Sunday30 September 2012
Leeds gets trolleyed
07 September 2007 | By Lydia Stockdale.
After seeing its supertram dreams derailed, Leeds City Council is going back in time for its replacement, tram vs trolleybus. One is ‘super’, the other is more supermarket.
Following its long, frustrating and ultimately disappointing supertram saga and, in a nod to its past, Leeds is now planning to install a trolleybus system. Along with Bradford, Leeds pioneered the use of trolleybuses in the UK, back in 1911.
Although it sounds far less glamorous, the only real difference between trolleybus and supertram is that the former runs on wheels instead of rails. Both methods of transport are powered by overhead cables, but, according to the Department for Transport, a trolleybus system could cost half the amount of money.
Developers have paid section 106 contributions, known unofficially as ‘supertram contributions’, towards a new and improved public transport system in Leeds since 1998. Their money has not been returned. Leeds has to fund 10% towards the £300m trolleybus scheme and it is developers who will once again be asked to fork out.
Councillor Andrew Carter, co-leader of Leeds City Council, warns the property industry that the money ‘can only come as the result of contributions of developers. We want to work in partnership with investors in our city,’ he says. Requests for developers to put their hands in their pockets have received a frosty reception.
Some within Leeds’ property market, however, believe that the trolleybus could end up being more beneficial than supertram, and locals are already backing the trolleybus, giving it a pet name of ‘son of supertram’.
Off the rails
Work began on the Leeds supertram concept in 1993. It ended in 2005, when the government rejected the city’s proposals, saying it was too costly. Almost £40m was spent on the scheme before the Department of Transport cancelled it, insisting that the cost should be no more than £500m and recommending the city seek what it called a ‘bus rapid transit’ alternative.
A massive blow to Leeds, neighbours Manchester and Sheffield’s supertram systems continue to rub salt in its wounds.
On that dark day in November 2005, government consultants suggested 90% of the benefits of a tram system could be delivered by the tram alternative for around half the cost. Ever since, Metro and Leeds City Council have been developing plans for a 20 km bus-based transport network, which follows much the same route as the one proposed for supertram.
In June this year there was a breakthrough when the scheme received the backing of the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly’s Regional Transport Board. It endorsed the first £150m phase of funding for the £300m scheme from the Department for Transport’s £1.01bn regional funding allocation.
A full business case will be submitted to the Department for Transport by mid-2008. Subject to approval, construction work on the scheme could start in 2011/12, 100 years after the first trolleybuses were seen trundling silently round its streets. Leeds’ 21st-century offspring could be completed in phases by 2014/15.
Leeds is an increasingly congested city, and continued inaccessibility of schemes that were built with supertram in mind, such as Clarence Dock, has led to developers becoming cynical.
‘There is a lack of trust between private commercial developers in this city and the city council,’ says Ian Pennington, regional director of HBG Properties. ‘They asked us for money for the supertram project and then didn’t go ahead with it. Contributions weren’t returned.’
Even though the modern system is the great- grandchild of the one that closed in 1928, the name ‘trolleybus’, will still conjure up images of a bygone era. ‘The connotations attached to “trolleybus” is the kind running up and down Blackpool Pleasure Beach,’ says Andy Stoddart, managing director of Above & Beyond architects, which specialise in property infrastructure and transport systems.
Steve Hemingway, associate director at construction and management consultant Turner & Townsend, is project manager of the scheme. He assures that it will be rebranded, ‘once we have more of an understanding of what the technology will be. At the moment, we refer to it as the New Generation Transport project or NGT.’
‘Call the scheme what you want, if perception is what makes people use it, then great,’ says Richard Lewis, development director of Town Centre Securities. Lewis believes the outcome of getting people out of their car and on to environmentally friendly trolleybuses will be worth all the trouble Leeds has been through.
John Brookes, director of planning at DTZ believes that once more, Leeds will be seen as a pioneer for electric buses in the UK. ‘Being the first city in the country to have a trolleybus could be a good thing for Leeds,’ he says.
The system does have benefits over supertram. Unlike a tram, the trolleybus can avoid obstructions en route. It can drop off its overhead wires and drive around anything in its path. David Hoggarth, development director of Metro, believes the scheme holds potential for expansion. ‘It could be a bigger network than the one we are initially proposing,’ he says.
Back on track
The construction of the trolleybus system will also be less disruptive as it will not involve moving as many utilities to install rails.
‘Sheffield did go through a long period of building works and disruption to get the tram in place,’ points out Jeff Pearey, head of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Leeds office.
Its set route means trolleybus has the permanence of a tram. ‘It is generally segregated from other traffic, helping to make them more punctual and reliable,’ says Leeds councillor Carter.
Although the congestion in Leeds is not putting investors off the city yet, this could change once developments such as Land Securities’ and Caddick Developments’
Trinity Leeds scheme are completed.
‘When people do come in to take that accommodation, demands on the roads and public transport will begin to creak,’ says Hemmingway.
One of the aims of trolleybus is to ‘keep investment alive’ in Leeds, says Hemmingway. Further development in the city will depend upon access to a fast and efficient public transport system. ‘In the south of Leeds various schemes went ahead on an understanding that there would be a fast public links,’ he adds, naming Clarence Dock as an example.
The next step on the road to trolleybus is the development of a full business case. This will compare it with a number of options, including hybrid vehicles and more conventional diesel buses.
Metro and the city council hope that the modern electric trolleybus will prevail throughout this process. ‘It is the next best thing to supertram,’ says Hoggarth. ‘And it is in line with the government’s recommendations.’ Hopefully, the story of ‘son of supertram’ will be a happier one for Leeds.
For more on LandSecs and Caddick’s Leeds development plans.
Proposed routes for ‘son of supertram’
Northern route: through Headingley and out to a Park and Ride facility at Bodington.
Southern route: to a Park and Ride at Stourton near the junction of the M1, M621 and A1.
Eastern route: out to Seacroft District Centre bus station through the East and South East Leeds (EASEL) redevelopment area. St James’s Hospital is en route.
There will be new Park and Ride interchanges at Stourton, initially 1,500 spaces, and Bodington, initially 500 spaces.
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