On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 11:57:10 +0100, Michael Bell
wrote:

In message
Terry Harper wrote:

But can you run the same number of trams per hour as you can buses per
hour? I suspect not. Remember that buses can overtake each other.
Trams cannot.

They can only overtake each other if there is space, which there often
isn't, especially in London, and even if there is space they sometimes
don't, sometimes out of mental laziness, and sometimes, I am sure, out
of wish to avoid work. Let the other man carry the load!. Though I
have sometimes seen examples of very good working, a pair of busses
overtaking each other to take alternate stops.

Oxford Street is full of buses overtaking each other at stops. Not all
on the same route, of course.

If you couple trams together, you have to ensure that, when one stops,
it does not block a crossing. From what I've seen on the U6 in
Dusseldorf, the distance between traffic lights, near Kennedydam, for
example, only allows one set to be at a stop without blocking a
cross-road.
--
Terry Harper
Website Coordinator, The Omnibus Society
http://www.omnibussoc.org