I don't like the trams, I think that is probably clear.
However, they are now here, and the only way they are going to be at all successful is to be extended down to Leith.
My problem with this is that I don't think it should be done in the next few years, as parts of Leith still haven't recovered from the last load of works, and I don't want the foot of Leith walk to go the same way as Shandwick Place with all the little shops being replaced by mostly supermarkets.
As an aside, I finally got round to going on a tram recently; from York Place to the airport and back in the middle of the afternoon on a saturday.
I went on with low expectations, and was underwhelmed, to be totally honest.
The street running sections are painfully slow, which I find remarkable considering the amount of disruption they cause to traffic flow by bering given ultimate priority at every junction. York Place to Princes Street in 7 minutes is pathetic, and works out at an average of just over 5mph.
Once you're past Haymarket, the main thing that struck me was how choppy the ride is. For a brand new system running with effectively new trams on new track, I'd have expected it to be pretty smooth, but it wasn't. Maybe the tracks were done by the same people that do the roads in Edinburgh and that's what they think smooth is.
Inside, it was a bit on the sweaty side. It was a sunny day, but not the warmest recently, and I found myself sticking to the seats because of the humidity. All of the six windows were open, but it made little real difference. I think I'll be giving them a miss when it gets properly warm in the next few months.
As expected, the tram was fairly well used, and almost busy from Shandwick Place outwards, with most seats taken and a handful of people standing.
All in all, not bad, but not great either.
My main criticisms are the slow speed, the choppy ride (especially around Balgreen) and the trams themselves, both inside and out. They're just so
dull.
Yes, they've given them a slightly swoopy livery and front end, but they're still just big white blobs of bland trundling around looking boring, and it gets worse on the inside, where's it's a veritable sea of drab colours. The most interesting thing is the blue lino on the floor. The walls are beige, the seat backs are light grey, and the handrails are white. Even the navy blue on the seats is a bit dull. Nothing about the interior makes me want to go back and travel on them again, because it's just so boring and uninspiring. It feels like they were designed by a committee. The opportunity was there to do something interesting; they were ordering bespoke trams and could have done pretty much whatever they liked with the interiors, but they didn't.
