Do these people have to pass a driving test and hold a full UK license in order to drive the Sheffield trams? Had one behind me in Hillsborough and he didn’t seem to understand that unless the exit is clear, then you shouldn’t enter through traffic lights. He gave me a couple of blasts of his horn an a dirty look :-o

they do have to hold a full UK driving license and have to take a competence test on driving a tram.(I know someone who used to drive them).
As for the traffic light thing,they have a separate light signal,the five light line things on top of our lights.

As for the brains they hold,my mate says they hold,my mate says they are a bunch of numptys

didnt scratch the clio did it??

Originally posted by uncleheed

As for the traffic light thing,they have a separate light signal,the five light line things on top of our lights.



Yeah, but we have to obay our rules. If a tram has right of way through a junction, but it's stuck behind a car which doesnt, then it's gotta wait hasnt it.


Tram drivers seem oblivious to their surroundings most of the time. As soon as they get held up for more than a couple of seconds, they're on that horn. Doesnt matter that they can often hold 200 cars up and cause huge disruption just by being a bit too eager. Happens all the time. A quiet area can quickly become badly congested because a tram had gone out into a junction it cant get out of. They seem to see the lights and set off, without being aware that they are trailing 200ft of tram behind them.

I do, however, quite like the tram...

at the end of the day, they were here first and us car users should be ever mindful that its their road!

they are numpties without a doubt and the pittance they get paid just underlines that fact - you pay peanuts you get monkeys

I like to travel on the tram too :) From my own experience going through junctions while the exit isnt clear courses all approach lanes to be block , and if one emergency vehicle was on approach then it can add many precious minutes to its journey. The times when I have blocked a junction maybe cos I miss understood the room available or anticipated traffic bunching together and it didnt , then I feel other road users have the right to give me the finger or blast there horns, but not cos I wont enter a blocked junction.

Just to stick up for tram drivers for a minute.

The other night I was on a tram which couldn't move forward because some idiot of a minicab driver had parked his car with the back end sticking out onto the tram track. the driver had to go into a snooker club and fetch him out to move his car.

Even i can park better than that and I am only a learner driver.

Tram drivers are a crazy species!

Saw a crash a while ago when waiting at west st tram stop! The tram rammed a bus in front of it, bus into car in front, car into the car it front of that! Pretty impresive

Dont think n e one was hurt, but evidence thats tram drivers are in a world of their own!

The tram is far heavier than a car or lorry and runs on metal rails, which have a low friction rating, causing them to take longer to brake than a tyred vehicle... I would imagine most car drivers fail to allow for the extra weight/slow speed/lack of turning options a tram has.

For example, if a car brakes suddenly in front of a tram, the tram will need at least twice the braking distance to stop in time... just a thought...

Originally posted by Internetowl
at the end of the day, they were here first and us car users should be ever mindful that its their road!

they are numpties without a doubt and the pittance they get paid just underlines that fact - you pay peanuts you get monkeys

Well said!! Pay peanuts get monkeys is one of the truest adages I've ever come across!!

As a cyclist I would agree that the tram drivers are far too impatient. There is a lack of segregation on the roads in Sheffield and apart from the danger that the tracks themselves pose (almost exactly the same width as the bike tyres) tram drivers seem to expect you to stop and get out of their way.
Once on principle I cycled home on the road and refused to get on the pavement when the tram came up behind me, and I was hooted at from before Langsett Rd stop to after Bamforth St. I actually have stopped cycling to work because I'm too scared of the trams now. (After a slip on the tracks in the rain right in the middle of hillsborough crossroads). The only problem with that is now I have to use the tram for work!

Originally posted by Agent Dan
For example, if a car brakes suddenly in front of a tram, the tram will need at least twice the braking distance to stop in time... just a thought...

Yep. Exactly why the tram driver needs to accomodate for this fact by leaving a bigger gap between him and the vehicle infront...

Isn't there a cycle path along most of Infirmary Road?

If they hoot at cyclists/pedestrians/cars in the way it should probably be seen as a "I'm here, weigh a lot more than you and can't stop as quick" type warning rather than a sign of aggression.

Personally, I think they do a great job and wonder if perhaps most of the drivers who complain about them shouldn't get out of their one-person occupied vehicles and use the tram instead. Certainly would make the service run better in Hillsborough where drivers going through the "tram-only" section of road cause a 10 minute tram journey to take 17 minutes! And it's the same cars that do it day in, day out......

As a further defence, my girlfriend's just got in. She's just got off the tram where the staff have had to deal with a man having a fit and vomiting. That's a hard enough situation for anyone to have to deal with, without the extra hassle people getting in their way!

