Nottingham Express Transit is the jigsaw piece
needed to make the City's transport picture complete.
It is one crucial part of a strategy which aims
to reduce car dependency, increase public transport use and allow the
City to breathe, both in terms of its citizens' physical health and the
City's own economic health.
Work started building Line One of the system
in June 2000, and trams started running in March 2004. There is a strong
will at Nottingham City Council
and Nottinghamshire County Council
- promoters of the scheme - for a network covering the whole of Nottingham
to be developed. Plans are underway to develop two more lines initially,
to the south and west of the city.
In the meantime, Line One will have to prove
its worth. Its 14kms run from Hucknall in the former Nottinghamshire coalfields
north of the City, and from a spur to a Park and Ride site close to the
M1 to the west, into the heart of Nottingham and its railway station.
It has 23 stops, including five large Park and Ride sites.
Studies on behalf of the councils which are promoters
of the scheme, the Arrow consortium which developed it and the Government
which backed it to the tune of £180 million in a PFI deal, all concluded
that, by the fith year of operation upto 11 million people will use the
tram every year. That equates to two million journeys taken off the City's
roads annually.
That's a significant boost for Nottingham's endeavours
to tackle congestion and pollution which threaten the vitality of the
city. Though Nottingham has a thriving economy - attracting more new jobs
than any other British city in recent years, frequently ranked most popular
shopping centre outside London and pulling in thousands of sports fans
and night-time revellers every week - it wants to protect and enhance
this position.
The Government and local authorities like Nottinghamshire
County and Nottingham City Councils see a comprehensive transport system
as the key which will unlock potential. To this end, the councils are
taking a long term view of transport which provides a vision and a goal
to aim for.
The tram runs through the plans like a golden
seam, it is proposed for example, to tie into the Clear Zone scheme at
the heart of the city which will eventually enforce a no-emissions policy
for all vehicles inside the zone - and vehicles don't come much cleaner
and greener than the modern electric tram.
The tram also has a part to play in the City
Council-led Nottingham Commuter Planners Club, which brings local employers
together to discuss how to provide incentives for staff choosing not to
travel to work in their cars. What better incentive than a sophisticated
form of public transport which is smart, efficient, frequent, fast and
fairly priced?
If they need further convincing, people need
look no further than Croydon and Manchester. In Croydon, in the first
month of operation of the Tramlink service, the largest local shopping
centre reported 100,000 extra visitors a week - a leap of almost a quarter
- with a significant shift from car to tram.
And in Manchester, the introduction of trams
has been such a success - carrying nearly 14 million passengers a year
- that a second line has already been built and more are planned, including
routes to the Trafford Park shopping centre and Manchester Airport.
Nottingham is learning from the Croydon and Manchester
experience by linking its route with the rail network and bus services
- Line One will have interchanges at Hucknall, Bulwell and Nottingham
railway stations.
One difference Nottingham has from most existing
tram schemes is that Nottingham City Transport,
which operates 80 per cent of bus services in the city, is part of the
consortium which is built, designed, funded and runs NET. So complete
integration with buses, branded feeder services and joint ticketing are
featured - as well as fares being set broadly in line with Nottingham's
famously low bus fares, making one of the country's finest public transport
systems affordable for all.
Chair of the Government's Commission for Integrated
Transport Professor David Begg has praised Nottingham's forward-thinking
approach to transport issues.
He said: "While many other cities are still
talking about integration, Nottingham not only has many initiatives in
action, but is delivering excellent results.
"What is so impressive, though, is that
the city is not resting on its laurels, it is still actively seeking to
deliver much more."
"The new Nottingham Express Transit is going
to bring further incentive to people seeking an alternative to the car
as well as providing regeneration in unemployment blackspots."
"Nottingham is creating a better city for
everyone - pedestrians, public transport users, motorists and cyclists.
Local initiatives are providing quality public transport services, easing
congestion and pollution and making Nottingham a healthier and more enjoyable
city to live in and visit. This is exactly what an integrated transport
policy is all about."
The Government clearly agrees that Nottingham
is doing something right, after ranking it top in the country for achieving
targets such as congestion reduction (2003) and Commission for Integrated
Transport naming it Transport Authority of the year (2002).
The National Audit Office carried out a report
which looked at the six UK tram systems which were running before Nottingham
Express Transit went into public service. The key points raised as weaknesses
in those systems are already features of the new tram system for Nottingham,
including:
Integration: Nottingham is the only UK system to have the city's main
bus operator as part of the tram operating company, allowing feeder buses
to link into the tram system instead of competing. Nottingham has developed
one of the only joint tickets in the country allowing travel on trains,
trams and buses. In the first month of operation, nearly 40% of passengers
were using inter-modal tickets. Line One has interchanges at three train
stations - Hucknall, Bulwell and Nottingham.
Park and Ride: NET Line One has five Park and Ride sites with 3,000 spaces
between them
Segregation from / priority over traffic: Ten of the 14km is away from
roads, with some of the on-street running also segregated from traffic.
Trams get priority over other road traffic at almost all the junctions
on the route.
Nottingham is also planning to work with the
Government to look at proposals for new ways of funding transport schemes,
and the City Council has received funds from the Government recently to
carry out improvements in preparation for a proposed Workplace Parking
Levy. Some of this has paid for the tram network development feasibility
studies mentioned earlier, and would go towards the 28% local contribution
to NET Phase Two.
If agreed, the Workplace Parking Levy will unlock
a new source of funding which will help put some of Nottingham City Council's
groundbreaking transport proposals into action. Nottingham Express Transit,
among other transport improvements, will be up and running before the
levy comes into effect.
Other elements of our plans for the Nottingham of the
future as a great place to live, work and visit with a fully integrated
transport system include:
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