Edinburgh Tram developments

[dk1]

Good write up & photo today from www.railway-centre.com/

The new tram system in Edinburgh in now open for business, starting to take fare paying passengers on the last day of May this year. The line, which has taken many years to build and is but a shadow of the original plan for Edinburgh light rapid transport, is an amazing system. The 8.7 mile twin-track 'railway' runs from Edinburgh Airport to York Place close to Edinburgh Waverley station. Between Edinburgh Airport and Haymarket it operates on its own alignment, but from Haymarket to York Place it shares space on the road system, running along Edinburgh Princes Street. The line is operated by a fleet of 27 CAF-built seven-section trams numbered 251-277, these have 80 seats with space for in excess of 250 standees. The trams operate every 10 minutes and when TRC visited the line on 2 July were operating very well, coping with the demands of city traffic. A major bottleneck around the Haymarket end of Princes Street was the only sign of slight delay. The network is a credit to the City and people of Edinburgh, and a visit for any tram enthusiasts is recommended. A £9 day pass given freedom of the line. In the above view, tram No. 264 emerges from St Andrew Street and joins Princes Street heading towards Haymarket and the Airport.

 

[YorkshireRider]

Deleted

 

[chiltern trev]

Tram damaged in crash in Edinburgh’s West End

http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/tram-damaged-in-crash-in-edinburgh-s-west-end-1-3475058

AN accident involving a tram and a bus brought disruption to the line and stopped services beyond Haymarket this morning.


The tram was in collision with a coach at Manor Place, near the Shandwick Place stop, just before 10am.

The vehicle was heading into the city centre when the collision took place.

A spokesman for Transport for Edinburgh said the accident stopped services going beyond Haymarket for around half an hour, but the service has now been fully resumed.

He added: “I can confirm that there was a collision between a bus and a tram. Engineers are assessing the vehicle.”

Eyewitnesses said windows of the tram were smashed but no-one was injured.

 

[Blindtraveler]

and today Baloons got tangled in the knitting causing disruption too!

 

[reb0118]

and today Baboons got tangled in the knitting causing disruption too!

Fixed that for you.

 

[Blindtraveler]

thanks

 

[kylemore]

thanks

Can't get image of escaped Edinburgh Zoo inmates causing chaos swinging about the wires out of my head!

 

[khib70]

Can't get image of escaped Edinburgh Zoo inmates causing chaos swinging about the wires out of my head!

I suppose since they played such a big part in designing and building the system, they're entitled to a wee play on it....

 

[Blindtraveler]

does anyboddy know who was at fault in the tram and coach prang on Sunday? If it was the coach driver Il bet anything he did it on purpose!

 

[WatcherZero]

Allegedly the coach driver forgot how much his vehicle swings out at the rear when making a turn.

 

[Clip]

Ahh good to see a few months after the tram has settled in there hasnt been any more complaints abotu it on here

I shall be partking in a trip on it just after christmas as im up for a couple of days so lookk forward to it

 

[theshillito]

I visited Edinburgh last month and messed about on the trams (though not all the way to the airport. Bit pricy.) One thing I noticed is that they're really quiet. I've seen Manchester Metrolink, Sheffield Supertram, Croydon Tramlink and Midland Metro and you can hear them a mile off. You can't hear Edinburgh Trams until they're almost on top of you (unless they sound their bell, which is a nice change from the parp of Metrolink I have to say).

 

[reb0118]

Ahh, good to see a few months after the tram has settled in there hasn't been any more complaints about it on here

I shall be partaking in a trip on it just after Christmas as I'm up for a couple of days so looking forward to it.

Mind, the Edinburgh plusbus ticket at £3.00 is valid on the trams too. Just not to the Airport though. If coming from the Airport you can use it on the No. 35 service bus, then change onto the trams at the Ingliston P&R or Gogar tram stops.

 

[Blindtraveler]

There may not have been further complaints on here but they continue to entertain with there seamingly limmitless abilitty to bring things to a hault at a moments notice and there have been 3 crashes with other vehicles of late. Id be interested to see passenger numbers

 

[reb0118]

....they continue to entertain with their seemingly limitless ability to bring things to a halt at a moments notice. There have been three crashes with other vehicles of late........

One of those involved a tw*t of a cyclist who literally jumped off the pavement in front of a bus, the bus then swerved into the tram. You can't blame the trams for that now...............

 

[Techniquest]

I commented on the trams in my trip report (Techniquest's Anglo Scottish Bash, find it in the usual place), and I must admit I thought I'd unsubcribed from this thread, it's been so long since I saw this thread crop up!

 

[Blindtraveler]

One of those involved a tw*t of a cyclist who literally jumped off the pavement in front of a bus, the bus then swerved into the tram. You can't blame the trams for that now...............

No, I should have made that clearer I appologise, that cyclist was indeed a bit of a fool

 

[90019]

I don't bother posting about the problems in here anymore, mainly because I can't really be bothered.

