If only we had more trams... - John McLellan
With the alternative of digging up Queensferry Street, working out how to stop the Georgian Dean Bridge from collapsing into the Water of Leith and wondering if a tram will be able to climb Orchard Brae when it’s covered with damp leaves in autumn, the transport experts have concluded that a flat, disused railway might be a tad less challenging.
There seem to be no lengths to which the council won’t go to spend public money on proving the bleeding obvious, but the report to today’s transport committee shows the Roseburn plan is not without its problems. Cycling will be “discouraged” on what is currently a popular route, which I use regularly, and hundreds of trees will have to be cut down so loss of habitat will be considerable. No wonder some people are dismayed.
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Hide AdThe solution is not to spend millions more on a costly alternative tram extension, but to leave things as they are. But with the bit firmly clamped in the council administration’s teeth, that’s unlikely to happen. With all the talk of government cuts, tax rises, over-capacity schools, unbuilt hospitals and pot-holed roads, I wonder how many people go to bed thinking that things would be so much better if only we had more trams.