywhere? When the trams start running in Edinburgh I suspect the bodyshop owners will be rubbing their hands with glee at the expected increase in work.
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In sheffield 50 cars stop so a tram with 2 people on can go by...
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I seem to remember that certain streets much used by trams in Prague are closed to cars during business hours. I got a ticket for driving down one (another tenner, groan).
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In Nottingham they seem to co-exist quite reasonably, although this is as much down to the quality of the planning re track / road layout as to driver competence.
There was one spot where they apparently didn't want cars to park, or wanted to give maximum roadside parking capacity; whatever, they put diagonal lines into a bay by the side of the road. Cars parked diagonally, which meant one corner of the car was in the tram lane. I'm not sure there were any accidents, but there can be little more frustrating than being in a tram stuck because of a 12" overlap between vehicles.
Overall, the trams are very popular; standing room only in the morning and evening 'rush hours'.
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BTW which UK towns have trams?
Nottingham, Sheffield, Douglas (Isle of Man), Llandudno (Wales).
What else?
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Oh, yes, Blackpool also has trams.
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I can never see the point of them. You replace a bus that can manouvre round obstructions with something that can't.
PC madness.
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It's a better ridership experience than a bus. It's smooth, quiet, predictable and more comfortable than a bus.
Also, trams get better take-up because it's easy to spot a tram route - just look for the tracks!
I've lived in Switzerland where they had excellent tram, bus and trolleybus networks. The whole system worked really well, but the trams were my preferred option where there was a choice between getting from A-to-B via bus or tram.
Funny to have a choice though, in this country you're lucky to have a public transport option, let alone have a choice of which mode to make your journey!!
Partly I think the preference for trams may be psychological, they're just nicer somehow.
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What else:
Croydon, Manchester? Or are they trains that run near cars?
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Birmingham and Wolverhampton as well - we shouldn't have got rid of trams or trolleybuses in the first place....
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Hitching to Scotland in the late fifties, dropped by a truck in Sheffield and got a 5am tram to the northern end of town. Smooth and quiet be damned. The double-deck tram had four wheels somewhere in the middle, with enormous overhangs at both ends - a symmetrical but highly unsophisticated vehicle. It was driven quite fast, over 30 it felt like, and owing to wear and bumps in the track started a violent lateral oscillation that persisted until it slowed down. It felt as if it was going to jump the tracks and career in some random direction in a shower of sparks. However I took my cue from my fellow passengers - coughing steelworkers in a Park Drive fug - and remained calm.
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They've changed a lot since the 50s Lud! I remember a tale regarding the Blackpool trams when they were the only ones left (appart from Seaton and the IOM!) - seems they'd had an "exchange" with a German town and the engineer from Germany couldn't believe how bad the Blackpool ones were - he helped them relay a section of the track and the result was a dramatic improvement in ride quality... Many of the older British trams were 4wheelers as well which didn't help... and back in the 50s the local corporations thought that buses were the way forward...
I've been on many in Europe, including some of the smaller places and, like anything, if they are looked after they are smooth and fast....
Edited by b308 on 29/07/2008 at 17:04
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Aha, Lud. Presumably that's why my father always referred to the tram as "the rattler". Given that the tram that was the victim of this description was Metrolink's finest...
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