Consultation deep-dive: journey times

There are thousands of pages of information provided with the Consultation, not including the documents further referred to - the national policies, reports etc.

Most people probably don’t have the time or means to read all these documents, so we’re doing a series of deep dives into key topics to help make sense of it all. The second of these is on journey times.

The Consultation suggests that a tram from Granton to the city centre will be i) reliable; and ii) fast.

We believe the current plans do not support these claims and there is a more credible and reliable route with an equivalent journey time (and a much lower cost!).

Reliable?

The plan for Roseburn relies on single track running. The tram line will be single track for the full 1.5km from Roseburn to Craigeith, so there will be only one tram in only one direction at a time.

The Council’s consultation documents state “Where single track is used there can be less resilience if trams breakdown than where there is double track.” This is because if a tram breaks down on a single track section it will result in a jam and suspension of the service, with passengers left stuck in the middle of the path with no easy alternative transport options.

However there is no assessment / quantification of this risk or of its impact on average journey times and scheduling issues in the documentation.

It is worth noting that were the Council to consider sidings (passing places), this would involve additional land take further reducing any remaining trees and habitat, and reducing the limited space available for people walking, wheeling and cycling.

Fast?

The consultation reports say that journey times for the tram to the city centre via Roseburn will take 26 minutes at rush hour (expressly not taking account of what the reports call the “potential delay” caused by the single track line).

Lothian Buses app shows a bus from Granton to city centre at rush hour takes 32 minutes. The bus route has 26 stops, the tram route has 8. So it may be a few minutes faster, but a lot less convenient for most unless you happen to live right next to one of the few tram stops. And there are no alternative options if the tram gets stuck in a single track section or worse, breaks down. If the council wants to get people from Granton into town faster, we could start by looking at express buses with fewer stops.

A more affordable journey forward?

It is currently possible to get a tram from Newhaven to St Andrews Square with a journey time of c22 minutes.

If the existing line was extended from Newhaven to Granton Square, we estimate that it would be possible to travel into the city centre from Granton via tram in 31 minutes. This assumes a travel time of 9 minutes from Newhaven to a single new stop at Granton. This would have the additional benefit of connecting Granton with Leith via tram, boosting economic activity across this entire corridor.

The Council has not properly looked into this option as part of the consultation.

We haven’t looked at the times of the full route from Granton to RIE, but this has been excellently covered in a recent article by Paddy Fletcher.

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