Goodbye to trams - Page 2

WillowTheWhisp · 15-03-2005, 09:27

Considering Hyndborg BC can't even stop people driving in front of the Town Hall just how efective do you suppose they'd be?

park381 · 15-03-2005, 09:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

Considering Hyndborg BC can't even stop people driving in front of the Town Hall just how efective do you suppose they'd be?

Don't know on that one, but would bus lanes not help to cater for the hundreds of visitors to the accys new attraction, if we get it

have a look at this one http://speedlimit.dreamwater.org/gallery_buslanes.html

Graham Jones · 15-03-2005, 17:07

It would be great if we had the old trams, or could have them back. Its obvious that S Fran gains tourist dollar through them. By comparison I dont think Blackpool does but that may be because it is altogether a dowdy souless concrete place.

New eco friendly engine types are reducing noxious emissions right down. The best of which is the H2O engines that emit only water and with modern electronic scheduling and infomation as in parts of the continent, there seems little future for expensive rail systems or unworkable guided busways.

What we need is an integrated bus network with investment going into front line provision. Like as mentioned. New eco friendly fleets, a modern exchange and investment in electronic bus schedule information, such as the cheap LED signs at stops, on demand info via mobile phone etc.. Re-regulation would help then the profits on profitable routes can be used to subsidise a proper network instead of tax payers subsidising the loss making routes whilst some private operators dance around the supposed timetable with impudence and with a livery of clapped out third world polluters.

Tealeaf · 15-03-2005, 17:37

It all sounds very nice, Graham, but how much is it going to cost? An awful lot of biccys is the answer. The fact is the lhe last tram developments in the UK have been PFI funded and none of them are giving the anticipated returns to the development consortia. (I have used the last one - the Croydon Wimbledon link frequently) Consequently, as far as I am aware there are no plans in the pipeline for any tram development anywhere within the UK

I would have thought that it would have been far more productive to invest & develop our existing assets, such as increasing the utilisation of the East Lancs Line and integrating it with the bus system.

Doug · 15-03-2005, 17:43

Thinking about it, they wouldn't fit in today would they. I'd like to see Accrington Transport back on the road in their true colours.

park381 · 15-03-2005, 18:08

In reply, have not BwD and LCC just ditched the tram idea after spending £1million on research.

Lets have another look at this one, take accrington for example the town centre and adjacent streets are becoming choked with parked cars, there an't any more space for car parks. So how many major roads are there in to accrington 5 or may be 6. Is there anywhere along these 5 or 6 roads where there is room to fit very large car parks. Now you could have your trams, and a town completely free from traffic, except for early morning deliveries say 7.30am at the latest.

West Ender · 15-03-2005, 20:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

Can you just imagine it? :-

The junction at the bottom of Market Street
A new junction incorporating a tram turntable, traffic lights all on red whilst the tram driver gets out and turns his vehicle round, then goes upstairs to flip over the seats before flipping the downstairs ones (can't afford to employ conductors these days Mrs, one man trams only.) Makes the current junction seem positively efficient doesn't it?

Your right, Willow. Everything was slower in those days, except me (I think I was about 4 when they got rid of them).

Please, what is the red island on Blackburn Rd in West End? It sounds vaguely exotic.

WillowTheWhisp · 15-03-2005, 22:03

It's an area of the road which has been coloured red with diagonal lines across it meaning "thou shalt not drive on here" but there's no other way because cars are parked at the sides of the road!

West Ender · 15-03-2005, 22:42

Good grief. When I left the area, I don't think there were more than 20 cars in the whole village.

I know when my dad got his first car after the War (about 1951) we were the only ones on the block who had one, and my uncle Bill was the only one on his block, up the road, who did. They both parked off-road, at the back. The trouble is, knowing the area so well, there will be nowhere at the back of the houses to park cars as the back lane is only 1 car wide.

Going off thread a bit, I wonder if it's like where my son lives, on the outskirts of Manchester/Oldham. It's a narrow street lined with victorian terraced houses (lovely area - if you can take the steep hills). Each house's residents have a narrow space in which to park - my son has a van and his wife has a car - so they have to park nose to tail all down the street. His neighbours can get very shirty if a visitor parks in their "spec". I'm a coward - I park round the corner.

No room for tram lines in West End now, then?

Graham Jones · 18-03-2005, 16:00

Yes I agree Tealeaf, looking back is great but in reality the cost of a local rail system [trams] is prohibitive. I think the Labour councillor from Blackburn?? who mentioned hills as a problem clearly has no memory of the days when carriages built of far weighter materials than today did just that. PFI will cost the town even more. Cheaper to borrow from the public works loans board or agreed public lenders such as the major banks and take ownership of the development.

And as I said, engine technology is moving to the point of zero pollutants in the H2O engines. Its obvious that here modern public transposrt should be an intergration of an upgraded rail network, the East Lancs Line and possibly a completeion of the line through Todmorden to Manchester [it is missing s few hundered yards of track] faciliting a Blackburn Manchester Tod Blackburn circular.

And to re-regulate buses saving the tax payer the subsidies on teh loss making roots and having a proper lead on investing in eco friendly vehicles. And of course to build up an interchange here in Hyndburn [reusing one of our older buildings and building on our heritage], with a integrated public transport timetable and on demand electronic information at bus stops, ie how many minutes is the next bus away.

I dont think these are major or ridiculously expensive ideas so long as they planned long term.