Trams for swansea

[anthony263]

hi all

swansea council are looking at bring trams back to swansea,and hopfully they might run them to mumbles where as the ftr cannot because it cant turn around becuase stupid old people had a tantrum about it.


personally i hope it goes ok but someone really needs to shoot those moaning oap's in mumbles.

here is the link:

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/n...Sw2lbb2U14Y1&successModeration=true#community

 

[Techniquest]

I don't see how the ftr vehicles weren't able to turn around, or why the OAPs moaned about it. I know they have a ftr vehicle there (do you know what the status of the fleet is?) which I saw last year very luckily before getting on a HST and I've been looking forward to their launch on services since I first heard of the proposed ftr service when I lived in Swansea way back in 2005.

Petition as mentioned in the link:

http://www.robspeht.net/trams4swansea.htm

I've signed the petition, I would wholly recommend anyone interested in the growth of public transport does too. Swansea really does need trams back, anyone who has suffered the main roads in Swansea will know how congested they can be and the big delays that occur as a result. Especially true down in Mumbles on warm sunny days!

 

[anthony263]

The ftr is due to start running in may, there will be a public conference which i am going to in march about the ftr.

i have seen th road at rush hour i have been stuck on the x1 bus from bridgen a few times.

it is timed to get in at 08:25 but hardly gets in til 08:35 etc by that time i have missed the 08:35 service 11 to mayhill which stops outside the mt pleasant campus.

i agreee there needs to be trams in swansea and for that matter maybe in cardiff as well.

i think the people who want a monorail should open their eyes, it would cost a fortune, u could built at least 2 tram networks for the price of 1 monorail.


the fleet of ftr vehicles are at the presnt time eiether in storage or are in use at luton airport

 

[Techniquest]

On a related query, what do you get on the X1 these days? They shoved some of those new coaches off to London, I seem to recall seeing an Eclipse Gemini down in Swansea once yonks and yonks ago, possibly on an X1.

Also, rather curious as to what you study at SMU. I went there once and my sister also studies there, with my intention to start there in September. As for missing the 11 up, is there not a suitably timed 12 or 13 going up? There used to be an 81 from Kingsway to the Townhill campus, which I had the pleasure of a Vario up the notorious bank once!

Always amazes me how they get buses up those hills, they're rather exhausting to walk up and you can hear the bus engines working at maximum chat all the way up. Even a Euro 3 engine sounds rateable struggling up the incline!

Thanks for the update re: ftr, do you know the date of the ftr conference you're attending in March? I'm rather interested in attending that myself.

As for building a monorail, well that is insane. One only has to look at the failure of the monorail at the Merry Hill shopping centre to know it would never work in reality. Granted, I always looked forward to a ride on it when we went to Merry Hill years ago but it's not a sensible way of solving the problems Swansea has.

 

[anthony263]

first group now run the 81 using a bob liveried dart or even one of their optare solo which was funny when i went on it as it neally died right up the top of the hilll.

as for the x1 it is normally darts , there is even one of the new wright bodied volvo that first cymru have recieved from manchester.

these can also been found on service x2 porthcawl - cardiff and on the swansea park & ride & routes to morriston & blaen-ymaes etc.

not sure if u know about south wales transport operating servuces again.

they mostly operate in neath but also operate service 66 swansea - baglan - port talbot - goytre, u can use first cymru dayrider tickets on this route.

first cymru have had volvo olympan double deckers from bristol which are occasionally found on routes to the swansea/neath valleys.

also the first cymru 81 departs from belle-vue-way not the kingsway

 

[Techniquest]

Ta for that, I've learnt something. And the 81 used to depart from near Pizza Hut on Kingsway, but then that's going back to 2004! I definately waited for it to start there the one time I did it, wish I'd taken photos now!

Didn't know there was an ex-Manc vehicle down in Swansea, I'll have to look out for that. Same for the ex-Bristol Olympians!

Good news too about SWT making a comeback, I still remember when everything was in their colours a while after First took over. I'll have to have a bit of a bash on that next time I'm down!

