6:10am Thursday 18th February 2010
It is amazing how little it takes for a multi-million pound project to be included in Oxford City Council’s strategy for a greener and cleaner Oxford over the next ten years.
The council’s sustainability strategy includes a proposal for a tram system to help make Oxford a low-carbon city by 2020.
The fact that the council has neither the money nor the authority to introduce trams is lost on it. Its inclusion appears to be on the basis that it is “a twinkle in the eye” of the city council board member for a cleaner, greener Oxford John Tanner.
We would all love to see a fleet of clean and green trams serving Oxford and its environs, but what are the chances of achieving by the end of this decade? The answer is: nil. And the chances of any of us seeing it in our lifetime are equally slim.
Oxfordshire County Council, which at least has authority for transport in Oxford, has said as much.
The reason why trams will never be seen in Oxford is that there is no financial case for introducing them. The environmental case is arguably no better. Trams may be less polluting at their point of use, but they do not run on air.
Any case for Government funding for a tram system would need to have at its heart the premise that a large number of people would transfer from their cars to the tram.
Given that Oxford already boasts one of the most well-used public transport systems outside London, the city’s case for investment will always be a weak one.
Proposals for a guided bus system to run on tracks in the city foundered for this very reason. There was no financial case because the guided buses would only have attracted people away from the existing bus network.
A tram system for Oxford would be a wonderful thing but it could only replace the bus network which already includes express services to and from the major county towns Rather than offering up false hopes, the city council’s sustainability strategy should concentrate on what is achievable.
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