Is a city tram system really a realistic idea?
FROM the heavy rumble of the wheels on the track, to the ‘ding’ as you reach each stop, I’ve always loved going on trams.
It was a highlight of going to San Francisco that I got to ride on their tram network, which somehow drags heavy cars up the steep gradients.
While a tram system usually relies on nice flat land, and overhead electric cables to power the cars, the grid in San Francisco relies on a number of constantly-moving cables which are embedded underneath the track.
So instead of drivers, you have muscular ‘gripmen’ who are in charge of two levers – one which is a brake, and the other which lowers a pincer grip down to the cable underneath the road.
At certain points, such as corners, the cars have to ungrip from one cable and roll on until they reach the next one, using momentum only.
But occasionally, at points such as corners and turnarounds, the cars need a bit of a push – and willing passengers (mainly tourists) can get off and help shove.
Yet more orthodox tram systems are part of many other cities around the world, from Manchester to Melbourne, so the thought of one being built in Plymouth sparks a sort of childlike glee – for me, at least.
The recommendation came in a recent report from Alstom, who by some strange coincidence have installed tram networks around the world.
The rail manufacturer suggested that the city would be ideal for a tube
or tram network, also picking out Bristol in a list of UK cities.
The idea of a tube network was so unrealistic as to be almost laughable, yet Plymouth has had trams before, so why not now?
Setting aside the obvious fishing expedition from the company who wrote the report, the possibility of a tram system has actually been talked about in a previous Joint Local Plan. But is it a realistic idea?
The first part, of course, is whether the idea of a mass transit system is still tenable in the post-Covid age.
Right now, buses rumble past with signs reminding passengers to wear a mask, and some seats taped off so that people sit far enough apart.
You would hope, though, that this is something we can leave behind in the not too distant future – or it is not just transport which will need a total rethink.
Then, the question of whether it would be an effective way of moving people from one part of the city to another largely depends on the details.
How many tracks would there be? How many trams would run on them? And how much would you have to pay to ride them?
If it is simply one track, which has been suggested, going from Plympton
to the city centre via Marsh Mills, then it is only really going to appeal to a limited number of people.
When the idea of a tram system for the city was raised some years ago, I had envisaged tracks going from the city in all directions: along Union Street, north to Mutley Plain, and east along Embankment Road.
I realise that’s not particularly realistic when the council can’t even give us roads which aren’t peppered with potholes or their pockmarked temporary repairs.
But if you are going to introduce a tram system, surely you would want it to be more than just a vanity project?
The critical mass for such a system relies on enough cars and tracks to carry enough people to enough places to make it viable.
Green issues, and decarbonising our transport, is going to push such ideas forward in greater number.
Whether the price of removing vehicles that guzzle petrol and diesel from our roads makes such a system tenable after all, well, that remains to be seen. But if there’s a tram, I will certainly be on it.
If you are going to introduce a tram system, you would want it to be more than just a vanity project