So now they've voted in favour of starting them at the former HQ of RBS and finishing them at the new HQ of RBS. Perhaps we should make RBS pay for them.
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Edinburgh trams yet again.
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Posted 11 months ago #
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no kidding, eh?
but when my kids are picketing to keep their school open (again!) and the potholes in the streets start to swallow cars and bikes whole and garbage collection becomes a bi-annual affair.....i will console myself by knowing that the tourists riding the sleek, lovely new tram from the airport will see us as a modern, cosmopolitan and European capital.i'd laugh if it wasn't so sad.
Posted 11 months ago # -
It's just a shame the SNP didn't have a majority last term otherwise they'd have nipped the entire sorry project in the bud. Unfortunately the other parties all wanted the project to continue and it now seems to be at the stage that it's just as expensive to cancel the project as it is to continue.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I believe that's called "The Union Dividend"
Posted 11 months ago # -
How many miles of track are they going to deliver and what will be the final bill?
It's probably going to end up costing as much per mile as the M74 extension!
Cost per passenger mile travelled is going to be slightly different though when it finally comes into operation.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Ho hum - no idea how long the track will be or how much the final cost will be. But one thing is sure as hell, it will be a hell of a lot more than the current £770m figure that they have. I would be amazed if, when they start digging up St Andrews Square , they dont find lots and lots of problems that push the final figure past a billion.
One of the ways that was discussed to make up for the funding shortfall was a 45% increase in council tax.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Ouch at the possible increase in council tax!
Wasn't one of the SNP's manifesto pledges not to increase council tax for the duration of this parliament?
Posted 11 months ago # -
Yes that is was one of the manifesto pledges, but councils can take the decision to raise council tax and take any resulting penalties on the chin. Which is what was suggeseted here.
Posted 11 months ago # -
For massive infrastructure projects like the M74 extension, Id love to see a full breakdown of where that money goes. I find it ludicrous the cost of things like this and cant help but feel there must be a few "£1000 hammers" purchased along the way! Is there anywhere they publish that type of data?
Posted 11 months ago # -
Surrounded By Zulus - Member
Yes that is was one of the manifesto pledges, but councils can take the decision to raise council tax and take any resulting penalties on the chin. Which is what was suggeseted here.Ah, I did not know that.
All of this does not bode well for when the time comes to build that second Forth road bridge.
Or maybe they will learn from their previous mistakes?
Posted 11 months ago # -
Ho hum - Member
Who is "they" in this context?All of this does not bode well for when the time comes to build that second Forth road bridge.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Edinburgh Shitty Concil - learn from mistakes - you're having a laugh.
The leader of the council claimed that the cost overrun and delays were a "glitch" and "not as bad as the scottish parliament building" - wonder what would have to happen before something was a complete unmitigated ****ing disaster.
Posted 11 months ago # -
All of this does not bode well for when the time comes to build that second Forth road bridge.
Or maybe they will learn from their previous mistakes?
haha of course not! Second Severn Crossing was about £300 million, they've already got the second Forth crossing estimated at ten times that even though its much smaller, so by the construction time you can add much more onto that cost and then add on your traditional budget overruns. these projects are a dream come true for engineering and consultancy businesses!
Posted 11 months ago # -
I'll never forget the mess they made of George Street when they installed that traffic calming crap. Almost sent the shops there out of business.
Posted 11 months ago # -
This is in a different league of badness from the Scottish parliament building IMO. At least with the parliament you have a building that fulfills a clear need and is working to its intended function. If you're a fan of the building like I am, and factor in the architectural success of it, then it's not even worth complaining about [If you hate it then I guess there's a degree of complaining to be done.]
Contrast that with a toy tram that no one wants and goes nowhere, in relative terms. 15 years into the future it will still seem like an embarrassment.
Posted 11 months ago # -
The parliament building didnt close off half of the major roads in the city for several years either.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I'm moving to Glasgow.
Posted 11 months ago # -
13thfloormonk - Member
I'm moving to Glasgow.Glasgow still has tramlines.
The only problem is they are buried under several inches of tarmac!
I remember seeing them on Hyndland Road years ago when they had dug part of the road up.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Even if it does get completed for the current estimate (which it won't) then the projected £2M per annum profit once it's up and running is going to have rather a long return-on-investment period...
