Is the Nottingham Express Tram – NET – a good or a bad thing?

CJH Multisourcing SNC

Phil,

You have asked legitimate and reasonable questions. You could study the
National Audit Office Report on Trams, which came to similar conclusions
about: value for money, etc.. The question of how else can public money be
spent is a political one, and can be equally raised about the Crossrail
Project in London (£18n) that would have funded lots of safe bike and foot
paths all over the UK. Or HS2 now expected to cost about £100n, which would
build a lot of new hospitals, schools, social housing etc.

My father sailed in the Atlantic Convoys during the War and always said that
a ship cannot be steered by looking at the wake. So although publicly
promoted and funded tramways in the UK have not always given good value for
money, other countries manage it, and we might learn from them, as indeed
did the Tramlink in Croydon, which was privately funded and promoted, and
subsequently purchased by TfL. It carries 35m passengers pa, over 25% of
whom have left a car at home. Traffic in Croydon has declined by a fifth
since opening in 2000, whereas in the rest of London it has increased.

The key question is what is needed to get people who drive cars, 4 out of 5
having only the driver, to use other less congesting and environmentally
friendly travel means ? Roger Harrison has given a good account of the
Nottingham Tramway, which I visited a couple of weeks ago. Yes many urban
trips are short, typically 75% under 5miles long, a comfortable cycling
distance. Getting people to alter travel habits needs both a change in
behaviour but also an acceptable alternative. People have to travel to work,
school, shop, visit the medical and other facilities. In the medium term the
origin and destination of these trips are fixed. In the longer term people
can (& do) change jobs or move house. Research shows that if a rail service
is available this will influence the choice of location and subsequent
travel mode.

What about those who cannot cycle ? One of the good overseas examples is
Freiburg, which 20 years ago had a modal split similar to Bath, viz car 65%,
walk 18%, cycle 3%, public transport 16%. Today the figures are car 32%,
walk 18% cycle 25% and tram & bus 25%, with car trips attracted to an
expanded tram network.

The other method of public transport over looked is taxis. Many US cities
only have taxis. The biggest users of UK taxis are households in the lowest
income quartile, who cannot afford a car and use taxis, which cost more than
buses, as a car substitute. Who uses buses in Bath ? Over 90% of trips in
Bath are not on buses. So would a privately financed tramway, not a drain on
public funds operating without a subsidy be better than the existing
congestion and high levels of toxic traffic pollution. A tram service will
attract significant numbers of car trips, especially with P+R, and help Bath
breath again ?

As for fares, a lot depends on the commercial policy of the tram operator,
which could like low cost air lines have almost an infinite variety of
fares, using an ‘Oyster Card’ system, depending on time of day, amount of
travel and advance purchase. As a guide, when I did the Financial Assessment
for a Commercial Tramway in Bath, I assumed an average fare of £2 in line
with bus fares and less than taxi.

Phil keep asking the searching questions- that way the truth can only
emerge.
With kind regards,
Prof. Lewis Lesley BSc, AKC, PhD, CEng, FRSA, MICE, FCIT, MTPS

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Service frequency