Trams

[SXi Lad]

Had long talk with friend, where the route about. I know it passes my work at the gyle business park. Aswell as that, any of you think it will be common once it is finished.

[Famous Graham]

Well I'll certainly use it - one of the stops is at the end of my street (Balfour St, Leith Walk).

Assuming I haven't died of old age by the time it's finished, of course.

[VetteG]

A friend of mine has a property for development in Leith, he was going to turn it into flats, planning now requires that a percentage be affordable community housing, which seriously bites into any profit he might make. What has killed the project though is that since its on the tram route he has to pay a levy to the 'tram company' of £5k per apartment including the community ones, result is that its just not worth while doing and another crumbling property remains in Leith.

G

[SXi Lad]

Feel sorry for the people that will be stayin at the hotel opposite hermistingate. They are building a bridge for the trams which goes right pass their windows.

[dxg]

SXi Lad said:

Feel sorry for the people that will be stayin at the hotel opposite hermistingate. They are building a bridge for the trams which goes right pass their windows.

Well, to be fair, it's no closer than the existing Edinburgh-Glasgow mainline.

This is taken from the roof of that hotel:

Edited by dxg on Monday 3rd August 13:04

[SXi Lad]

dxg said:

SXi Lad said:

Feel sorry for the people that will be stayin at the hotel opposite hermistingate. They are building a bridge for the trams which goes right pass their windows.

Well, to be fair, it's no closer than the existing Edinburgh-Glasgow mainline.

This is taken from the roof of that hotel:

Edited by dxg on Monday 3rd August 13:02

I perosnaly thought it was close.

[Famous Graham]

Bloody hell.

Construction!

All I see of the works is bloody great holes in the roads.

[DrTre]

Will I use it? Course not, it serves few people and fewer still that weren't already being done so by the, frankly superb, bus service. It's a waste of time, money, effort and resource.

A vanity project for the council (more so than their swanky offices...those ones purpose built instead of re-using existing empty buildings) and pretty much solely done as a knife in the back for the electorate that said no to congestion charging.

I have nothing but contempt for the complete imbeciles that signed it off.

Sadly, my contempt won't stop the years of fk ups, cost rises, inconvenience and corruption that will culminate in a white elephant of a project.

s

Edited by DrTre on Monday 3rd August 14:37

Edited by DrTre on Monday 3rd August 14:37

[dxg]

The image came from this image set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgsimageengineer/sets...

These aren't my photos but they do show some of the complexity of that particular part of the scheme.

[Famous Graham]

DrTre said:

Will I use it? Course not, it serves few people and fewer still that weren't already being done so by the, frankly superb, bus service. It's a waste of time, money, effort and resource.

A vanity project for the council (more so than their swanky offices...those ones purpose built instead of re-using existing empty buildings) and pretty much solely done as a knife in the back for the electorate that said no to congestion charging.

I have nothing but contempt for the complete imbeciles that signed it off.

Sadly, my contempt won't stop the years of fk ups, cost rises, inconvenience and corruption that will culminate in a white elephant of a project.

s

Whilst I agree, I'm too much of a layabout to ignore something if it's a) more or as convenient and b) no more expensive than existing options.

So while there's a bus stop over the road, if the tram stop replaces that, I won't walk the extra 200 yards to the next bus stop out of indignation or anything.

Mind you, also depends where it stops on Princes St, I guess. And I do tend to use the 8,14 & 49 to go over North Bridge. Only get the 22/25 to the station or shopping.

Does anyone know the proposed fares btw - is the same ticket as the buses?

[SXi Lad]

I honestly think its a waste of your money, time and space. Think about it aswell, surely there will be job loses with the buses.

[DrTre]

Famous Graham said:

Whilst I agree, I'm too much of a layabout to ignore something if it's a) more or as convenient and b) no more expensive than existing options.

So while there's a bus stop over the road, if the tram stop replaces that, I won't walk the extra 200 yards to the next bus stop out of indignation or anything.

Mind you, also depends where it stops on Princes St, I guess. And I do tend to use the 8,14 & 49 to go over North Bridge. Only get the 22/25 to the station or shopping.

Does anyone know the proposed fares btw - is the same ticket as the buses?

True, am just not on the route so it's not really an issue for me. And that's the thing, had it been more ambitious and cut across town too it would have been more use. As it is it's just half of nothing, essentially a single bus route, albeit one that goes out to the airport.

I don't know about the pricing but I think I read/heard somewhere about the cost of ALL Lothian Bus services rising substantially to cover the cost.

[ninja-lewis]

Famous Graham said:

Whilst I agree, I'm too much of a layabout to ignore something if it's a) more or as convenient and b) no more expensive than existing options.

So while there's a bus stop over the road, if the tram stop replaces that, I won't walk the extra 200 yards to the next bus stop out of indignation or anything.

Mind you, also depends where it stops on Princes St, I guess. And I do tend to use the 8,14 & 49 to go over North Bridge. Only get the 22/25 to the station or shopping.

Does anyone know the proposed fares btw - is the same ticket as the buses?

There'll only be one stop on Princes Street, between The Mound and Fredrick Street. Otherwise the nearest stops are Harvey Nicks and near Manor Place on Shandwick Place. At the moment, the planned stops on Leith Walk are as about as far away as they can get from the current bus stops. Route Map

I suspect it'll be the same price as a bus - if only because they raise the bus fares to the same level!

Edited by ninja-lewis on Tuesday 4th August 21:24

[KENZ]

I for one would like to see Trams back in most scottish cities. Better than those dirty diesel buses and the bendy ones