I love trams
I love it because it's trams
Soon everyone will be with me
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Tram latest
(2182 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
-
I am
I am
I am
I am
I am
With the tramDo be do
Posted 10 years ago # -
You see, nelly is with me already
Posted 10 years ago # -
Gembo, I always have been :-)
And with the trams, I am taking my son on one the day they open. I think I am more excited than him.
Posted 10 years ago # -
taxpayers outside of Edinburgh see this as yet another way Edinburgh sucked up cash that would have better been spent elsewhere.
How exactly would the SNP minority government have used the cash? Well now they are in majority, we know: motorways and dual carriageways. Oh, and a wee bit of railways, but on a reduced budget from that originally proposed.
Is the Forth Resilience Motorway Crossing best value? Is it actually needed at all? How much is it going to cost?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Thanks nelly
Vote early vote Gembo
I am hoping to catch the 5 am out of the gyle with a folding bike.
Gembo in the gyle with a folding bike. It is Cluedo or as I prefer to call it Tramdo
Posted 10 years ago # -
Forget the dowdy old trams - have you seen the height of my horse!
Posted 10 years ago # -
We're planning a family expedition too :)
Posted 10 years ago # -
If I had billions to spend on transport, I wouldn't order a new bridge until I was sure the old one was going to fall down.
I wouldn't dual the A9 until I'd given the average speed cameras time to make a difference. I'd add a computer system that emailed fines to the drivers before they got home!
I'd dual the Inverness railway route.
I wouldn't build a tram line that went anywhere near the airport. I'd start at ERI and work towards Leith via North Bridge - glass lifts down to Waverley's platforms - down (tram and bikes only) Leith Street.
Posted 10 years ago # -
It's just a big bus that can't turn corners.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Oh, they always say that but it can turn that corner on to princes street just has to go very slowly along the track dongling its bell to avoid killing the populace flinging themselves in front of it in adulation.
There. Are some glass lifts down to the raised walkway through Waverley station from the top of the shopping centre. From there you can take another shorter lift. Plenty big for bikes.
Posted 10 years ago # -
It's just a big bus that can't turn corners.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"There. Are some glass lifts down to the raised walkway through Waverley station"
Not from a tramstop!
Posted 10 years ago # -
The giddiness of this thread appears to have spilled out into the real world;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-27439029
"The baton will board a tram to the city centre, where it will be greeted by a 21-gun salute at Edinburgh Castle to mark the Queen's official birthday."
Posted 10 years ago # -
Is anyone up for a 5am race-the-tram from the Gyle to the city terminus?
Posted 10 years ago # -
How about a CCE night out on the 30th culminating in a wacky races style 5am pursuit of Gembo aboard the first tram? There's no way I'd actually get up in time to get to the Gyle for five.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Is anyone up for a 5am race-the-tram from the Gyle to the city terminus?
If I can get out of bed, aye.Posted 10 years ago # -
chdot, on your wish list, the bridge apart I'd agree with everything on your list.
I wouldn't have built the M80 and M74 extensions either.
But I'd expect the electorate to turf me out on my backside at the next election, and given that transport isn't the only important thing in the world, I'd think it was a shame not to be able to do the other stuff I want on social justice, employment, inequality, renewables...
Politics is the art of getting as much as you can from what the electorate will allow.
So we keep trying to get more people on our side and lobby the politicians, and that's the only way things ever get better.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I think you're right that transport probably isn't that high a priority for a lot of the electorate. One thing I've never quite got about the SNP / current Scottish Government is why "the rest" of the party who aren't Concrete Broon are happy for such big whacks of money being spent on dubious road building and widening schemes. I always imagined the priority for a most of the party is more left-of-centre social / education / health / welfare issues.
I'm sure good use could be done with the motorway budget if it was invested instead in education/social welfare projects. Scotland needs health and education more than it needs wider and faster roads. I'm sure that would chime with the voters.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I'm sure good use could be done with the motorway budget if it was invested instead in education/social welfare projects. Scotland needs health and education more than it needs wider and faster roads. I'm sure that would chime with the voters.