Originally posted by hotphil
That's a hard enough situation for anyone to have to deal with, without the extra hassle people getting in their way!
Umm yea Phil , what was I thinking driving along a road I pay tax to use obeying the law when there was a tram behind me.

Originally posted by jackthedog
Originally posted by uncleheed

As for the traffic light thing,they have a separate light signal,the five light line things on top of our lights.


Yeah, but we have to obay our rules. If a tram has right of way through a junction, but it's stuck behind a car which doesnt, then it's gotta wait hasnt it.


Tram drivers seem oblivious to their surroundings most of the time. As soon as they get held up for more than a couple of seconds, they're on that horn. Doesnt matter that they can often hold 200 cars up and cause huge disruption just by being a bit too eager. Happens all the time. A quiet area can quickly become badly congested because a tram had gone out into a junction it cant get out of. They seem to see the lights and set off, without being aware that they are trailing 200ft of tram behind them.

I do, however, quite like the tram...

The thing is, if the pi-llocks who park, obstructing the road where the tram runs gave half-an-ounce of thought to the blockage they were causing....

At Manor Top, the tram is regularly held up by the dead-head brigade who park up, ignoring the "Urban Clearway; no parking at any time" signs.

I wish I could use a (20lb lump-) hammer on the skulls of some of these idiots...

oh, to be able to drum it into them, thus:-

"the trams run on a fixed track... (thud, thud, thud!)
if you park on a clearway (thud, thud, thud!)
the tram cannot leave the track and swerve (thuddity, thudding- thud!)
if you are obstructing, (thud! thud!)
therefore (thud!)
the tram (thud, thud!)
has to stay (thud thud!)
where it is (thudding-thud!)
till you get your D*-head brain into gear and shift your stupid Arse out of the way!!!"

(thuddity, thud, thud, etcetera, *repeat blows until message hits home:- i assume that you get the picture, dear reader...?)

but, "Can pork be educated?", I ask myself! :wink:

PT

Originally posted by Plain Talker
The thing is, if the pi-llocks who park, obstructing the road where the tram runs gave half-an-ounce of thought to the blockage they were causing....


Exactly the same happens very frequently as the Halfway tram leaves the Gleadless Townend stop and turns into Gleadless Road. There are some parking places outside the shops, which people invariably don't pull very tightly into, and the tram then has to stop still across half of the dual carriageway.

Was amusing once, probably a couple of years ago, when the tram tried squeezing past a car, but didn't clear it.. managed to go smash with the car's wingmirror :-)

Originally posted by hotphil
Certainly would make the service run better in Hillsborough where drivers going through the "tram-only" section of road cause a 10 minute tram journey to take 17 minutes! And it's the same cars that do it day in, day out......

I never do it, but I can understand why drivers do.

If you want to go straight through Hillsborough up Middlewood Road, but you take the left turn as the sign instructs you to do instead of going through the tram only bit, you find that the route through isn't signposted. So a simple 'straight across the junction' maneuver becomes a nightmare as you try and work out where the road has taken you. :loopy:

You eventually come out onto a main road in a completely different part of Hillsborough from where you wanted to go, and all the side roads are one-way only making it really difficult to get your bearings and turn around to go back to Middlewood Road.

Originally posted by Ravenger

If you want to go straight through Hillsborough up Middlewood Road, but you take the left turn as the sign instructs you to do instead of going through the tram only bit, you find that the route through isn't signposted. So a simple 'straight across the junction' maneuver becomes a nightmare as you try and work out where the road has taken you. :loopy:

You eventually come out onto a main road in a completely different part of Hillsborough from where you wanted to go, and all the side roads are one-way only making it really difficult to get your bearings and turn around to go back to Middlewood Road.

Hillsborough is a joke when it comes to traffic management.
To avoid breaking the law by driving straight through the 'tram gate' at Hillsborough corner, you have to turn down Taplin or Hillsborough Place, turn on to Holme Lane, Cross directly over Hillsborough corner at 9o degrees to where you wnat to go, drive all the way down to the roundabout at Regent Court flats, go round that and back up Bradfield Road to make a left at Hillsborough corner again. Absolutely laughable.

I particularly like the way the planners have made a 30 second journey from Lower Wakley to Hillsborough corner take about 10 minutes by making all the traffic rat-run around the tiny side streets.

Couldnt imagine a more ridiculous situation.

Also love the way trams ALWAYS have priority at traffic lights. Waiting around the Leppings Lane/Parkside Road area can be pathetic. If two trams pass through the junction, the cars waiting at the lights can miss about 4 light cylces, therefore the traffic backs up for ages.

And often, there'll be little more than four or five people on the tram, making their way to Middlewood.

Originally posted by Agent Dan
The tram is far heavier than a car or lorry and runs on metal rails, which have a low friction rating, causing them to take longer to brake than a tyred vehicle... I would imagine most car drivers fail to allow for the extra weight/slow speed/lack of turning options a tram has.

