Many towns are struggling with empty vacant units, but I do think long term bringing Metrolink to Oldham is a good thing. I was utterly caustic towards the PTE for shutting down the loop, but if this does put passenger numbers up, it can only be a good thing.
One thing the PTE (or TfGM, whatever they are called this week) need to get into their heads is that little pokey trams are not enough to encourage passengers onboard. They need to order four carriage trams, suitable for purpose, to cope with a growin network. One 'berk' running a large train company said a few years ago, 'we are ordering 3-cars as they are more than adequate to cope with ANY growth' ...then spent the next five years whinging to the DfT for money to purchase extra cars.
The exact same Bombardier trams are built for many European cities as 4-car, so why do TfGM make us suffer with tiny little trams?
One thing the PTE (or TfGM, whatever they are called this week) need to get into their heads is that little pokey trams are not enough to encourage passengers onboard. They need to order four carriage trams, suitable for purpose, to cope with a growin network. One 'berk' running a large train company said a few years ago, 'we are ordering 3-cars as they are more than adequate to cope with ANY growth' ...then spent the next five years whinging to the DfT for money to purchase extra cars.
The exact same Bombardier trams are built for many European cities as 4-car, so why do TfGM make us suffer with tiny little trams?