So, Ealing Friends of the Earth explains why we need a tram system.

The proposed West London Tram – Frequently Asked Questions
From Ealing FOE Web site

1. Why do we need a tram system? What’s wrong with the buses?
West London’s population is growing rapidly. By 2016 there will be a projected 45,000 more homes, 86,000 new jobs and many more car owners. This will increase demand for transport. Between now and 2011 road traffic in West London is forecast to increase by 10%, and the demand for public transport along the Uxbridge Road by 20%. With main roads already congested, local roads would bear the brunt of this. Rat running and jams would spread to more roads, for more and more of the day.

Many more buses would be needed to cope with the increased demand. This would add to the congestion on the Uxbridge Road, and also allow less time for north-south traffic to cross it, thus increasing congestion on other roads. The Uxbridge Road would be clogged up with buses, and the surrounding streets would be clogged up with cars. So passengers would complain about the delays, and drivers would complain about the congestion!

Modern trams solve this by carrying more people in fewer vehicles. The Uxbridge Road tram will carry 44+ million passengers a year (compared with 23 million for buses) and take 4+ million car journeys off the road as drivers, at last, feel able to leave their cars at home in favour of a really good, fast, reliable, clean, modern public transport system. This has been shown to happen in cities which have installed modern tram systems.

The tram will replace the 207 and 607 buses. Other bus routes will be altered to interchange better with the tram, so there will be fewer buses on the Uxbridge Road than now.

2. Won’t the tram displace 27,000 cars a day rat-running down residential streets?
This is complete fiction. It won’t – for 3 reasons:

There will be less local traffic, as car drivers switch to the tram. This has been proved to happen with other tram systems.
There will be less through traffic using the Uxbridge Road as drivers change their driving habits or switch to the A40 and the M4.
Residential streets nearby will be protected by restricting access, traffic calming and other types of road engineering. Ealing Council will be responsible for this.
Sophisticated traffic modelling conducted by the consultants Scott Wilson for Transport for London shows that by 2011 the majority of residential streets are predicted to get less traffic with the tram, because overall traffic levels will be reduced, than without it, with unrestrained traffic growth and no attractive public transport alternative. Those streets that are predicted to get increased traffic will be protected by local traffic management schemes implemented by Ealing Council in consultation with local residents.

For further information on the predicted amount of traffic with and without the tram, see our file

TrafficProjections2011ByReduction.htm

3. Where will the traffic on the Uxbridge Road go, then?
Because there will be less space on the Uxbridge Road for car traffic, it will be less attractive for some car journeys. So:

· some journeys will continue to be made on the Uxbridge Road;

· some will switch to the A40 or the M4;

· some will find alternative routes on local distributor roads;

· some will stay close to the Uxbridge Road but use local residential roads which will have traffic management schemes in place to control and possibly restrict the flow of traffic;

· some will transfer to the tram or to other modes such as cycling and walking,

· and some will cease altogether.

4. Won’t the tram make it more difficult for local people to get about?
On the contrary, it will be easier. The tram will be fast and reliable, it will be easier to get to places, and people won’t need to use their cars so much. People will change their travel behaviour, and will take the tram to the places on the tram route, rather than taking their car to places not on the route.

The tram will be especially good for elderly people, people with reduced mobility, disabled people and people with children in buggies. The tram stops have raised platforms with a ramp up to them so are easy to reach. They are monitored by CCTV and have a screen showing arrival times. The gap between the platform and the vehicle is so small you can roll a billiard ball across it. The tram itself has a level floor and moves smoothly without jerky accelerations and decelerations. All of this means that it is easy for wheelchair users, and anyone else with restricted mobility, to get on, to get off and to move around safely inside the vehicle while it is travelling.

This is a great improvement over buses which are difficult to get on and off and drive jerkily. Many people do not use them for these reasons.

Disability groups in Croydon are very enthusiastic about the Croydon Tramlink. After years of being unable to use buses, trains and tubes and having to depend on a car being available, at long last they have public transport that is accessible, reliable, cheap and goes to all the local centres.