For example, if a car brakes suddenly in front of a tram, the tram will need at least twice the braking distance to stop in time... just a thought...

Don't they use some kind of funky electromagnetic thing to help them slow down? Maybe I dreamt that. But they seem to be able to stop pretty sharpish when they need to. I remember one time at the junction of Leopold street some van driver ran a red light and the tram braked so hard it's a wonder nobody standing up was injured.

Anyway, as a car owner who commutes by tram I think they should have priority at all red lights. I don't think they are unaware of other road users, I think they are just told to ignore them (when safe to do so, obviously).

I don't want to sound like a militant non-motorist, but in a city private car travel should be made as uncomfortable as possible.
Sheffield has pretty good public transport compared to other places, and it could get even better if more people used it, and there was less private traffic on the road as that would open up more space on the road for more frequent bus services.

OK so I probably do sound like a militant non-motorist. And while I'm at it why can't we all just love each other and live in a lovely happy joyful world......

ummmm, OK I'll stop now!

Public transport will never match up to the motor car in terms of reliability, comfort or convenience, no matter how good.

You have to be careful not to make city centres anti-car, as Sheffield seems to have done, or people won't come to the city. Just look at Meadowhall at the weekend; car park is full to the brim. That's one reason why the city centre isn't as good as it should be, people don't feel welcome in their cars and the parking charges are a bit steep.

Trams are a good step in the right direction, more comfortable and reliable than buses ever are. Thus why I think they should be extended.

Originally posted by Yodameister
I don't want to sound like a militant non-motorist, but in a city private car travel should be made as uncomfortable as possible.

I agree that car use should be discouraged, but let's have the carrot rather than the stick!

It costs me about £5.00 to take my family of 4 on a return trip into town on the tram or bus.

I can park for 3 hours in one of the car-parks for about £3.00. So for short trips into town it's cheaper for me to take the car than the bus / tram, and is much more convenient, especially when you've got lots of shopping bags and a buggy to manage. I can also drive over to meadowhall and park for FREE, and shop under cover.

So, in my opinion the bus and tram fares should be subsidised so they're so cheap you don't mind using public transport. Like they used to be in Sheffield, and like they did in London many years ago.

agreed.

If I use public transport to work, I leave my house at approximately 07:50 to be sure of catching the bus into town. I then have a choice - jump on the tram and get a seat after City Hall - or climb on an overcrowded bus full of schoolkids (I've done the moan about lack of school-only buses in another thrad so I won't get into it here aswell). The 2-bus option is cheaper, but far less comfortable or convenient. The bus-tram is more expensive than my petrol to work.

If I use the car, I leave home at 08:15 and arrive at work in time to nip to the cafe for a cuppa before I start.

Guess which option I choose?!!

And back on the subject of Tram Drivers - they cannot move out to negotiate an obstacle, but they do need to realise that respect breeds respect in return. I see lorry drivers struggling to deliver, to be met with long, repeated blasts of the horn. Usually responded to in the two-fingered gesture.

A simple short toot in most cases would suffice to alert the lorry driver, who has to make his drop, to the problem - coupled with a wave of appreciation for the assistance and co-operation when the way is cleared. The manner most tram drivers take leads to a "%&#@ those %$@#s" response from the wagon driver. And everybody gets aggravated over an issue which is unavoidable in many cases and inconvenient to BOTH parties, not just the tram driver.

As a meer student I cannot even begin to think about affording a car (the fact I haven't passed my test is also another hindering factor).

I find the bus and tram services very reliable, although have a couple of moans and groans...

1. How often are the prices going to keep sneaking up?
2. I was on my way home a few weeks ago and paid a £1.05 bus fare with a £1.30, which means I needed 25p change, of which i got 5p. When I asked the busdriver for my 20 he said "I've only got 5 left", what do you mean? "I've only got 5 20p's left" Yep so can I have one please? "No, I need them to last the rest of my shift" So I sat down and asked him again when I got off but he still refused to give me 20p. So does that mean he wasn't going to give anyone a 20p piece or did I offended him by not having the correct change. Answers on a postcard, I really don't understand his logic.
3. The late 52 service has stopped running, which I found much safer than getting a taxi home on my own.

Anyway, trams...(I still prefer to walk)

Claire

Ive driven a tram!! its well boring!!!

i did it ages ago through one of mums old friends!!

hey you tram drivers,,watch out for the white van man!!






cos im coming for you.............

I hope you were not talking to anyone whilst you where driving it,or maybe you should have been reported,like you did to the bus driver!!


Originally posted by Fletch
Ive driven a tram!! its well boring!!!

i did it ages ago through one of mums old friends!!