Subscribe to RSSHow Auck Trams Will Look
There’s been huge interest in my earlier posts this week of the latest construction photos of Auckland’s waterfront trams and an FAQ about them.
Now we get the first glimpse of what they are expected to look like:
Tracks are laid at the corner of Gaunt, party way up Halsey Street and along Gaunt Street. Attention will soon focus on the remaining stretch of Halsey Street.
Tramcar housing is also under construction near the corner of Pakenham and Daldy Streets. Photos here
18 Comments
Old bomb tram again, that is enough!!.
Tram could be comfortable style in the lively city for future, not past the old tram is really bore ride.
Is this a gimmick or serious public transport? To me this is a massive waste of money. A bus service can do it’s job far more cheaply and we could have spent the money on actual functional pt. Why people are so romantic about steel tracks I don’t know
@Swan: old and new buses can run on a road once you build it. It wouldn’t be worth buying a modern tram to run around the small loop.
The excitement is because once you’ve got the loop there, it is much more possible that they’ll build more of the route to Britomart, then up Queen Street, then to Ponsonby, etc. Based on my experience overseas this will be an excellent improvement for Auckland. You can’t compare a bus service to a tram service for many reasons apparent to anybody who tries the latter.
@Swan. Buses are smelly, loud and polluting, i’d put up with those steel wheels screeching to a halt any day.
Europe has a huge amount of trams and light rail and IMO they add to the character of the city.
@Swan - the point and you are miles apart.
How much should we pay for a bit of character? Public transport is about function. If this is a beautification project it should come out of the appropriate budget
Very excited about the possibilities for trams in Auckland again. Sweet.
@Swan - this money didn’t come out if the PT budget, if it hadn’t been spent on the trams it wouldn’t have been spent on PT at all.
For a short run, trams are a nice novelty. But as a commuting device they are hideous. Slow, noisy and cramped. I stayed in Melbourne for a few days last year (for work) and they drove me crazy. Because they use regular roads they got stuck in peak traffic often. For serious large scale movements of people in a city like auckland it has to be rail!
Does anybody know whether a city has started or reintorduced a tram/lightrail system in the last 20 years anywhere in the world failed and had to be scapped? Also where it hasn’t failed and has been extended?
@Kon. Nice tramway. Built in 2007. Hasn’t been extended yet but with daily patronage of 70,000 in a city of 350k. I would say it has been pretty successful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice_tramway
@Kon Manchester, Ottawa, LA, Portland, Phoenix, St Louis, Houston to name a few. Most have been very successful with numerous extensions being planned.
Thanks for your answers, it will most likely suceed due to wide public support and other comparable overseas examples.
I think its great that the tracks were laid now, however I don’t think that it will be a success until it is extended to Britomart at least. Hopefully the new Inner City service will build a market for this to happen.
I worry though that the faliure of this current tram will make it harder to get funds to Britomart extension.
I wonder if anybody has thought of renting/borrowing one of Christchurch’s Trams to run along the loop during the rugby world cup.
Thanks to the Earthquake, they are all in storage at Ferrymead for the next 12 months, in the open and exposed to the elements. Also, the trust that looks after them will be significantly down on income due to them not being on the streets and therefore not receiving income from rental.
I think they would look good, and if we can’t demonstrate a modern tramway, we can at least show off some New Zealand built vehicles overseas.
More info in their latest newsletter: http://www.ths.org.nz/tractsnewsletter.htm
@Bruno that is an excellent idea
You can’t compare this to Manchester, Portland etc. This tramline doesn’t go anywhere. To extend it to Britomart will cost far more than what’s already been spent. Why not spend the money upgrading the adjacent north shore bus corridor that carries tens of thousands a day and is a bottleneck. Then wynyard to britomart pt can use this corridor.
I think the trams are not going to solve our public transport problems but they are a start. Maybe not the best start but at least they are the start of something, and maybe when the Auckland Council gets a bit more money they can expand the tramline to Britomart and even Queen Street.