NGT

The NGT trolley scheme has traffic delay designed into it because of “traffic stacking”. All other traffic is halted by traffic lights while trolley buses move across the carriageway to turn onto the sections of the route that is dedicated to the trolley bus. The traffic stacking causes delay to buses by making them wait at traffic lights. There will be least 5 of these traffic-stacking points, in both directions, on the way to Bodington Hall. These are at, Woodhouse Moor (Library), Hyde Park junction, Headingley Hill (top), Shaw Lane/Alma road junction, and the Lawnswood roundabout. All other traffic including commercial vehicles, bicycles, cars, cabs, are in the stack. I don’t know what happens to emergency vehicles. The diagram below is complicated but it is the best effort to explain the system in the light of the lack of information from the NGT proposers.

The core of the system is a small transponder or tag that can be attached into each trolley bus. To interrogate, a reader sends out a radio signal to the transponder via an antenna. The signal carries enough energy to reach a detector. The transponder then returns a signal that carries the data that it is storing. This data has a unique, programmed pin. When a trolley bus is detected approaching the stack the lights change in its favour. Nearly all our buses already carry them and mobile technology tells the operator where the vehicle is. It also alters the fare stage on inboard machines and accumulates statistics for route planning.

My opposition

My opposition to the trolley bus scheme is based on the same arguments as those used against earlier vanity projects on the A660.

I feel the best solution to the problem of congestion on the A660 is to make walking and cycling a pleasanter option. I have been banging on about physically separate cycle lanes for years now and it is good that even the Times newspaper finally agrees. They ran a series of articles calling for separate space for bikes after one of their journalists was run over and nearly killed.

The reason that bike lanes need to be physically separate on busy roads is that it makes cyclists feel safe rather than feeling that they are dicing with death on every journey. This is the only way to get large numbers of people on bikes. Cyclists are every bit as vulnerable as pedestrians. But we wouldn’t dream of taking pavements away. So the principle is well established.

Leeds City Council have been very poor on cycle infrastructure. They refurbished Burley Road and Kirkstall Road without putting in any separate space for bikes. So cyclists still have to share with buses. These were bad missed opportunities.

If road space is lacking I think we need to say there should be less for private motorists. That’s what Copenhagen did way back in the 70s. They spent money on cycle lanes that felt safe. Now they have more cyclists than any city in the world. No noise, no fumes, healthy people.

(photo courtesy of Velovotee)

asdfc

According to a recent Department of Transport forecast, the NGT trolleybus scheme will cause delays to general traffic, leading to £100m-plus of disadvantages to highway users, with the biggest impact on business travellers. The department estimates that the total cost to Leeds businesses will be £221m.

These are direct costs and primarily consist of higher vehicle operating costs and the loss in productivity of employees who will be delayed during work time.

The Department predicts that NGT will result in a slight improvement in journey times during the morning rush hour and a significant worsening of journey times during the evening rush hour. The northern route through Headingley will be the worst affected as road users will be held up at the junctions that will be necessary so the trolleybus can run behind the Arndale Centre and through the Shire Oak Road conservation area.

The department speculates that the reason local businesses seem to support NGT is either that the businesses consulted by Metro are unrepresentative, or that they have not been told by Metro how much NGT will cost them. Whichever it is, none of this inspires confidence either in Metro, or NGT.

(photo courtesy of Scoobyfoo)

In January this year,

In January this year, Transport Secretary Junstine Greening announced changes to the proposed HS2 High Speed Rail link from London to the Midlands that will add an extra £500 million to the total cost. According to The Huffington Post:

Various changes to the proposed route of HS2 were announced today in an attempt to appease local residents and to ward off a possible Tory rebellion from MPs whose constituencies are affected.

Compared to the route on which the Government consulted, there will be a 50% increase in tunnels, totalling around 22.5 miles.

In addition, around 56.5 miles of the 140 miles of the London to West Midlands line will be partially or totally hidden in cutting.

In the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) just over 1.5 miles of the route will be visible.

Where are NGT’s underpasses, tunnels and cuttings?

There is clearly nothing modern about NGT, despite the “New” in the project’s title. Our Victorian great-grandparents would be ashamed at our council’s lack of dynamic thinking.

(photo courtesy of henskechristine)

The NGT

The NGT trolleybus scheme would produce nothing that could not be achieved by conventional double decker buses in well maintained condition, on good roads, and to a specification at least compatible with that of Yorkshire Coastliner and Harrogate and District (Transdev) vehicles. Bendy buses, diesel or trolley, increase congestion because of their 80% increase in length with no increase in payload and a diesel bendy bus is roughly twice the cost of the double decker. The trolley bus is dearer still, partly on account of the smaller production volume. Mainly used in former Russian and Eurasion states the penalties in this country of using small isolated fleets with regard to spares and operating costs should not be under estimated. There are none currently in Britain and relatively few in Western Europe.

(photo courtesy of Matthew Black)