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Tuesday, 4th February 2020
www.bathecho.co.uk
Locals being invited to Bath Area Trams Conference
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Bath to Radstock as well as the city centre's narrow streets, and they do not need overhead wires. The conference on Saturday 8th February will feature speakers including Bath MP Wera Hobhouse and Dave Andrews, chair of Bath Area Trams Association. Those interested in attending can register here: https://bit.ly/2RMUS4h. Tickets are available from £5, with a free
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installations have caused measureable and significant reduction in congestions and commercial regeneration. They also have a much higher capacity (36,000 passengers per hour) than either cars (1000/h) or buses (9,000/h). Modern trams can ascend all the hills in Bath and the gradients if the tram were placed on the main road from
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TRAMS BEAT JAMS!
Left: Trams in Lisbon can travel down narrow streets | Above: The tram system in Manchester
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and reduce vehicle emissions. The Bath Area Trams Association (BATA) says evidence suggests that only trams linking Radstock, Midsomer Norton, Chippenham and connected to Bristol, with a network in Bath, integrated with buses for other rural areas and re-opening the line from Radstock to Frome via Westbury, will solve Bath's transport, congestion, pollution and commercial crises. This is because they can operate economically at much higher frequencies than buses (every 2 - 6 minutes), car drivers will use them whereas they won't use buses, trams have around 1/12 the energy consumption of a bus, they do not produce road and tyre dust pollution, and being a permanent addition, they can attract development along the routes. No bus-based solution has solved congestion in any British city, whereas all tram
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PEOPLE across the local area are being invited to give their views at an upcoming conference in the city, focussed on the reintroduction of trams to Bath. Being held at the Bath Literary and Scientific Institution in Queen Square on Saturday 8th February, attendees will be able to hear from industry experts and local politicians. One of the highlights of the event will be a talk from French engineering giant EGIS, who, as well as reinstalling over 20 tramways in France to reduce traffic and revitalise towns, are working on the extension of the tramway in Birmingham. A variety of light rail and tram systems are currently in service across the country, specifically in Croydon, London’s docklands, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham and Blackpool. The conference will discuss the potential to reintroduce trams to the city of Bath, in a bid to reduce congestion, improve air quality
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lunch provided. Doors open at 9am with presentations due to begin from 10am. Further information about light rail systems, trams, their history in the city, and the potential for the area can be found on the Bath Trams website at www.bathtrams.uk. Plans for a regional transport strategy will be decided upon by the West of England Combined Authority's Joint Committee on 20th March.
All are invited to make their views known at a 1 day conference on
Saturday 8th February 2020
at Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16-18 Queen Square, Bath BA1 2HN Admission £5 - £15 including tea / coffee / light lunch - just turn up or preferably book at www.bathtrams.uk or by email to tyningroad@gmail.com
and can provide pollution solutions in Bath, Radstock, Frome and Bristol Doors open 9am | Presentations from industry professionals and politicians from 10am - 4.30pm *integrated with buses. Buses emit much more greenhouse gas than trams