The trams themselves are not slow, they can move at similar speeds to buses in similar circumstances.
The actual journey time end to end is longer in the trams due to the need to get from the Elizabeth St alignment of the buses across to George St, and then endure the "pedestrian protecting" speed limits along that section (buses that previously used George St wouldn't have been much quicker, if at all at busy times).
Traffic light priority is still "hit and miss". Journey times can vary by up to 5 minutes. The slow speeds in George St probably allow better coordination with cross traffic and reduce the waiting times. Some stops have dedicated pedestrian crossings and it is not uncommon for the tram to be held while the passengers who have just got off, cross in front of it.
Brian, on the L3.
On Wednesday, 28 April 2021, 5:53:39 pm AEST, Robert Taaffe rtaaffe9@...> wrote:

Surely we are not talking about apples and apples. Buses only stop on request while the trams halt at all stops. 
I travelled on the Kingsford service at Easter and it thought it scooted along quite well, certainly better than my journey on the Randwick line pre virus. The trams were always relatively well patronised and there was none of the excessive delays that featured in my previous journeys. From memory the longest dwell for traffic lights was only momentarily, in most cases the traffic lights approach cleared. There did not appear to have been any tram signals against us.
Bob - more than happy with the journey.

On Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 3:15:14 PM UTC+10 TP wrote:

It's tabled at 33-34 minutes now, not quite as quick as the buses but a lot better than where it started out. It could do with at least another five minutes off, as could IWLR. This sort of difference doesn't really matter if you're just travelling over a segment of the line (like Circular Quay to Central, or Central to UNSW). It's still an issue if you're transferring to and from a bus at the outer ends and going right into the city.
Tony P

On Wednesday, 28 April 2021 at 14:05:10 UTC+10mcloug...@... wrote:

I see the party that got rid of the trams and trenchantly opposed their return remains consistently sarcastic:
> Opposition transport spokesman Chris Minns said he was pleased to see more patronage on the light rail. “The good news is you’ll always get a seat, the bad news is it might be quicker to walk,” he said.

Can someone local tell me if they have managed to speed up the service to anything approaching bus speeds yet?  When Judith rode it in March last year just before fleeing back to NZ while she still could, she said it appeared no faster than walking.

The Bubble and Covid willing,  we will be back over in June and I plan to sample these lines at long last.
--
david mcloughlin, New Zealand
"Progress is not achieved by preachers and guardians of morality but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels and skeptics." -- Stephen Fry.