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Things TfL won't tell about the tram

SES highlights what's missing from consultation paper.


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The pressure group Save Ealing's Streets has highlighted five vital facts that are missing from Transport for London's tram consultation document.

If the tram goes ahead:
· Traffic on the Uxbridge Road will be restricted to 500 vehicles an hour in each direction.
· Shops and businesses affected during the construction period will not get compensation.
· In areas where the Uxbridge Road is closed, pollution will increase on other roads affected by rat-running.
· At 40 metres long the tram will be the length of four double-decker buses. It is a light rail system.
· TfL's business case for the tram relies on an increase of over 80 per cent in passenger numbers.

"This is information the public needs to know before it can decide whether it wants the tram," says Julie Willford of SES. "It's essential that the people of West London are given all the facts about the scheme.

"We believe the scheme will lead to increased congestion on many roads and we are concerned that small businesses will suffer. We don't think this is the right scheme for West London and we urge people to say no when they fill in their consultation questionnaire."
  
"Ken's Tram Consultation Document Snubs Polish Community"

Hammersmith & Fulham Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman, Greg Hands, has condemned the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, for missing out Polish as an available language for his West London Tram consultation.

The document, which has been circulated to hundreds of thousands of residents living in the area of the proposed tram line, from Hammersmith to Shepherd's Bush to Ealing and all the way out to Uxbridge, offers language options including Arabic, Gujarati, Greek and Hindi, but no Polish.

Greg explained: "The Polish community in Hammersmith & Fulham and Ealing is particularly significant and I find it astonishing that the Mayor would not offer Polish as a language on such an important consultation.

"The Polish community in Hammersmith is particularly significant, being the home to the Polish Cultural Centre - POSK - in King Street."

Cllr Hands, who speaks Polish himself, and has conducted surgeries with Polish residents in Polish, believes this omission by Ken Livingstone to be a snub on all Poles living in West London.


If the tram goes ahead most passengers will be standing as they travel,
says the pressure group Save Ealing's Streets.


As Transport for London continues its public consultation on the £648 million scheme, SES points out that although each tram will carry 300 passengers it will only have about 80 seats. This will not suit elderly people, or those with young children, the pressure group believes.

"How can this be an improvement on the bus service?" asks Julie Willford of SES. "On the existing 207 and 607 services most passengers get a seat. These bus services will disappear if the tram is built and instead most passengers will have to stand.

"Add to that the fact that there will be fewer tram stops than bus stops - 41 instead of 72 between Uxbridge and Shepherd's Bush - and it's obvious that the tram isn't going to suit the elderly, people with pushchairs and anyone else who's carrying shopping. It will mean longer walks, and discomfort."

TfL has stated that between 26 and 31 per cent of the tram capacity will be seating. The rest will be standing room only.

"This is the kind of issue people need to think about when they fill in their consultation questionnaires," says Ms Willford. "We urge people to say no to the tram - if the tram scheme doesn't work, it can't be reversed."

Save Ealing Streets Web site



July 18, 2004

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