Another Croydon finding is how the tram has helped more women to take part-time work and still be in time to pick up their children from school. The speed, predictability and reliability of the tram means they know exactly how long it takes to get to and from work, and so can manage the complex demands of work and family commitments which were impossible with unreliable buses.

5. Aren’t tram tracks dangerous for cyclists?
Not if properly designed. There is recent research from The University of Nottingham which shows that best practice design for tram systems and cyclists is achievable – see the article “Integration of cycling and light rapid transit: realising the potential” by Professor Hugh McLintock and Dave Morris, World Transport Policy & Practice, 9 (3), 2003. We and the Ealing group of the London Cycling Campaign have been lobbying TfL to ensure that this is taken into account.

6. How will the tram help to regenerate Acton, Ealing, West Ealing, Hanwell and Southall?
There is research to show that this is what happens when trams are introduced. A review of light rail/tram schemes in Europe and North America, conducted by Colin Buchanan & Partners in 2003, states: “Mass public transport schemes tend to support strongly centralised (i.e. urban) commercial and retail centres as they allow higher numbers of people to access them than is possible by private transport. In virtually all cases studied, the provision of new light rail schemes helped to maintain or re-establish the city centres’ retail and commercial position.” The centres which benefited most were those switching from road to light rail and where businesses seized the opportunities presented.

Research by the same consultants on the Croydon Tramlink found that, three years after opening, the Tramlink has had a positive impact on most businesses along its route:

· Accessibility has greatly improved for customers and staff, and the image of the whole area has been revitalised.

· New businesses have moved in, and run-down areas have been regenerated.

· Employers have found they can recruit from a wider area, and the tram’s reliability enables staff to get to work on time.

· Feared loss of trade to other shopping centres along the route has not materialised.

The tram will bring over 300,000 more people within 30 minutes public transport travel time of town centres in Acton, Ealing, West Ealing, Hanwell and Southall.

As in other countries, usership studies of the Croydon Tramlink have shown that tram usage reflects the population of the catchment area. This is different from other forms of public transport where usage is skewed: towards younger people on the tube, women and older people on buses, men on trains. This has important implications for businesses along tram routes.

We think shops on and close to the Uxbridge Road will stand to gain very considerably from the greater number and much wider range of people who will pass and have access to them when travelling on the tram, and also from demographic changes as commuters are attracted to live within access of the tram route.

The Croydon research found that unemployment has gone down, and house prices have gone up more along the Tramlink route than in other parts of the borough, and that professionals are moving in, all because of the improved transport links including connections to central London.

It also found that the businesses and centres which had benefited the most were those which had actively marketed themselves in connection with the tram, and taken advantage of being associated with the enhanced, modern image it presents.

7. The old tram was totally inflexible. It was far from the kerb and a danger to pedestrians who had to walk out to it and climb up into it. Will the proposed tram be like that?
The tram would not necessarily be far from the kerb. Trams may run close to the kerb or in the centre of the road, with pedestrian crossing points at each end of the stop. In either case the tram stop is a sloped, raised platform which enables people to walk easily up to tram floor level. There is no question of climbing up to it. In fact ease of access for the mobility impaired is one of the tram system’s great benefits – wheelchair access is no problem. The disability group in Croydon is very enthusiastic that Tramlink is providing properly accessible public transport. Likewise it is much better than buses for people with buggies and shopping.

8. If one tram breaks down, would the whole system immediately stop? Could a broken tram be pulled off the road? Could other trams go round it or overtake it?
The proposal includes a loop at Southall, and possibly others elsewhere, so that the entire network is not brought down. Modern trams are very reliable, so breakdowns are few. They give the driver early warning of breakdown so that action can be taken to avoid disruption. When they do occur they will be inconvenient, but the overall delay will be much less than continual and worsening delays caused by increasing traffic congestion.

