STATEMENTS RECEIVED – WECA AUDIT COMMITTEE – 16 OCTOBER 2020 1. Dick Daniel – Trams/light rail (Pages 1-13) 2. Dave Redgewell – Transport Issues (Pages 14-15) 3. Christina Biggs – Rail and Transport Issues (Pages 16-18) 4. Andy O’Brien - WECA’s transport thinking and funding strategies (Pages 19-167) STATEMENT 1 – DICK DANIEL I am submitting the BATA reasons for instead investing in a tram / light-rail network for Bristol, Bath and the region. A proposal which will actually get people to switch from cars to trams, as I say in the submission, a switch that has never been demonstrated by buses, we are not against buses, we want buses, we want trams to be the backbone feed and linked to a comprehensive network of bus routes. I have also attached a chart showing the rise in passages numbers of the Manchester tram Metrolink, which has increased the numbers traveling by tram almost every year and now stands at 44.3 million journeys in the 2019/20 financial year. Also a short video of trams in the historic centre of Seville. A more technical document on the 'Technical, sociological and economic reasons why trams are an essential backbone to a bus based transport system’. Best regards Dick Dick Daniel BATA Board Member https://bathtrams.uk 1 BATH AREA TRAMS ASSOCIATION WECA 16th October 2020 The UK now has a growing list of cities and city-regions that has discovered that investing in trams / light-rail pays off. These are following the lead of cities around Europe and the world, including the USA, regions that are at the forefront of taking action on climate change, healthy active citizens and are highly economically productive. Cities like Gent, please see video ‘The Innovative Way Ghent, Belgium Removed Cars From The City:’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEOA_Tcq2XA&t=2s ] which has created low traffic neighbourhoods, high levels of cycling & walking and has an extensive tram network. In the UK the number of cities that have re-introduced trams is growing, Manchester Croydon, Birmingham, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Newcastle. Many of these were put in against opposition only to find they are so successful and popular that there is a clamour for expansion and extension of the routes. This is because trams have been shown to attract motorists out of cars, on Manchester’s tram 30% of off-peek journeys have switched from cars, a switch that has never been demonstrated by buses. We are not against buses, we want buses, we want trams & light-rail to be the backbone, feed and linked to a comprehensive network of bus routes. Why trams 1st Modern trams are sexy and sleek they glide through the city 2nd They carry large numbers of people in style 3rd They are a sign of a modern city confident its future Trams / light-rail create none of the pollution, diesel particulates, tyres dust or brake linings motor vehicles do. They run on electricity, using only 1/5 of the energy a bus does. As the UK moves to all renewable electricity as the government’s is aiming for, and WECA’s says 'Our Joint Local Transport Plan aims to ensure that transport is carbon neutral by 2030’. This is a far more efficient use of this resource. It has been demonstrated all over Britain, that no matter what bus schemes have been tried – Metro Bus, Busways or Bus lanes - buses do not offer the quality of service trams do and which motorists demand. Such as short waiting times of 6 – 10 minutes, good all day and evening reliable services and the ability to cut through traffic. 2 BATH AREA TRAMS ASSOCIATION Trams may seem expensive to put in, £25 million per kilometre approx. But this is a small compared to WECA’s proposals to spend up to £3-5 Billion on roads bases schemes. Putting in this infrastructure will create jobs, can be the basis for re-skilling and shows a confidence in investing in the region's future. The big point is that once the infrastructure is built trams / light-rail are far cheaper to run than buses, have low maintenance costs and the carriages can last 40 years, far longer than a bus. This investment is handsomely repaid over the 40 year life of a tram and the network. Investing in trams / light rail will create jobs, new skills and make the region a more productive modern enterprising region. Re-trammed cities have always experienced an economic boom. Modern trams are the future of a well-connected, dynamic and enterprising region. People like trams, people trust trams, people use trams. Dick Daniel BATA Board Member BATH AREA TRAMS ASSOCIATION 3 Victoria Place, Combe Down, Bath, BA2 5EY Website:- https://bathtrams.uk/ Email:- [email protected] 3 Technical, sociological and economic reasons why trams are an essential backbone to a bus based transport system • Bath