| Comment | Not quite right. The Strathclyde Tram had widespread support but was cancelled because the private bus operators were successful in killing it off at the parliamentary enquiry stage.
They successful argued that it would be a competitor to bus services and would not get people out their car, as it would serve predominantly "poor" areas with low car ownership. That might be been partially true then, of course we've seen car ownership balloon, even in poorer areas (exactly because there's such poor transport provision!).
Of course that was 30 years ago, and was a spurious argument at best even then. It ignored the wider societal benefits of having a more flexible multimodal transport network, and one that could easily be extended to other areas in future.
Or that it was planned to serve a whole range of areas, from Hillhead and Kelvinside through to Drumchapel and as far east as Easterhouse. Anyway, the bus operators were much more powerful lobby group then, and got their way. |
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