9. Will trams block the road to other traffic in those places where they share the road? What would happen under the Iron Bridge or over the River Brent at Hanwell? What would happen in those places where another route is not possible?
At the places where the tram shares with other traffic, the tram gets priority over the other traffic. This is done by the tram tripping traffic lights on its approach, and other traffic is held while the tram passes. This is a key factor in making tram schemes fast, reliable and predictable, which is exactly what people want from a public transport system. No more coming along in threes like buses. A similar system is already in place for buses on the Uxbridge Road just west of the Hanwell Bridge.

10. Will deliveries be disrupted?
Most deliveries should not be disrupted – rear access will be much improved and that will assist many businesses. Transport for London has been studying the access requirements of businesses along the proposed route and is taking these into account in planning.

11. Will those deliveries that require front access block the trams?
There will be space for deliveries – in loading bays as now. Parked vehicles will not be allowed to block trams.

12. So you think the tram proposal has a lot going for it?
Yes, it has. No transport system, public or private, is ideal. But there are many benefits to the proposed Uxbridge Road tram:

· It will take between 4 and 8 million journeys made by car taken off West London’s roads each year.

· It will be huge improvement in public transport speed, reliability and capacity: the tram will have up to 70% more capacity than buses, will reduce journey times by about 25%, will bring 100,000 people within 10 minutes’ walking distance of a tram stop and carry around 50 million passengers a year (compared to 22 million on the present bus services).

· It will provide a catalyst for regenerating town centres in Acton, Ealing, West Ealing, Hanwell and Southall, by bringing over 300,000 more people within 30 minutes public transport travel time of them, providing better access to shops, jobs and services and a wider pool of potential employees for businesses.

· It’s the only solution to allowing residential development of the old British Gas site in Southall without swamping Southall with an additional 5,000 cars.

· It will reduce social exclusion and unemployment by providing better access from deprived areas to shops, jobs and services

· It is guaranteed to be fully accessible to people with mobility difficulties: elderly, disabled, those with small children

· The roads will be safer because there will be less traffic, the traffic on the Uxbridge Road will be managed, and there will be more pedestrian crossing points.

· Air pollution will be reduced: trams generate no local emissions and can be powered from renewable sources. 8500 properties will benefit from reduced air pollution, and 6500 will benefit from reduced noise pollution

13. What will happen if the tram doesn’t go ahead?
The Mayor of London has said that if local people don’t want the tram, he will spend the money elsewhere. This will be a disaster for West London. Car ownership and traffic levels in outer London are rising steadily year on year. If opposition to the tram wins the day, there will be:

· more and more journeys made by car;

· no attractive public transport alternative;

· increasing congestion, pollution and rat running;

· more parking problems;

· a deteriorating, unattractive environment in the borough;

· less regeneration of deprived areas;

· more unemployed and socially-excluded people.

14. Wouldn't a trolley bus be better and more flexible than a tram?
We agree that trolley buses have some attractive features, including the ability to operate on road if necessary. However, a trolley bus just isn't on the cards because it's too risky both technically and politically. Modern tram schemes now have an established track record in England: Manchester, Sheffield, Croydon, the new Nottingham scheme which opened in early 2004, and others are under construction. Trolley buses do not have any track record in England. So, realistically, no politician is going to risk an untried system in London - especially with the success of the Croydon Tramlink in South London becoming more and more evident.

You have only to think of the political capital that could be made of such a guinea pig scheme to realise the force of this argument. So, regrettably, there's simply no point in trying to push for a trolley bus solution, it just won't get anywhere.

15. Where can I find out more?
Transport for London's website, http://www.tfl.gov.uk has a lot of information about the West London tram proposals on the Projects pages. A series of technical information sheets can also be downloaded, giving lots of information about the route, the alignment, the various road layouts and how space for other vehicles is accommodated, the construction phase, access for deliveries, health and safety, environmental assessment and much more.

Another good website to look at is the "Unofficial Croydon Tramlink" site http://www.croydon-tramlink.co.uk, which tracked the Tramlink all the way through from the early days of construction in 1999 to the present day and has information and many photos about Tramlink. It shows how, since it opened, Tramlink has been a great success with local people and the opposition campaign has simply melted away.

July 03, 2004

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Comment on this story on the forum