On Tue, 8 Nov 2005 01:34:01 -0000, wrote:

David Bradley said:


My response to your posting would be tailored to whether you are in
favour of the tram or not. Which is it please?


Neither. I'm completely neutral on the subject, since I've never been
to the Uxbridge Road and have no plans for going there in the
foreseeable future.

I'm simply asking out of curiosity because I'm genuinely puzzled by your
claim that congestion there will be solved by more buses but only if
they just happen to be powered by overhead electrical cables.

Most bendybuses can't manoeuvre easily on crowded roads anyway, and my
limited experience of travelling on trolleybuses in Shanghai suggests
that they're even LESS manoeuvrable than regular diesel buses because
swerving at high speed can shake the poles loose from the wires.

So I really am curious why you think they would be a good solution. (I
guess it's just the puzzle of trying to get inside someone's mind and
trying to see what makes him tick, especially when his opinions are so
different from everyone else's.))


I am not suggesting 'more buses' just much superior electrically powered
trolleybuses, to provide a much more attractive environment both for those
inside and outside the vehicles. Congestion in Uxbridge Road corridor won't be
solved by 'more buses', trolleybuses or trams.

Congestion will be reduced (nothing will 'solve' or eliminate it in such a
large, densely populated and generally economically buoyant urban area) by
reducing the NEED for people to travel on Uxbridge Road, by improvements such
as:-

1) Providing a proper high frequency local train service 7 days a week on the
parallel railway line through West Ealing, Hanwell and Southall (there's
currently just a miserable 2 trains per hour 6 days a week).

2) Providing new high quality rail or trolleybus links between places like
Southall and central Greenford and the tube and rail services and other travel
objectives at Northfields, South Ealing, Acton, Brentford etc, along existing
transport corridors where possible such as the Brentford freight rail branch
and the unused or under-used spare tracks on the Piccadilly Line west of Acton
Town; on new routes where none currently exist, such as up the Brent Valley to
Greenford.

3) Providing high quality shelter, seating and real-time service arrival
information at the numerous bus stops in West London which currently lack
these basic amenities.

4) Electrifying as many as possible of the rest of the bus route network in
West London, to provide a proper high quality modern trolleybus network,
instead of just one long thin tramway with just bog standard diesel buses on
the rest.

If you actually knew this area (and therefore what you are talking about) you
would know that most people including bus travellers) don't travel primarily
along Uxbridge Road, and that many of the most serious congestion problems are
on north-south routes and other east/west routes, eg Greenford. No public
transport 'improvement' on Uxbridge Road will do anything about that, and a
tram scheme which pushes other road users off Uxbridge Road is bound to make
conditions worse on these other routes including for numerous bus services.

As for swerving and manoeuvring, nobody should want any public transport
vehicle to swerve. It's a distinct advantage of trolleybuses that they impose
a more disciplined, safe and passenger-friendly driving style than diesel
buses.

Our opinions are not 'so different from everyone else's' - there are many
here who not only don't want this expensive, disruptive and destructive tram
scheme, but DO want a modern trolleybus network.

I believe you are being disingenuous in claiming neutrality - you are
clearly pro-tram and anti-trolley, and no amount of reasoned argument is gonng
to persuade you otherwise.

David Bradley