Look, I’m sorry about the title, but it was either that or “Yes, I know every blog you’ve read today has been banging on about the trams, but I’m still going to stick my tuppenceworth in”. And that wouldn’t fit in the title field. So anyway, local authorities have been in the news recently following the sorry debacle of the Edinburgh trams, and the council’s final decision to create a tramline to nowhere.
Living in the west, I haven’t often been subjected to the roadworks, diversions and closures. I’ve only experienced it when I’ve nipped over for work meetings or family visits, usually taking the opportunity to wind up a taxi driver by innocently enquiring how it was all going. To be honest, I suspected the scale of the problems were being exaggerated: most major public schemes are opposed by lots of people at the time, only to be recognised as a good idea once they’re up and running.
Well, I was wrong, and the taxi drivers were right. It’s a monumental cockup, which is sad for many reasons. Firstly, it effectively torpedoes any possibility of another Scottish city developing a tram scheme. This is a shame, because trams are efficient, fast and environmentally friendly. Cities across England have quietly built tram systems without apparent difficulty, but what Scottish council would now dare to suggest such a thing?
Secondly, it will leave a legacy not of a modern, simple transport system – a thing that Scotland is desperately short of – but of a tram line that resembles the trainset of a kid who is saving up their pocket money to buy some more track. I recall growing up in Edinburgh when the unfinished monument at the top of Calton Hill was known by all as Edinburgh’s Disgrace, and feeling embarrassed that we’d allowed this to happen. We’ve done it again, and if a half-built set of pillars is a disgrace, what name can we give to a multi-million pound pointless tram line? Edinburgh’s Total Bloody Disaster?
And thirdly, it gives us all an excuse to write off all local councillors as incompetent, subsidy-stuffed short-sighted selfish buffoons. This is neither fair nor helpful, and in the run-up to next year’s local elections, might be seriously damaging to local democracy.