Federal Labor has thrown its support behind the proposal.
https://twitter.com/CatherineKingMP/status/1456059853361713153
Would be nice if people stop pretending that trackless trams aren’t just a fancy name for dedicated bus lanes.
Which also mean they have the fundamental problem that bus routes have - no investment confidence.
You can build housing or a cafe/convenience around a train station or tram stop, because it’s real infrastructure. It’s very rare that even if a tram route changes that stops become totally disused.
Buses and buses in tram suits are lines on a map, a pained one on the ground at most. They can be moved, removed, have service changed to an hourly pattern, with little notice.
I can get behind the concept of “trackless trams” (or more accurately, bi-articulated buses), but only if they are driven/steered by a human and operate entirely in dedicated rights-of-way.
The problem is that usually these proposals shoehorn some kind of automatic guidance or completely autonomous driving mode which is usually not reliable enough to be launched, and causes each bus to follow such a precise path that the roadway is worn down much quicker than with a manually steered bus.
Any kind of attempt to use automatic steering/autonomous driving technology also usually pushes the cost up to a level approximately the same as just building tram tracks.
I feel like i need to tap the sign on this one
The Victorian Government may as well build tram tracks along Dandenong Road and Wellington Road for the new project and run the trams wire-free, similar to the Light Rail along George Street in Sydney CBD.
The Victorian Government today released the environmental effects statement for stage 1 of Melbourne Suburban Rail Loop, between Cheltenham and Box Hill.
According to Herald Sun, the city-bound lanes of Whitehorse Road at Box Hill Central will be shifted north to make way for the new station. New images also show a huge overpass above Burwood Highway is planned to link a new SRL station with Deakin University, while a massive concourse will be built next to the new Glen Waverley station.
Herald Sun reports a group of residents in Melbourne’s east has launched an appeal at the Victorian Supreme Court to stop the construction of a combined train station which will replace the existing Surrey Hills and Mont Albert stations on the Belgrave/Lilydale line. The Friends of Lorne Parade Reserve claimed Planning Minister Richard Wynne’s decision to approve the Surrey Hills and Mont Albert level crossing removal project without community consultation was in breach of his obligations. The government said 70% of respondents of a survey said a super station should be built.
The whole “trains too wide for the tunnels” story is a beat-up - they were ordered at that width on purpose, there was always an intention to do work in the tunnels in question to allow the trains.
The Mariyung trains are now closer in width to the rest of the fleet than the current V set that serves the Blue Mountains
It’s also a story that gets used practically every single time any public transport project that involves tunnels in this country is delayed. I’ve heard it at least 3 times in the last 15 years in Perth alone!
[Perth]
Information of the train replacement bus service planned for the festive season closure of the Mandurah Line has been revealed with neighboring PCEC used as a temporary bus station, I wonder if Transperth will hire other private companies to cater with the extra demand as in the case for the Armadle/Thornlie Line closures back in 2016.
Transport bosses in the British city of Birmingham have announced the suspension of all tram services “until further notice” after similar cracks to those found in Sydney were discovered on its carriages.
Sydney and Birmingham use the same Spanish made trams from manufacturer CAF.
According to the website of tram operator West Midlands Metro, the suspension of tram services began on the weekend and is scheduled for a month.
Those terrible inaccessible trams should be binned, not refurbished. Any public transport vehicle you need to go up two steps to board has no place in the fleet.
It’s bad enough the stops have made such slow progress to level boarding - but having vehicles that cannot be used with those stops is even worse.
I guess you’re not a fan of the W’s on the loop then?
As a tourist thing not really intended to be ‘transport’ it’s fine, but ideally it’d have a conductor on board and some kind of ramp or lift system.
At least for the city circle there’s plenty of alternatives, while some tram lines exclusively run inaccessible trams, and don’t have parallel bus or train options.
The A and B class ride much better than the C and D’s though! Haven’t been on enough E’s to compare yet but I imagine like anything low floor it doesn’t absorb the bumps and sways as much as higher riding units.