Steveo, I find not getting a seat is more often due to poor tram layout and few seats than high number of passengers.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Tram latest
(2182 posts)-
Posted 7 years ago #
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"
Edinburgh Trams (@EdinburghTrams)
29/06/2017, 08:45
Results published today reveal @EdinburghTrams' financial performance is not just on track, but is exceeding targetshttp://pic.twitter.com/BOiOkZqfXQ
"
Posted 7 years ago # -
On a tram that ran the lights in priness street first cars ran the tram light then tram ran car lights
Posted 7 years ago # -
Presume got bored waiting!
I saw a westbound tram stopped at Lothian Road for a while yesterday, so clearly not getting 'a clear priority'.
Don't suppose Princes St pedestrian times have improved though.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I'm sure those wiser than me will be able to make sense of this FOI
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/edinburgh_tram_cycle_and_standar#incoming-1002820
Seem a lot of exceptions to the standards.
Posted 7 years ago # -
On a tram that ran the lights in priness street first cars ran the tram light then tram ran car lights
Trams don't obey the regular traffic lights, they have their own set of signals to obey, usually mounted below the usual set on the road running section. They are a "star" of LEDs, which when lit can show the following symbols;
I'm not sure if there is automatic reporting of any signals passed when they shouldn't have been, or indeed if a signal is passed in error that there's any system on the tram to bring it to a stop, like you would get on the railways.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Posted 7 years ago # -
from hankchief's link. I assume this is the cover mentioned in some of Tuylar's earlier posts.
Q6. Was the metal cover installed between the kerb and tracks west of Lothian Road installed by/for Tram and what is the purpose of this cover?
A6. The metal cover was installed during the Tram Project and this cover provides access underground cable required for signalling, communication and detection.
Q7. Why was this located here, was this location approved by the council?
A7. This deemed to be the most suitable location for this chamber to avoid conflict with infrastructure and other underground services. This location was reviewed through the approval processes listed in the answers to the previous questions.
Posted 7 years ago # -
At least this time round, with the previous experience to guide them, they'll have no excuse for not allowing for any "known unknowns" below ground.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"have no excuse for not allowing for any "known unknowns" below ground"
Except that they don't actually know how well the Leith Walk services diversion work was actually done...
Posted 7 years ago # -
Bound to be different...
Posted 7 years ago # -
“Careful cyclists requiring to cross tram lines should do so at as large an angle as possible, at slow speed and when taking care. If that cannot be done a cyclist should dismount,” it is said.
Ridiculous. Do they hear themselves?
Posted 7 years ago # -
If that cannot be done a cyclist should dismount...
...in fact who are these so-called 'cyclists' and what are they doing here exactly? Are they allowed? Can't they just go somewhere else to do their 'cycling'?
Posted 7 years ago # -
“Careful cyclists requiring to cross tram lines should do so at as large an angle as possible, at slow speed and when taking care. If that cannot be done a cyclist should dismount,” it is said.
Diesmount in the middle of the street? While in flowing traffic? Is that how it works?
Posted 7 years ago # -
Following a brief hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh a judge set an eight day hearing in May 2019 for the two cases.
Two years from now? For an incident that happened in 2013?
The legal system in this country is a disgrace.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Two years from now? For an incident that happened in 2013?
The legal system in this country is a disgrace.
+1
Posted 7 years ago # -
From extensive experience and proof in testing the WORST thing you can do when crossing tram tracks at a shallow angle is to slow down. Happy to oblige with a demonstration, should anyone wish to film it.
The forces that turn the front tyre to align with the groove and stop the bike, throwing the rider outwards and over the front can be overpowered if there is sufficient forward momentum, and the rider has a positive control of the steering
(information I have is that the fatal crash occurred as the rider was making a right turn (to go to work at the Western) and perhaps thought this essential because of the minibus following her rather too closely - because the minibus was following closely the driver was unable to stop before running over the bike and victim as they lay on the road) (photos show damage only to the lower nearside front valance of the minibus, consistent with hitting a bike & rider already down on the road)
A study of falls in Toronto (TTC has rather a lot of trams!) found that many falls were the result of the rider having to make a last moment change in their course or speed from that planned to accommodate the failure of other road users to accommodate the presence of the cyclist. My front tyre turn incident (and no I did not fall off - I simply stamped down on the pedals and powered through using the traction available from the rear tyre and just about stayed on the bike) was the result of a bus getting in the way of a clean ride-over the rails and my not wanting to ride into the side of it.
Must find some time to pore over that detail with Hankchief, Kaputnik, Arellcat and others of the engineering bent. What I do know is that the quality of the installation of Edinburgh's street track has been adversely compared against that for Blackpool and Manchester, and even the Phase 1 Nottingham track. by those who know a thing or two about tram track installation.
Sadly we still seem to be messing things up - having recently observed a team recruited from railway track laying having to learn the skills for laying tram track and basically making a pile of mistakes on tasks that should have been properly set up.
Posted 7 years ago # -
CBA to read the article but based on the title and Mr "I'm about to fold" Copy shop man who "hung on in there" for so many years... No. It probably won't.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@steveo
A couple of years ago my wife and I were sitting in the Murrayfield Hotel beer garden with our bikes. A guy made some positive comments about our bikes and we got chatting. It was the guy from the copy shop - he was a nice guy so I didn't ask him how business was.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I see EEN have started using the Facebook comments plug-in, which makes it far more difficult for the trolls and bams to have something to hide behind.