It really is an unbelievable waste of money. I'm an Edinburgh resident but given the trams don't come anywhere close to servicing anywhere I might want to go to or from then I doubt I'd ever use them. Given the railway lines already skirt the airport surely there must have been a cheaper option to create an airport spur off of that?
Posted 11 months ago # -
Given the railway lines already skirt the airport surely there must have been a cheaper option to create an airport spur off of that?
Every half sensible person in Edinburgh would agree. Unfortunately our council loonies didn't. I suspect that a railway spur would have been built for a fraction of the price, and would have been genuinely useful (actually joined up thinking for travel).
Here's to another 5 years of closed roads and Edinburgh looking like a dump. I'm sure the tourists that the economy depends on will love the metal barriers.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Given the railway lines already skirt the airport surely there must have been a cheaper option to create an airport spur off of that?
Hold on there, way to sensible an idea for some legacy obsessed council joker.
China has managed to build a 26 mile sea bridge for £1bn, i know labour is cheaper but that appears good value for money.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Look at the contribution to the English language
On turning up late - "..and about as punctual as an Edinburgh Tram"
On visiting Halfords -"..about as expensive as an Edinurgh Tram"
On watching an event that dragged on for ever "..took as long as the Edinburgh Trams"..and so on and so Forth
Posted 11 months ago # -
Ho Hum - The general consensus of any driver that has 'driven' the M8 near the Kingston bridge around rush hour has given the M74 a unanimous thumbs up. Worth every penny is a well used phrase. Please do not compare the Edinburgh Sham project to the 5 miles of golden tarmac loveliness that has made Glasgow car drivers very happy!
Posted 11 months ago # -
Given the railway lines already skirt the airport surely there must have been a cheaper option to create an airport spur off of that?
Every single time I've been past Edinburgh Airport on the train I've thought that. Railway literally past the end of the runway but can you get a train to the airport? Oh no, that'd be train right past it then bus or taxi out there again.
Just insane.They could have resurfaced every one of the utterly shit roads in Edinburgh for the cost of this tram project. Come to Manchester where they're extending the current tram network - on time and on budget and to useful places where people actually want to go.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Oh no, that'd be train right past it then bus or taxi out there again.
Joined up travel! In about 5 years time you can get the train to Waverley, taxi to the nearest trams stop, tram to Gogarburn, then the bus from Gogarburn to the airport. Public travel has never been this integrated!
Posted 11 months ago # -
Edinburgh City Council's new slogan - If two wrongs don't make a right, try a third.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Given the railway lines already skirt the airport surely there must have been a cheaper option to create an airport spur off of that?
There was! Mr Salmond cancelled it.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I thought public transport in Edinburgh was fandabydozee......??
This sounds even worse than the Cambridge Guided Bus thing.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I thought public transport in Edinburgh was fandabydozee......??
Buses are great. Or they were until they dug up every street in the city centre.
Posted 11 months ago # -
I thought public transport in Edinburgh was fandabydozee.
Funny, but it is. Or was, maybe not once it's been sold off to pay for this pile of poo
Posted 11 months ago # -
City Council are still hacked off that they lost the congestion charge referendum and this is how they make the people in the city pay.
Posted 11 months ago # -
EARL was cancelled because the tramline had already been voted through (against the wishes of the incumbent SNP government) leading to (a) a duplication of function and (b) a lack of money for other infrastructure projects.
Posted 11 months ago # -
EARL was cancelled because the tramline had already been voted through (against the wishes of the incumbent SNP government) leading to (a) a duplication of function and (b) a lack of money for other infrastructure projects.
and cause he is a big fannybaws, making everything free to keep the punters happy, and going on about scotland's future economic reliance in marine renewables whilst in reality doing jack all to support investment in it or any other industry http://www.offshorewind.biz/2011/06/13/pelamis-wave-power-lays-off-third-of-its-workforce-uk/
Posted 11 months ago # -
So bigjim, you're not a fan then...
Posted 11 months ago # -
If he can show us the fibre of his fabric I could be converted, but at the moment he's talking the talk but thats it. If renewables are going to be a foundation of scotland's future like he keeps going on about, something drastic needs to happen soon!
Posted 11 months ago #
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