On 26 Jan, 20:17, Dave A wrote:
alexterrellwrote:

On 25 Jan, 21:07, "Tim Roll-Pickering"
wrote:
martyn dawe wrote:
The trouble with the English, is that they all think of trams as something
out a 50s film, They don't go to places which have modern tram systems ?You mean like Croydon?

Why would someone from Ealing go to Croydon? The have an IKEA on the
North Circular.

In general, lack of perspective seems to be a problem with the town
planners. They probably go on holiday to Spain or Florida, and miss out
seeing what has been done with trams and bikes in Scandinavia,
Netherlands and Germany.

Which town planners are you levelling this at? It's the (borough)
politicians who are opposed to the tram; the (borough) planners are
probably the same ones as when the tram was originally proposed. I also
know that quite a number of borough planners have seen what has been
done with bikes in the Netherlands and Germany!

--
To be honest, I can't speak for Ealing. In my part of Kent, regarding
cycle routes, the county council seems to be fairly forward thinking,
whilst the local town council seems to believe that only cars vote, and
have a policy towards cyclists not far off from shoot to kill.

I remember when the BBC took a town planner to Gronigen and he seemed
to think he was on another planet. Its good to hear some of them are
seeing the Netherlands and Germany.

The most innovative thinking on transport policy comes out of Northern
Europe, which is not where Brits, including town planners, go on
holiday. I suppose if the town planners go for a work visit to the
Netherlands, the newspapers will accuse them of going on a jolly.

Personally, I used to live in an area near the tram route. I'd be
inclined to be in favour having been impressed with tram systems in
German cities.