Posted 7 years ago # -
he was a nice guy so I didn't ask him how business was.
Can't blame him for getting free publicity from the chipwrapper but I was getting very tired of hearing how doomed he was.
Posted 7 years ago # -
If these are the actual designs then there's going to be even more tram line hospitalisations/deaths.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Stating the bleeding obvious, I know, but a lot will depend on traffic reduction on the route. If there is no restriction on motor vehicles, then there will need to be a segregated cycleway away from the tracks.
Basing that on observations in Freiburg where there are loads of cyclists (uni town) and loads of tram lines, including points in the middle of narrow roads that cyclists can do little to avoid.
Some examples from Google street view:
Schwabentor
BertoldsbrunnenBig difference is that motor vehicle traffic in the centre of town was very limited, so cyclists have time to adjust their line over the tracks without a bus on their back wheel.
The city achieved that through pedestrianisation of the centre (in 1973!). There were a few cars evident in the centre - taxis and buses allowed in, but no evidence of the perceived divine right of motorists to park as near to their destination as possible that blights Edinburgh's few "pedestrianised" areas. And drivers of delivery vehicles actually seemed to observe their restricted hours of access. Result? A thriving city centre with loads of shops that seemed to be doing plenty of business.
Introduction of a tramline should be a game changer that allows motor vehicle use to be restricted/removed along the route, but CEC has shown itself to be lacking the required backbone to do that so far.
Posted 7 years ago # -
A big opportunity will be during the construction blockade of Leith Walk - such disruption can prove a game-changer - at Waterloo & St Pancras the 6 month closures of onward rail links generated massive increases in cycle use which have been sustained and grown.
Within 2 months of the St Pancras shut down the number of bikes parked overnight (a very tangible measurement) had grown by 1000% (from a very low base) and a matching surge in bikes coming in with the trains was noted.
At Waterloo demand for cycle parking exploded with racks filled to at least 200% of capacity, and a note that 25% of the cycle traffic crossing Blackfriars Bridge was replacing the closed tube line (The Drain), that growth has continued In 2002 when the cycle route to exit 3 opened, there were 30 bike spaces installed but by 2014 the same area had been expanded to over 630 spaces PLUS 126 docking points for the London Hire scheme through which over 500 bikes are hired out every morning.
Here's a letter that I've sent to the Johnstone Press dead tree media
The Leith Walk tram project offers many opportunities, beyond the expanded tram system, especially during the disruption of the construction period.
For the track construction, there is the opportunity to use faster to build and less costly systems, used overseas but not in the UK, and to build as much as possible as a reserved track. Critical crossings could be designed with the proven filled flangeway level crossing system, by using the appropriate rail and track design when the system is built, and it is good to see so much green track in the delivery with its clear credits for the City's carbon footprint for every hectare of green delivered.
One issue will be logistics for deliveries and collections - a clear opportunity for TfE to deliver in the same way that TfL has eventually done, and manage freight movement with a similar awareness as they have for people movement. By way of examples, in Fitzrovia a consolidation of all the individual refuse collection arrangements cut the vehicle movements by 90%. In Cambridge, with 90% of courier delivered packages weighing under 30Kg the Outspoken Cycle Logistics operation has a consolidation/distribution hub on the city boundary where the trucks and vans call and transfer 70% of the city's deliveries to cargo bikes or small electric vehicles.
Or for the Isle of Wight a mainland hub has cut the number of trucks that need to cross on the ferry by 67%, and further reduced emissions by making those trucks low emission models. By way of a local example the fashion store logistics specialist Geodis already delivers an increased efficiency scheme that gets new stock placed on the sales floor overnight and removes the packaging and waste on a single trip, when the only traffic 'congestion' is late revellers picking their way home, minimising the daytime delays in traffic congestion and conflicts of bringing stock in to a store filled with customers.
The 2012 Olympics showed the value of TfL's employing ex military logistics specialists to manage the deliveries to the various sites in the most efficient ways. With the key management of TfE Edinburgh has a team well suited to deliver for this project, and from the lessons learned, to scale this into a reduction city-wide in road space and other resources taken up for deliveries and collections. I'd commend the Freight in the City events as a starting point for those keen to make cost savings and environmental gains in this area.
A further gain might come in a boost to cycle use, especially a public transport bike scheme, given the monitored experience of several other projects which disrupted public transport journeys, and cycling offered a best value choice. The result was that cycle use 'took off' with a meteoric effect - for example a 6 month closure with a hike to get onward trains or buses rapidly delivered 1000% more bikes parked overnight and many others less visible (taken on the trains).
I've already noticed this in Wolverhampton on a similar rebuilding project where rails are being replaced, along with a better system of rail embedding, and whilst motor traffic has to be diverted the route through has been maintained for pedestrian and cycle traffic, with more & more people travelling through by bike, as the idea catches on.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The only thing missing from the pics is the ton of debt that'll be hanging round our necks.
Or are people still pretending this can pay for itself?
As for the segregated cycleway, where will this fantasy take place?
Leith Walk is already congested due to parked cars. Takes an age to get down it by bus - even midmorning.
Add trams, and where do you put your segregated cycle lanes?
Now, I hear you... you're saying it'll be easy - just ban parking.
And, of course, in any sensible city that would be a solution. Vehicles can park on sidestreets.
But this isn't a sensible city. This is Edinburgh, home of the motor car.
Posted 7 years ago #
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