All correct Mal.

Those 5 second T lights are miles better than the nothing Adelaide has in comparison, but if confronted with crossing a very busy road, the wait for the normal next phase, and the chance to insert a T light, can be quite long..

It is certainly good to see that intersections on lines I drove now have those 5 second T lights which they did not have before.

The transponders did other things besides simply slip in T lights between phases. At some places like the Collins St and Bourke St left turn into Spencer St the lights needed a working transponder on the tram to ever get a T light.

More interestingly, out in the suburbs where trams and cars share the same roadway, a tram approaching traffic lights in some places bring up a green right turn arrow as well when the lights would normally turn green anyway. This clears any right turning cars so the tram is not delayed by them. If two trams approached the lights from opposite directions at the same time I don't know if the peak flow tram got priority over the other tram.

Additionally in other places when a tram had to stop for passengers when the green light had been on for some time, the transponder would hold the light green for a limited time.

If this function is still in use, if you are ever on a tram and marvel that as soon as the tram moved off, the lights went to amber, that is almost certainly why.

I remember this happening so consistently on Lygon St heading north in the afternoon peak that there is no way that amber light waiting for the tram to move off was a coincidence.

As for those taxis in Collins St, nothing has changed in 30 years although often it was somebody double parking outside an office building west of Elizabeth St waiting for their lover to come out from work. This forced all traffic onto the tramline, and too bad if a tram was coming.

Funnily, Bourke St did not have this problem that I remember.

Regards,

> On 18 Aug 2017, at 1:08 pm, Mal Rowemal.rowe@... [TramsDownUnder] TramsDownUnder@...> wrote:

>

>> On 18/08/2017 12:52 PM, Richard Youltressteleg@... [TramsDownUnder] wrote:

>>

>> I should have made it clear that the trams already have transponders and have been thus equipped for at least 30 years.

>>

>> Programming traffic lights to actually respond to the radio signals emitted is the failure.

>>

> Thanks for that clarification Richard.

>

> While there are not any locations I can think of where the trams take absolute priority - i.e. change the lights on demand, there are very many places where an extra 'T light' cycle is slipped into the sequence to get a tram through the intersection.

>

> Only regular tram drivers who know the route or very observant travellers would realise this is happening.

>

> As for Collins St - a major cause of congestion at the eastern end is taxis circling around waiting to get into a rank so they can pick up a good fare from the government end of town.

>

> Mal Rowe - watcher

>

>