h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There are plans for both in Edinburgh, and as soon as they are implemented the better. We have a pretty good bus service in the city - only marred by the traffic that hold up the buses, but it could still be improved with more park-and-ride services. Better public transport, I say, and penalise the car-owner in the city, where it's unnecessary.

builiding a new tram system is bad.

Why? I want to leap on to a tram and look dashing.

Because in Nottingham they've spent about 3 years ( and wont be finished till november) building a single tram line.
It has caused lots of traffic and otherwise disruption and the amount of money spent could have transformed the local bus service and helped the whole city.

Surely the long term benefits outweigh the short term disruption?

Yesss, but the long term benefits of an improved bus system given the same amount of funding would have been greater. Of course, if the council had presented a well planned system designed to service the whole county rather to central government rather than an expensive tram system serviving a small number of people along its route they would never have got the funding.

Didn't Nottingham have a tram system many years ago? I seem to remember having ridden on a tram (or perhaps it was a trolley bus) some time around 1953-1955. I was of course very young at the time .

Recent Appeal Court decision in favour of accident victim, and against Sheffield tram company, will effectively put the kaibosh on future tram developements for fear of litigation brought by people who can't seem to take responsibility for themselves..an increasingly common trait these days......

Seen many tram accidents in the city of my birth (Sheffield, that is). The trams have both a loud bell that they sound whenever they are about to move off and a horn that makes me loose bowel control for the occasions where motorists and pedestrians ignore the former or put themselves in direct danger of death.

My favourite Tram related incidents include the following:

-Man in white van pulls out in front of tram...the tram takes off the front of his van.

-Tram pulling away from platform (which are about three feet above the ground) when a, shall we say impetuous young lad, steps out in front of it. His leg is dragged under the tram and he's pulled twenty feet before the driver is even aware he's there.

What were the specifics of the case you mention?

The first time I drove along the tram route in my car I got rather spooked by the loss of grip in the tyres as I encountered the tram rails - it was pretty wet at the time.

Ever since then, driving along these routs is a case of dinking to the left and right to minimize the time spent in contact with metal. I would be interested to know if there have been any accidents with cars losing their grip totally because of the rails?

Driven on them myself in the wet...smell it? I was sat in it.

Croydon has a tram system that is really good - the launch was delayed slightly due to a couple of pedestrians not seeing the huge red tram or hearing the loud bells as it approached (possible darwin award winners). The problem seems to be resolved now that people are used to them coming and going.

The tram system is good, and is complementary to the good rail networks - the latter go north to south and the former east to west. Given how busy they are they must have had some effect on the number of cars driven into croydon.

Please pass on some diamond tips to the clowns that run the trams her in Sheffield!

Seems some guy totalled his life skidding on wet rails----possibly the rad signs were not too clear----also rails were 2mm too high----wouldn't deny accident "victim" financial assistance, but level of compensation was enough to make tram company say s-d it, and go home!!!!

Seems the courts are very capable of rubbishing good ideas......was that treason---am I going to be arrested for contempt?

Our youngest family member thinks that fox is the plural!!

The trouble with the Sheffield tram system is that, for the most part, it goes to places that you don't really want to go to. I mean who cares if you can get to Hillsborough by tram.

If you could get out to the posher parts of town such as Fulwood by tram, then you might well encourage the richer car owners of the city away from their motors.

I care that you can get to Hilsborough by bloody tram as I'm not rich enough to move to one of the "posh" areas of the city!

I like the tram system in Sheffield, I even remember them building it.

It makes it easy to park out by the Meadowhill (hall?) shopping centre, jump on a tram into the city and not worry about the congestion in the centre. And they run late, which is more than can be said for most public transport.

They also run in the bloody snow, which can't be said for other forms of public transport or private vehicles most of the time.

If politics there are anything like they are here, there may NEVER be trams/subways/etc. in the posher areas. Rich folk pay to keep them out because 1) They don't want the noise of construction; 2) Few of them are willing to give up any of their land to accommodate the necessary lines or stations (and they have the money to fight any plans a city might have of taking the property by force); and 3 they don't want to encourage an influx of outsiders into their part of town. The only way I can see them changing their stance on this is if public transportation becomes either so commonplace that public opinion forces them to comply or if for some reason it becomes trendy amongst the in-crowd (which I see as highly unlikely).

It's too bad, really. I own a car, and I LOVE to drive, but I choose to take the subway into town for work. Turns out I really enjoy it. I like not having to fight rush hour traffic. I love the fact that it shaves 20 minutes off my commute. I don't have to pay ridiculous amounts of money just to park for the day. I enjoy being able to read and relax instead of getting frustrated with other drivers. In my area, public transportation is not always easily accessible, so I understand that it's not a viable solution for many people. However, I think if more people who live near the train or subway lines would give it a shot, they might just find that they enjoy it, too.

Myjo

The problem is that its just the one line, I have nothing against trams.
Oh, and most of the rails that i've seen are full of tarmac, so there either needs to be a big rail clearance system or there's gonna be a LOT of derailments when they start running.