WatcherZero
Established Member
- Joined
- 25 Feb 2010
- Messages
- 10,272
Was just on North West Tonight, we are not talking about a little sand in between the rails here, we are talking about large sand banks created by strong winds!
We'll see how it goes over Easter - with a 20-minute headway (30 on Easter Sunday!) capacity could be an issue.
Thats amazing considering the last couple of years. Just have to hope the passengers stay after the first month.
I think there has been a lot of doom mongering about the future viability of the service, but demand for the parallel bus service (Line 1) has seemingly remained high and now there is nothing to stop those passengers turning to the trams (frequent, low floor and fares in line with the bus/concession passes accepted). The trams were slower and less reliable before, and now they are not. There's a lot of (mainly but not exclusively older) people in Bispham, Cleveleys and Fleetwood who rely on public transport to get between those place and south to Blackpool.
I don't think getting people onboard will be problem, revenue might be though as I imagine a relatively sizable percentage of the ridership will use be using the free passes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-17628035
Blackpool now investigating using the existing tram rails buried in the road.
Wonder how many other cities have such buried rails.
Another route to consider is the Marton route down Church Street, Whitegate Drive & Waterloo Road.
I remember several years ago when Adbingdon Street was dug up tram rails were revealed. Did these provide a connection from Talbot Road to the Marton route via Church Street?
I'm not sure if the rails were removed or if they were simply covered back over.
Re seating, if they have people standing the conductors job is nearly impossible!!