The traffic problems haven't really changed much - there's been a slight improvement at the East End, so it doesn't gridlock as often, but they're still holding up the traffic and causing problems the rest of the way along Princes Street.
I don't go along to Haymarket since the 12 changed depot a few months back, so I don't know what it's like along there now.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Id be interested in what its like from a bus drivers POV as from a passenger, resident and regular pedestrian and bus users one the situation as 90019 has said hasnt really changed.

 

[JonathanH]

Mind, the Edinburgh plusbus ticket at £3.00 is valid on the trams too. Just not to the Airport though. If coming from the Airport you can use it on the No. 35 service bus, then change onto the trams at the Ingliston P&R or Gogar tram stops.

I used a plusbus ticket to 'bash' the 11 trams in service on Tuesday. It was rejected by two out of eleven conductors (although I was able to look up the plusbus website to demonstrate it's availability which sufficed).

One was concerned that it was 50p less than the £3.50 day ticket, another expected to see explicit reference to trams (and said they had only ever previously seen a ticket which said +bus&tram)

Trams in use were 252/256/257/258/262/266/267/270/272/273/274

 

[mrmartin]

I'm amazed how poor the service frequencies are and how early it finishes. I thought they had loads of spare trams? Why not use them to strengthen the service frequency?

How busy at the trams? Would the additional capacity be required or not?

 

[thealexweb]

I'm amazed how poor the service frequencies are and how early it finishes. I thought they had loads of spare trams? Why not use them to strengthen the service frequency?

How busy at the trams? Would the additional capacity be required or not?

The trams are running at about 20% capacity overall. This is excluding the spare trams that they have that spend most of their time at the depot. There is no point increasing frequencies anymore when you cannot fill them even at rush hour on some days.

 

[Blindtraveler]

As has been commented on many timesthe full potential of the trams as they stand at present is only realised at times of disuption on say the Kirstorphine and A8 routes meaning that buses including airlink get snarled up. Another time of high usage is the likes of yesturday when the Rugby was on!

 

[Kite159]

As has been commented on many timesthe full potential of the trams as they stand at present is only realised at times of disuption on say the Kirstorphine and A8 routes meaning that buses including airlink get snarled up. Another time of high usage is the likes of yesturday when the Rugby was on!

Tram is a good way to get to/from the rugby are the stop is pretty much outside the stadium.

I would imagine the park & ride sites were quite busy as well

 

[WatcherZero]

130,000 passengers in first week then May-Sep average 90,000 passengers per week, that would put it annually at around 4.7m journeys compared to 2012 forecast mature demand of 5.4m.

 

[khib70]

130,000 passengers in first week then May-Sep average 90,000 passengers per week, that would put it annually at around 4.7m journeys compared to 2012 forecast mature demand of 5.4m.

Purely from observation of trams in the morning and evening peaks, I would very much doubt that they're carrying that many people at the moment. May-Sept includes the four weeks of peak tourist activity through the Festivals so you would expect the average to be high.

The post above which suggests they're running at 20% capacity seems about right to me. There's little affection for them, and as also posted above, they've little or no positive effect on city centre traffic. And apparently very little negative effect on the quicker, more frequent and considerably more comfortable Airlink bus service.

There will be a public enquiry (eventually) into the whole fiasco, and we await the results very keenly. It's been hinted in the press that people might be looking at a fate considerably worse than tea with no biscuits.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Friend of mine has just reported that at 4pm yesturday he rode from airport to haymarket on his own personal tram, the staff outnumbered him 2 to 1!

 

[AngusH]

Speaking only for myself, I've observed a fair number of passengers on most trams I've travelled on (or seen from the outside) and there usually seem to be passengers waiting at the tram stops.

I don't dispute the observations of other posters, we are probably observing at different times.


Comparable for the same journey I find that it's quicker and more comfortable than the equivalent bus.

However I don't regularly use the tram because it doesn't go to the places that I need to travel to.


I'm still hopeful, but I think what's needed is more work on the traffic flow and a good period of problem free running to give people time to forget the construction troubles.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

130,000 passengers in first week then May-Sep average 90,000 passengers per week, that would put it annually at around 4.7m journeys compared to 2012 forecast mature demand of 5.4m.

Shortfall of around 13% if your figures are correct. Not ideal, but probably no worse than the situation for the Sheffield trams during their first couple of years (the Sheffield trams were also massively unpopular locally at the time) - but they turned out to be very successful in the long run.

(Of course that doesn't by itself prove anything either way, just reminds us that it's still very early days yet).

 

[90019]

130,000 passengers in first week then May-Sep average 90,000 passengers per week, that would put it annually at around 4.7m journeys compared to 2012 forecast mature demand of 5.4m.

May to September is prime tourist season, so I'd expect the numbers to be high.
Being lower than expected through that period makes me wonder what the figures are likely to be for October through to March, and I think they could make interesting reading.