Kerbside running in Europe can be a real treat when in shopping areas the trams run against a crowded gutter while the centre of the road is occupied entirely by parked vehicles! Such was the situation at Porto’s Matsohinos terminus. Now rebuilt for Light Rail, tracks are in the more sensible centre of the road.
As for the University quandary in Sydney, firstly it should be noted that the Gold Coast tram line, as discussed a few days ago, swings from centre to side of the road just before the Broadbeach South terminus. It crosses northbound traffic on the Gold Coast Highway, probably busier than any street around the Uni terminus. The tram terminus platform is flanked by bus stops on both sides. There is no bedlam here.
As for the terminus under discussion, I have not been following this matter all that closely but I gather that there is a middle of the road island platform served by a scissors crossover.
If so, this is the ideal track layout although of course this would have been much better located on the footpath.
IF! the line is operated wisely and efficiently, especially in the afternoon hometime rush, there will always be a tram on recovery time loading at the terminus, departing around the time the next tram arrives. Thus in the absence of an unmanageable influx of passengers, there should be no crush loads on the platform at any time. This is the arrangement at Helensvale tram/train interchange.
Also the beauty of an island platform at a terminus is that should a tram be missed by moment, there is no scramble across tracks to the other platform.
Regards,
On 21 Apr 2019, at 8:14 am, Prescott lenkaprescott@...> wrote:
Kerbside running is used extensively, particularly in Europe, and we also have a long tradition of it in Sydney right up to the new CSELR which has extensive kerbside running - except, unfortunately, in one place where it's really needed. This is the University of NSW stop in Anzac Pde where the original Sydney City Council design team proposed a kerbside stop at this massively busy location for exactly the same reason as for those Melbourne railway stations - the large crowd movements and the need for holding and dispersal areas to accommodate crowds who won't all fit on the platform straight away (in effect, a platform that blends into the sidewalk/concourse plaza to create a larger holding/dispersal area).
In the Sydney CSELR case, the roads people vetoed a kerbside stop at UNSW because they considered it would be too disruptive to road traffic (swinging over from the centre of the road and back again), but there was another perfectly viable solution - having the line kerbside all the way from Kensington Jct to Kingsford. However, by the time this came up, the project was in the hands of TfNSW and its American consultants and any opportunity for slightly radical or lateral thinking went out the window.
Even worse, now that the stop is back in the centre of the road, it isn't even getting higher-capacity and safer side platforms - it's getting a centre island. Sydney suffers as much as Melbourne from the "cars first" mentality and trams and their passengers pay a big price for that.
Tony P
> On Saturday, 20 April 2019 16:22:11 UTC+10, William Jackson wrote:
> Is there any scope anywhere, such as the “Swanston Walk” for side of road running? Does it happen, and successfully, anywhere in the world? I look at the pathetic island stop outside Flinders Street and constantly think how much better it could be. It’s a nightmare with people coming and going and trying to cross the road, disorganised chaos.
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> William – amateur planner
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