London Banter - View Single Post - Ken says yes to Crystal Palace tram extension

David Bradley · September 28th 04, 09:05 PM posted to uk.transport.london,uk.railway

On Tue, 28 Sep 04 19:09:27 GMT, (Charles
Ellson) wrote:

In article
"David Bradley" writes:

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 10:32:40 +0000 (UTC), "Piccadilly Pilot"
wrote:

David Bradley wrote:
On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 10:32:29 +0100, "Solar Penguin"
snip
How exactly? You can't get more people on a tram than you can a bus.
Each passenger requires a similar amount of space on either vehicle
and a tram with 300 people on board would be just as crowded as a bus.

Firstly the carrying capacity of most trams is greater than that of most
buses. Secondly it is possible to couple two (and possibly more) trams
together to increase the capacity and still only need one driver.

Your first statement is untrue, trams carry more passengers because
they are physically larger!
Therefore you _can_ "get more people on a tram than you can on a bus" as
it is not permitted (or practicable?) to build a bus to carry as many
people as the larger trams currently in operation.

My, we are being pedantic with this aren't we? As it happens there
are some pretty huge DD buses around that can certainly pack the
punters in, but I would not advocate their use even if they were
permitted in the UK. But to get back to the point, you can certainly
get more people on a single tram, but each person takes up the same
amount of room irespective of the mode of travel, so size for size you
can't get more people on a tram. Your statement that "You can get
more people on a tram than you can a bus" is therefore false unless
the tram is larger than the bus.

snip
Your second statement suggests vehicle lengths on the public highway
that would be totally unacceptable.
From the Highway Code:-
"Take care where trams (which can be up to 60 metres [196ft] in length)
run along the road."
That sounds rather like official acceptance/anticipation of more than
two vehicles coupled together.

Nope, this is in the Highway Code to cover circumstances of a one tram
towing a disable vehicle to the depot. It is not permitted in the UK
to have trams in revenue earning service of almost 200ft in length.
snip

David Bradley