Trolleybus, not trams, is the answer to city transport trauma - Bruce Whitehead
Ibsen’s curse also struck Edinburgh council’s tunnel-visioned transport committee, which has rejected proposals for an essential tram link to Granton.
Unable to see the wood for trees they shelved the plan, ignoring a dramatic last-minute plea from Granton’s community council that trams are “vital to the economic, social and environmental” North Edinburgh’s future. And yesterday we reported on the estimated five days annually wasted by car drivers sitting in traffic jams.
The answer, as regular readers will know, is not tram, but trolleybus. It beggars belief that such a tried and tested system throughout the world, and historically in the UK, has not been adequately studied to see if it could deliver the expanded mass transport that's desperately needed.
The council's Future Trams office told me they'd studied what they call “BRT” or bus rapid transit. But that’s a different system entirely, involving diesel guided buses which wouldn't integrate with the existing tram network.
In its submission to the transport committee, FutureTrams claimed to provide “robust evidence-based, objective and impartial business case appraisal”, but made a number of negative assumptions and claims about BRT without providing any evidence, and didn't even look at trolleybus.
Which is a shame because trolleybus avoids the most contentious obstacles to agreement on the northern route – the loss of Roseburn cyclepath, and the weight restrictions of the Dean Bridge.
Without the need for heavy trams on heavy track, much lighter trolleybuses, which run on rubber tyres, can integrate perfectly with trams, sharing the overhead power lines on the existing network and using hybrid battery power where required. Latest articulated models can carry 200 passengers! Using existing roads!
Why didn’t FutureTrams “robustly” appraise cutting edge trolleybus technology in use worldwide as a solution to our public transport needs? The LibDems, Greens and SNP who scuppered Granton and Muirhouse’s chance to flourish should visit some trolleybus routes abroad to see what they turned down. Yes, finally a junket with a good purpose! You'll find them in Limoges, Salzburg, Athens, Sofia, Genoa, Milan...