Thursday 7 August 2008

Trams - another cost

In the midst of all the chaos caused by the tram works, there's a story or two which needs to be highlighted.

Lothian Buses, the publicly-owned company which runs the best bus service in the country has warned that its previous growth in passenger numbers (which had been quite stunning) has stalled.

Passenger numbers on the services actually owned by the people of Edinburgh have actually dropped by 5% this year - in spite of the cost of fuel encouraging more people onto buses elsewhere in the country.

The cause - tramworks.

As a result, Lothian Buses will have to cut services to stave off losses. What a result for trams - far from encouraging more people onto public transport, they're putting people off.

This on top of the disastrous effects on businesses along the tram routes so far should be a serious warning about what is likely to happen to Edinburgh over the next three years as this white elephant of a vanity project continues to come off the rails.
I predict more bad tram news coming soon.

1 comment:

McChatterer said...

The 22 bus replacement tram is a bad idea - but, not being faced with redundancy/bankruptcy as a result of working on disrupted Leith Walk, mebbe there's a bright side?

Disruption might get so bad it encourages punters off the bus and onto their bikes. There's no quicker way of getting about a wee town like Edinburgh than cycling. (Unless you're the poor sod pedalling from Leith to Liberton on a regular basis).

Of course, once punters taste two-wheeled freedom, they'll no be riding the new tram.

They'll just be asking for the roads to be coned off again to be coloured green.