I note on the Sydney Light Rail Facebook page that our mate John Cowper has won an inspection of the new Citadis tram in a competition. Onya John! Just shows that the pen is mightier is mightier than the sword.

The discussion about comfort vis a vis speed can be brought over to trams too. One-eyed tram enthusiasts often argue that a bus can't be more comfortable than a tram, yet we have customer surveys on Gold Coast that show that the locals find the buses more comfortable than the trams. This is because ride quality isn't the only comfort issue for passengers.

If we compare the same linear amount of bus vs tram where the total capacity is the same (say a 33 metre tram vs two artic buses), the buses offer about 40 extra seats and of all the seats, the buses offer about 50 more forward-facing seats.

If we hop over to Europe, where the tram industry is a bit smarter about these things, and choose a typically unidirectional tram, make it 2650 mm wide, with doors on one side only and the wheels under the articulations rather than in the saloons (basically only Skoda 15T and Siemens ULF nowadays), the gap is closed and the buses only have about 25 more seats and of all the seats, the buses will have only about 20 more forward-facing seats.

Unlike the train situation, standing may be less comfortable in street transport, so the availability of a seat is more attractive and if it's forward-facing, even more so. On top of this, the bus may often be faster. So with CSELR and its lack of seats, it's really critical to get that journey time down as much as possible to maximise the attractiveness of the trams compared to the buses they replace.

The projections of 35-40 minutes end-to-end won't do. It must be brought down to less than 25 minutes, the typical "best practice" time for a journey of this length (8-9 kms) and number of stops. It will be interesting to see the outcome of the tussle with RMS for traffic light priority. The importance of maximising average speed again.

Tony P