like Bristol, (or most British cities) suffers from pollution and congestion, and struggles commercially from lack of footfall caused by the difficulty and cost for persons accessing Bath who, as evidence shows, won’t use buses but will instead go elsewhere or shop online. Staff struggle in on wage-sapping expensive and slow transport. Trams integrated with buses can help solve all these issues in a way that busses alone cannot for reasons explained below. • Trams’ heavier engineering, with no need to cater for bumps in the road or steering, gives a roomier, smoother and more reliable vehicle with desirable style & prestige; multiple larger doors give rapid boarding and consequently short stop times, all very attractive to car drivers who research shows will accept trams but won’t switch to buses. Buses’ intrinsic different engineering and therefore economics means passengers are forced to be crammed close together in bench seats, and suffer long waits between unreliable services out of peak hours. The reasons for these intrinsic differences are explained below. • A tram inflexibility is a proven asset, not a disadvantage as services cannot be subject to constant change and withdrawal, unlike buses. A tram line give businesses confidence to build along the line. Businesses provenly become more profitable as a result. • Typically a 450 passenger tram which arrives at a stop, can de-board and board and be off in 20 secs. This would need to be replaced by 5 – 7 buses, but these cannot all arrive simultaneously and a double-decker can take 2.5 minutes to board and de- board, and so have to be spread out, inevitably limiting a lines capacity and frustrating those at a bus stop who have to wait for "there's another one close behind". • Tram lines have 4 - 5 times the capacity of a bus line and generally for economic reasons operate at 6 minute intervals starting earlier and running later than buses due to different intrinsic economics again making them attractive to drivers. For the same 4 economoic reasons buses cannot offer this frequency.[caption id="attachment_7639" align="alignnone" width="373"] Relative line capacities[/caption] Numerous large doors mean a tram can de-board and de-board in around 20 secs and be on the move - a single double decker can take 2.5 minutes 5 • • Trams’ higher capacity and service frequency makes the total cost per passenger km less than a bus with all costs included. 6 • Full explanation last point below) – running cost, initial capital costs, ongoing maintenance, long-term replacement sinking fund which can be financed over 40 years at low interest rates. This means they can operate frequently even during low traffic hours, something buses cannot afford to do and so have much longer service intervals, discouraging car drivers. Buses only last a few years and have to be financed at much higher rates and have higher operating and maintenance costs per passenger. • Trams can use Green Wave traffic light pre-emption making them faster through traffic without requiring special tram lanes and sharing the same road space as in this tram line in Brussels. It is generally not possible to apply Green Wave to buses, because four or five times as many bus movements would cause too many traffic light interruptions creating chaos • The school run causes 30% of peak hour traffic; but the trams’ 6 minute interval, reliability, roominess and non-bench seating ( children can move around and avoid proximity to strangers) mean parents trust their children to trams even on two- tram cross town school trips to arrive safely and on time. • Buses are ideal as city tram feeders for rural areas and low demand city areas. Trams in Bath and Bristol will assist longer distance commuters from outside the cities because they can transfer to a fast tram rather than ride on a bus stuck in traffic • Buses and cars, including electric, make considerable pollution from exhaust emissions, tyre and road dust. Electric cars and buses save on the exhaust emissions but produce even more tyre and road dust because of their greater weight. Trams produce neither exhaust emissions nor tyre and road dust in the street and have much lower energy consumption and carbon emissions. • Modern tracks are likely to be able to span cellars and be installed one single track at a time overnight without closing roads off and in any case normal tracks have much much lower bearing pressure than buses. • A tram’s inflexibility is an advantage. Once built, tramlines unlike bus routes cannot suddenly close, meaning businesses can have confidence and cluster alongside 7 causing regeneration and enabling traders to thrive and create jobs tram systems have been installed in 28 French cities, many showing this effect.