Edinburgh poulation ~ 500000. Projected cost of trams £1billion. Could buy a two grand bike for every man, woman and child living there. Discuss?

Buy them all a bike !

2 years to start a thread and that’s the best you can do?

Love it. Sorry mate but living in Kendal now, small town and all that….

The tram project makes parts of Edinburgh quite good for pedestrians

One tram canm take a few hundred drivers off the road, allowing more room for cyclists and walkers, it also reduces the need for buses to infiltrate the iner areas of a city.

Juist how much is the london sports days costing, and how many bikes could that buy, or how many trams or new trains.

Like your thinking there project, two grand bike for every man, woman and child in Britain. Can I have the new XT brakes on mine please? I think the money could have been better spent certainly in Edinburgh.

Pieface, how do you mean? Not been back much up north in recent years, except to snap several bones at Glentress, so saw very little of the town.

The tram isn’t even going to stop at Murrayfield!!! I mean what the hell is the point?!

OP did you hear about the Scottish Parliament?

One tram canm take a few hundred drivers off the road, allowing more room for cyclists and walkers, it also reduces the need for buses to infiltrate the iner areas of a city.

What makes a single tram line better than the good bus service we already have? what’s wrong with buses in the inner city? would the money wasted in trams not have been better spent in improving buses “green-ness”, adding more buses, improving road conditions and maybe improving the rail network?

it’s sickening how much money has been spent on delivering so little.

can you tell that i’m against the trams!? 🙂

And tram lines are a menace to cyclists !

There are great signs on Princes St with a tram symbol saying “at any time”

And tram lines are a menace to cyclists !

I don’t know, people get on fine with them in plenty cities, these folk that filmed themselves crashing on the Edinburgh ones need a slap, imo

My dad crashed on the tram lines in the fifties. He admits he was a dingbat though – looking at a pretty girl 😀

bigjim – Member
I don’t know, people get on fine with them in plenty cities, these folk that filmed themselves crashing on the Edinburgh ones need a slap, imo

+1

They’re ok on quiet roads but more challenging on busy roads with heavy traffic. I insist on crossing over them at a half decent angle, never had a problem myself but they sometimes force me to be further away from the kerb than I would like. Motorists often don’t expect that or make allowance for the fact that you might have to pull sharply away from the kerb to clear/cross them.

edinburgh trams are a good idea badly excecuted. It could have been the core of a modern integrated transport scheme – as it is its just pish

Lot cheaper than crossrail – and you know what? we are paying for a part of crossrail, you are not paying for our trams, the south west just gets shafted – do they even know what bus is in cornwall?

The tram isn’t even going to stop at Murrayfield!!! I mean what the hell is the point?!

Yes it is

edinburgh trams are a good idea badly excecuted.

They’re actually a bad idea, badly executed. Utterly pointless to pretty much anyone that doesn’t live on the route – which is just about everyone.

epicsteve – if it had meant the reopening of the north and south suburban circles with a proper connection to the mainline and a mainline station at the airoprt it could have been very good. Even something that gave a basis for expansion to this this would have been good.

TJ – don’t agree. A fraction of the cash spent on the (already pretty decent) bus service was all that was required. If there was a need to connect the airport with the train-stations then the sensible choice would have been to build a train-station at the airport.

The trams were the worst of all options.

I’ve lived in European cities with Trams and while they can work we were never going to get a useful sized network in Edinburgh.

TandemJeremy – Member
….as it is its just pish

Scottish politics in a nutshell, bodes well for independence 😆

I thought this was going be a thread about the amusingly titled Strava segment which runs parallel to the tram line

Scottish politics in a nutshell, bodes well for independence

It was only the UK wide parties that were in favour of the trams.

Epicsteve – it could have been the basis for something good but it ain’t thats my beef. AS it is its a waste of time and money but it could have been the basis for an integrated transport system

Looks like the Lib-Dems are getting kicked badly in Edinburgh for the association with the trams and for the association with the Tories.

If there was a need to connect the airport with the train-stations then the sensible choice would have been to build a train-station at the airport.

The trams were the worst of all options.

There was such a project – EARL – but Salmond pulled it in favour of trams, probably should have been the other way round with hingsight.

Yes it is

Had a tour of the stadium the other weekend and they were in uproar that it wasn’t stopping there!!

There was such a project – EARL – but Salmond pulled it in favour of trams, probably should have been the other way round with hingsight.

SNP pulled it because they couldn’t pull the trams due to the UK parties voting in favour of the scheme (this was before they had a majority).

As I recall it, the original tram proposal was really quite ambitious, covered a lot of routes, and combined with large out-of-town park and ride facilities for trams and trains.

Sadly that plan was based on financing it from money raised by introducing a congestion charge which, funnily enough, the public rejected at a referendum.

They should probably killed the tram project right there too.

Even the original tram proposal still had the same limitations ie not interfacing properly with the mainline trains and not reopening the south suburban route.

I agree tho it should have been killed off when the congestion charge was voted down

If the trams had been designed to interface with the railways properly as in Manchester then the earl project would have been a integrated part of it.

It an utter nonsense that one railway goes across the airport and another within half a mile but there is no station.

the tram does not do the same thing as if you are coming from the north or west by train you will have to go into Edinburgh to change trains to the tram to get to the airport

It an utter nonsense that one railway goes across the airport and another within half a mile but there is no station.

On that I do agree.

integrated is the key concept that was missed – even if the trams had been a basis for this it would have been OK but they are not

Are you lot secretly Edinburgh taxi drivers? Mention Edinburgh in any thread and invariably the bloody trams get brought up!

TandemJeremy – Member

Lot cheaper than crossrail

That isn’t really a fair comparison, though, is it?

Imagine they had spent the money on providing cycling facilities (routes, secure bike parking, changing rooms) AND adding a dedicated bike carriage to every train AND providing bike boxes for every bus.

And they’d still have enough left over to give everyone in Edinburgh a decent bike.

I reckon that would have reduced motor traffic a lot more than the trams will.

CaptJon – Member

TandemJeremy – Member

Lot cheaper than crossrail

That isn’t really a fair comparison, though, is it?

Why not? – and considering we up here are paying a share of crossrail and you down there are not paying a share of Edinburgh trams.

You still owe us for your parliament building though uncle Jezza. It went a little bit over cost didn’t it? 😉

The tram project is good becasue despite the obvious eyesore some of the major streets are a lot easier to cross at the moment as they’re closed to traffic.

As an outsider recently visiting Edinburgh I thought it was great that all buses charge a max of £1.40 whatever the length of route regardless of bus company.

Living in Sheffield where we do have a tram network and seeing Edinburgh’s project, which seems to have acted on none of Sheffield’s short-comings, I do wonder why they are bothering.

Withe regards to cyclists, tram tracks can be lethal in the wet, crossing at a sharp angle is not always effective. I tend to avoid routes with tram tracks on now.

Another key problm is where there are cycle lanes that run parallel to the tram track ther isn’t enough room for a tram to safely overtake a cyclist.