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Planner1

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Everything posted by Planner1

  1. By the decision makers, politicians. Tram systems attract drivers away from car use, which is something that doesn’t tend to happen with buses. Larger cities need a modern, attractive, high capacity mass transit system. Buses have a role, but aren’t seen as the complete answer in bigger cities. If you want your city to be attractive and seen as being progressive and an investable proposition, having good transport infrastructure is important. Mass transit systems show that the authorities at national and local level are investing significantly in that, which will send a message to potential investors.
  2. Yeah some will walk further, others won’t or can’t. It’s a rule of thumb. People planning mass transit systems do look closely at how far people will have to walk to get to stops as it directly affects the business case and benefits calculations. Cycle facilities would be considered a lot more now than they might have in the past when our tram system was designed and built. The issue of taking cycles on our trams has been looked at in recent years I believe, but they decided against it. Where is the pic?
  3. Yes, they are the highway authority so need to approve any work in the highway, same as for any proposals which involve that. Installing a tram system in an urban environment will entail a lot of disruption. Construction methods have evolved since Supertram was built to try to reduce this, but, as we have seen elsewhere like in Edinburgh and Nottingham, it still causes significant disruption. It’s something you have to factor into decision making and stakeholder engagement and be open about. Tram systems are still seen as being worth the disruption and effort though.
  4. I think Arundel Gate and Eyre Street in Sheffield are reasonable examples of how the thinking has changed. It used to be a dual carriageway with central barriers, subways and an underpass. These had the effect of severing the city centre from the adjoining area. People didn’t like going down the subways as they perceived it to be unsafe, particularly at night. Now it’s more open, with surface level crossings and it’s a much more pleasant place to be and doesn’t feel to be a barrier to getting around on foot.
  5. Cities generally follow national policy and guidance in planning and building transport infrastructure because the money to pay for the measures comes from government and the funders expect it. The difficulty is that although you might plan and install the pedestrian routes away from the main roads, often people don’t use them and walk up the verge alongside the main road ( you can see examples of this in the Mosborough “townships” area). The road route is often perceived as safer because other people can see you and its well lit. What you think people should do and what they will actually do are sometimes different. Policy and guidance evolves over time too as new thinking and evidence emerges.
  6. Train stations are a difficult one as generally you need to go under or over the tracks as it’s not considered safe to cross at surface level. Surface level crossings tend to be the preferred way of getting across any road nowadays. Subways are perceived to be unsafe and attract anti social behaviour, over bridges are more difficult and a longer route. These only tend to be used if crossing at surface level isn’t possible/desirable, which is sometimes the case.
  7. The council didn’t build the tram network. It was the PTE. A completely different organisation
  8. For decades, cities have been recognising that underpasses and flyovers represent significant barriers to PEOPLE and have been removing them to make their cities more safe, accessible and welcoming.
  9. Sheffield is no different to any other city or town of any size when it comes to use of traffic management measures. The days when drivers had unrestricted access to all streets are long gone and aren’t coming back. Many of the streets you’re talking about were designed and built a long time ago, when traffic levels were much lower. A lot of them were built when horses and carts were the only vehicles around. Paying your “road tax” doesn’t confer any right of access, it just entitles you not to be prosecuted for not paying it.
  10. Only because there’s an existing line / track bed to use. The problem with that approach, is that to maximise the benefits of a tram extension, it needs to run close enough to a sufficient number of people. The generally accepted standard is that people won’t walk much more than 400m to access public transport. The existing rail line is located some distance from most of the settlements on that route, so many people who live out there would probably not find it useful. The level of benefits you can achieve will impact on the benefit / cost ratio which is a key factor in government funding decisions. Schemes normally need to achieve a “Good” benefit cost ratio which means producing monetised benefits of twice the scheme cost over the appraisal period ( usually 60 years). The initial line of the midlands metro tram system ran up an existing rail line and didn’t get good passenger numbers. Personally, I’d doubt whether a tram extension out to Stockbridge would be viable.
  11. So how do you think you are going to get a figure of eight loop and get to the Hallamshire and Northern General, without doing it on-street? The PTE consulted on a loop out to the Hallamshire, Broomill and Ranmoor. It was dropped because the locals were against it. They asked the government to give them money to get a spur to the Hallamshire and they refused as the business case didn’t stack up. The government have already recently funded a package of new trams at the same time the tram train trial went in. The PTE had wanted more trams, but the government cut it back. I would think that any extensions that do get brought forward are more likely to be to Waverley and extending beyond Parkgate.
  12. Yeah, they tend to fit the new type of detection equipment when they refurbish a set.
  13. Yes, but some of the older sets still have the buried inductive loops.
  14. If the buried sensor has been dug up, the signal controller will always think there is traffic on that approach and so will always run the lights to that approach on every cycle of the lights, even when no traffic is there.
  15. 1. Apparently not, see post above. 2. Politicians are the decision makers and in West Yorks they are keen on having one. I know people here who celebrated when the plan to run the tram to Stannington was dropped due to their protests, but now they regret it. A lot of folk don’t see / care about the bigger picture. Having a mass transit system is often seen as denoting a city that is modern, progressive and on the up. It’s something that companies and organisations are interested in when making investment decisions.
  16. Videos like that only show you what the person recording it wants you to see. Was the person recording it not being “a bit awkward” too? Do they record and publish every potential parking infringement they see?
  17. As I said, I wasn’t there and haven’t discussed it with the people involved, so I don’t know the full facts, neither does anyone on here, so little point debating it further.
  18. No I didn’t. If you can’t see that there’s an increased risk in the evening / night arising from activities like parking enforcement, you’re not thinking it through very well. When you are sending employees into situations like that, you have to consider the risks and make sure you have mitigated them as much as possible.
  19. What irks me is you dragging up months old discussions that have been done to death already. It wasn't busy at the time of the incident and no one was endangered that I could see. Read the thread, it’s all been discussed at length.
  20. Has anyone said or implied that? There are more people about in the evening who have had some drinks etc, so it is prudent to consider the safety of staff who go out into potential conflict situations.
  21. If you weren’t there, and haven’t discussed it with the people involved, you can’t really say what alternative locations were available, or why they didn’t use them. As mentioned before, the CEO’s have to consider their own safety and position their vehicle accordingly. Personally I think this debate has been done to death and I can’t see why it’s being dragged up again, months later.
  22. They do walk around the city, but at night, there is greater potential for conflict situations to arise, so for their safety, they need to be able to exit an area quickly, hence the vehicle.
  23. How come you’re dredging up 3 year old reports? Nothing better to do? As others have mentioned, Leeds are very keen to have a tram system. They have already had several attempts at it and West Yorkshire Combined Authority are currently spending millions on developing their plans and business case. No one is ever going to fund the provision of a tram system that serves every part of a city (or region) in one big bang. You start with a small number of routes and expand from there. There have been attempts to expand Sheffield’s network, but the government have refused to fund it. These things are extremely expensive and only the government will be able to fund it. Say what you like, but being close to two larger cities / city regions with much higher populations doesn’t do us any favours when trying to attract investment. It also doesn’t help that people here think we should be directly comparable with them.
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