Seems a lot has been going on since the last time I was travelling on the 110/111/112 and the 4/4A every day! At the time, I was looking forward to never doing it again but I'd drop everything here to be able to commute daily on step-entrance Darts (as I did from Middle Road, Fforestfach into town). The thrash up the hills was brilliant...

 

[anthony263]

There is also the transport preservation group which owns a lot of swt bristol vrts etc . all of their vehciles are stores in a warehouse complece in fabian way just before the fabian way park & ride.

i have some photo's of the new wrights and swt vehciles on my fotopic site, just remeber to click on more collections.

http://anthonyjohn550.photoblog.me.uk/

 

[Techniquest]

Oh right, never heard of them before!

Thanks for the link to your Fotopic images, had a nice trip down Memory Lane with those! I'll have to get my First Cymru photos from last autumn uploaded!

 

[anthony263]

forgot some, advise to u . if u are going to commute anywhere use the bus as i have purchased a first month ticket for 57 pounds which is valid on all of the first cymru network as well as those service operated under contract by different operators such as swt service 66 from swansea - goytre vi aport talbot nad service 14 swansea - pennard which is operated by veolia in the evenings.


most step entrance darts have been withdrawn and 1 has passed into prservation with the swt group.

if u ever drive into swansea from the m4 along fabian way just after u pass the freight yard on your right use shoul dsee a factory unit behind a large wall to your right, u should see a old class 101 dmu carriage there all the swt group vehicles are in there.

i will have to find the leaflet for the conference in march, i did have a copy when i went to a meeting at county hall in cardiff bay on tuesday for a meeting with teh managing director of eurostar.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
as for your question techniquest i am studying transport management and i am in the cadogan building which is the white tower block at the top of the mt pleasant campus.

if u do decided to come to swansea metropolitan univeristy, i must reconmend the transport management course as there are a few modules which are very interesting.

 

[Techniquest]

Mega shame about the step entrance Darts being withdrawn now, happy days for bashing buses back then. Mind, so was autumn 2003 to spring 2004, Olympians (34801 - 34805 at the time) on the morning jobs from Hendrefolian Student Village (seemed to chuck out anything on that sometimes!), again happy days for bus bashing.

I'll try and get down to the SWT preservation society, I'm glad they managed to preserve one! Thanks for letting me know about them.

When my Mum drives to Swansea, we come off the A470, meet the M4 at J45 and drive down into town past The Liberty Stadium then either down by the docks or the train station (depending on whether I'm in the car or not ). Can't recall where Fabian Way is right now, but I'll have to go down and have a look.

I'll have a search online for the ftr conference, might be lucky enough to find it. How did you manage to meet the Eurostar gentleman?

As for studying at SMU, I started a transport management degree but didn't get on with it, was dreadfully boring to me. Assuming I do go back in September, I'm aiming to do Travel and Tourism. Gotta ask, which modules are the interesting ones? My other question on that subject is what do you reckon you'll do with it afterwards?

 

[anthony263]

first point, fabian way is the main road off junction 42 on the m4 just after port atalbot by the briton ferry bridge.

the main modules in transprot management ai liek are transport policy, ttrransport & society & legal enviroment etc.

the conference i went to when i went to was organised by sewta and swith etc and the managing director of eurostar gave us a lecture and had a chat with us, seemed to be a very nice down to earth guy. had a shock when he said how many different signalling equipemnt the eurstars have to use.

he also said to us that he is looking forward to the challenges when eurostar loose their monopoly next year and he also said that if air france's idea of running high speed trains to london from paris goes well, then he woulndt be surpised if other airlines such as BA decided to get on the band wagon if more high speed lines are built in the uk.

also the swt preservation society is not open to the public at the moment but they are planning an open day sometime this spring.

 

[Techniquest]

Thanks, as always, for that. Very useful. Fabian Way rings a bell now, I've been down there on either the 100 or a Dart on the 158. Been over 3 years though for both of my last trips on those so memory is a tad faded.

I too am looking forward to the developments after Eurostar's monopoly is over in 2010, although I suspect the DfT will place some inane rules on anything using the Channel Tunnel or the CTRL. Still, it'll be interesting.

Let us know when you hear about the preservation society's open day, I really fancy going to that!