I'm not so sure. Don't misunderestimate* the capacity of the majority of folk to buy into the whole Great Car Economy myth. This is always the way roads projects (and transport in general) are pitched: about 'getting Scotland moving'; 'benefit to the economy'; etc. Active travel, conversely, is not seen as 'transport' but leisure. environment, tree hugging, etc. Let's face is the majority of Scots own cars (Edinburgh/Glasgow the exception here, outwith cities/central belt it's the overwhelming majority). SNP heartland of North East/Tayside is incredibly car culture focussed.
* (c) Dubya
Posted 10 years ago # -
"One thing I've never quite got about the SNP / current Scottish Government is why "the rest" of the party who aren't Concrete Broon are happy for such big whacks of money being spent on dubious road building and widening schemes."
The SNP's a pretty broad church - having Fergus Ewing and Alex Neil in the same leadership is pretty unlikely. The rank-and-file is probably more ordinary than you think, though there's a strong and vocal radical and green strand.
But they want independence first, and given the leadership have won a minority government, made it 4 years and then got a majority government, and now we've got a referendum on indepenence, something many thought would never actually happen, they're not asking too many question about roads.
Road projects are still big and sexy, they get loads of attention and if you deliver them on time and on budget, it wins a huge amount of trust - more than the same money filtered quietly into health, for instance. The new hospital at the Southern General in Glasgow is a ruddy great massive building project costing over £800 million, but it gets little attention compared with motorways.
To be honest I don't think the Scottish Government are as road-crazy as they are sometimes painted, we've seen a lot worse, and they're doing some good things on trains, charging points for electric cars, and of course on renewables there has been an enormous shift. That's all been enough to keep the SNP's green conscience quiet.
If there's a strong No in September though, I'd expect a lot of turmoil in the party.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Google Chic Murray's Long Nosed Woman sketch on youtube
Chic has nothing against long noses, in fact long noses run in his family.
After much merriment the long nosed woman trips up and gets her nose stuck in the tram tracks.
Panic as risky scenario so they pick her up by the legs and push her to the depot
Posted 10 years ago # -
"
Mr Beaton, who has been a taxi driver for 11 years, said: “During peak periods, you can be sitting at the traffic lights and a tram comes one way, then a couple of minutes later there’s another one in the opposite direction and you can easily be sitting there for six or seven minutes with the lights at red."
http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/tram-lights-cause-chaos-at-haymarket-junction-1-3414284
Posted 10 years ago # -
There's nothing for it, they'll just have to pedestrianise the centre of town! ;o)
Their fears are underpinned by a News probe which found some taxis were taking as long as 12 minutes to negotiate a 350-yard length of road.
"A News probe"! Ha! And they said investigative journalism was dead!
Posted 10 years ago # -
Here's a question: under what circumstances would you take a tram? (Other than initial curiosity.)
I've moved to Davidsons Mains, so I can't think of any journey where it would make sense for me.
Before that, I was in Abbeyhill, next to the park. I suppose it would have made some sense if I was going to the Airport. Though, there's an argument that taking a 35 from Abbeymount would be simpler.
Anyone going to find these trams handy?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Living in Corstorphine, I can't see myself ever using one. I *could* get on/off at the Balgreen stop but a 12/26/31 bus would be more convenient in almost every scenario. Similarly the 100 for going to the airport.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Posted 10 years ago #
-
I can walk to the nearest Airlink bus stop, with a case, in about 20 minutes. To catch the tram, I'd either need to get a bus into town first or walk for 30 minutes. And the bus is quicker. No-brainer.
Besides, if I was in a rush to get to the airport, I'd rather be on a broken-down bus than a broken-down tram. A replacement bus would be along quicker and I'd have the option of a taxi anywhere on the route - probably a little trickier getting off the tram if you're stuck on a bridge for example!
Posted 10 years ago # -
When my sister visits she might use it instead of the #100.
Posted 10 years ago # -
The tram is perfect for me to get to the airport.
I'd use it to go across the city centre if I had a LB day ticket.
Posted 10 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
