Re: Slow Melbourne trams

----- Original Message -----

From: Herman R. Silbiger

To: [email protected]

Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 12:34 PM

Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Slow Melbourne trams

These are all common practice in Europe.

southernhealth2001 wrote:
>
> Below is an interesting article from yesterday's Herald-Sun.
>
> Brian Weedon
>
> Our trams slowest in world
>
> 19may02
>
> TRAM priority over cars, a new system of one-way streets and roadside
> parking bans are being mooted as part of a Melbourne transport
> revolution.
>
> Melbourne's tram system has become one of the slowest in the world
> because of years of neglect, Yarra Trams chief, Hubert Guyot, said
> yesterday.
> Mr Guyot called on the State Government and other key decision-makers
> to show "courage" to redesign Melbourne's roads and reverse the "car
> culture" that he said threatened trams and the city's long-term
> sustainability.
>
> The total separation of trams and motor vehicles was essential
> wherever conceivably possible, Mr Guyot said.
>
> Where that was not an option, busy trams must be given priority, he
> said and a review of the whole network was needed with a range of
> potential changes considered on a case-by-case basis.
>
> Options include:
>
> THE separation of cars and trams with physical barriers on
> Melbourne's wider streets.
>
> ONE-WAY systems in some streets to reduce conflict between cars and
> trams.
>
> PARKING BANS along problem stretches of four-lane roads, to allow
> private vehicles uninterrupted travel in the outside lanes and give
> trams exclusive use of inside lanes.
>
> TOTAL priority for busy trams at intersections, through hi-tech
> traffic light systems, with maximum waiting times of about 20
> seconds.
>
> INTERSECTION redesigns wherever possible to ensure trams' priority,
> including right-turn bans or longer right-turn lanes.
>
> MOVING many tram stops back from intersections, to speed up the
> service.
>
> A REVIEW of all stops, based on demand, with unnecessary stops, very
> close to others, scrapped.
>
> HIGHER-PROFILE, safer platform-style stops, with traffic signals or
> new road markings to make sure cars stop.
>
> STRICTER policing of clearways.
>
> "I was disappointed to find in Melbourne the public transport system
> has been a little bit neglected and there is a car culture," said Mr
> Guyot, who has worked for 20 years building and running public
> transport systems across Europe. "Tram users have been treated like
> second-class citizens.
>
> "The number of cars in Melbourne is increasing by more than 2 per
> cent a year. There is a limit. If you think of the long-term future
> you have to have a balance between the usage of cars and that of
> public transport.
>
> "But we can not create a shift to public transport if it takes three
> times longer to travel from A to B in Melbourne by tram compared to
> car.
>
> "The average speed of a car is close to 40km/h. When the car is along
> a tram route the average is 25km/h.
>
> "The average speed of the passenger in the tram is 14km/h. In the
> suburbs it is close to 17km/h and in the city it is 9km/h. That is
> very slow."
>
> Mr Guyot said in most tramway systems in the world, it was much
> higher. In all the large cities in the world with trams, such as
> Berlin, St Petersburg and Brussels, the average speed was 20-25km/h.
>
> "We have to redesign the share of the road between the tram and the
> car," he said. "At the moment one tram is considered as one vehicle
> and one car is considered as one vehicle.
>
> "I'm sorry, but one tram is up to 200 people and one car is up to
> four people -- but it is usually less than two.
>
> "We have to give absolute priority to trams with 100 to 200 people.
> This is what exists everywhere in the world, but there's no priority
> here in Melbourne.
>
> "I'm not here to impose solutions. I just raise the issue and say
> these are some solutions."
>
> As an example, Mr Guyot said a lot of streets in cities across the
> world, including Sydney, were one-way.
>
> "Why don't we implement such solutions in Melbourne where there are
> trams and cars?" he asked.
>
> "Why is it so important to have cars everywhere in Melbourne?
>
> "Why is it so important parking on all the streets? This is terrible.
> We can find off-street parking. The roads were not built for parking,
> I'm sorry."
>
> Yarra Trams' 36 new low-floor vehicles, to make up nearly a fifth of
> its fleet will help enhance passenger comfort and reduce loading
> times, he said.
>
>

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