| News Special: NOTTINGHAM EXPRESS TRANSIT OPENS Posted Sunday 14 March 2004 |
|
This week has seen the biggest tram event since the launch of British Trams Online , the opening of Nottingham Express Transit. In the very first news special we look at the opening and first couple of days of service. Monday 8 March 2003: Official Opening Ceremony 'Tram Celebration Day' as it was christened by the promoters of the scheme was to see the offical launch of Nottingham Express Transit, with Transport Secretary Alistair Darling in the city for the duty of officially launching the trams. The day was started by a conference by the city and county councils along with Arrow Light Rail before Mr Darling arrived on a tram into Old Market Square from Station Street at around 10.30am where he laid a plaque alongside one laid by one of his predecesors, Lord Macdonald, at the time of the start of construction. The plaque ws the NET logo in a paving slab and he was joined by many local dignitaries to show the support for Line One of NET. Following the unveiling of this plaque they retired to the Council House to attend a reception celebrating the days events. At the reception there were 500 invited guests including representatives from Nottingham City Council, the Nottingham Express Transit Development Board and selected members of the public. Mr Darling said about the system "I am delighted to be here in Nottingham to celebrate the creation of this modern transport link which will benefit thousands of passengers every day. The tram will help ease congestion, enhance the environment, promote regeneration and improve access." He also mentioned how £180 million of the cost of Line One had come through government funding and he also said that the decision for funding for lines 2 and 3 would not be taken until the council had proved that they are workable and affordable. He said that the councils "are not at that stage yet, they've still got further consulting to do. We will wait to see how well Line One does - £200m is a lot of money but if it works, all well and good." Councillor Terry Butler, the Councty Council cabinet member for Environment, added ""I'm delighted that the tram is ready to roll for its official opening. The foundations of the tram project were laid over 10 years ago by the County Council and I am pleased that the tram has now become such an exciting reality." Both city and county council campaigners also used the meeting as a chance to put their case forward for funding to complete Lines 2 and 3 with Councillor Terry Butler saying "It's said there's no such thing as a free lunch and this is where we get the begging bowl out." |
| NET 210 seen at Old Market Square on Tram Celebration Day along with some local dignitaries. Photo: Stephen Parascandolo |
|
View of the crowds watching the opening ceremony at Old Market Square again. Photo: Stephen Parascandolo |
| Alistair Darling, on the left of the picture, conducts the official opening of NET in front of 211. Photo: Stephen Parascandolo |
|
Then in the afternoon Mr Darling moved on to Beeston Town Hall to meet local residents about transport as part of the government's 'Big Conversation' project. The main topic of the meeting was about the proposed Lines 2 and 3 of NET with residents from both Beeston and Chilwell attending to get their viewpoints across with local MP Nick Palmer chairing the meeting. Mr Darling was actually late for this meeting as he got stuck in traffic travelling from the city centre caused by roadworks at the Station Road/Middle Street crossroads. He would not be drawn on specifics about the tram project but did say "doing nothing is not an option as the whole place will grind to a halt and doing nothing is what this country is good at.
I believe we do, as a country, need to spend more on transport. If we stop, the consequences for our children and grandchildren will be disastrous." At the actual meeting he pleased fully neither the pro or anti tram groups saying ""As Secretary of State for Transport I can provide money for a scheme, approve it or turn it down but I can't tell councils whether it should go ahead and where it should go." During the meeting the anti tram campaigners outnumbered those in favour of extending NET with Lines 2 and 3 with some calling the tram "evil" whilst others thought the tramway would damage too much wildlife and was going in the wrong place. Mr Darling was also invited by former Councillor John White to go to Chilwell and knock on any door and he would get the same answer that they did not want the tram. Meanwhile Steve Barber, the chairman of Beeston and Chilwell for Integrated Transport, said "We need a system that comes out this way, a mass carrier of people and we need it quickly. Everyone knows what I'm talking about." Tuesday 9 March 2003: Public Services commence 05.58 at Phoenix Park was the first official public tram service in Nottingham since 1936 when the first generation trams were abandoned. Tram 203 was the one chosen to undertaken the journey to Station Street which was to be flagged off by Councillor John Taylor from the city council. Approximately 40 people were waiting at the Phoenix Park terminus for this historical moment and they joined the tram when it arrived which already had a gaggle of journalists on board for the occassion. The first ticket sold on board a NET tram went to John Townsend from Mapperley, who said "It's an historic occasion because it is the first one in 50 years. I didn't think anyone else would be mad enough to get up at six o'clock to travel on the first tram in Nottingham but there were a few people here." Trams also commenced from Hucknall at just after 6am (flagged off by Councillor Tony Butler of the county council) and Station Street (flagged off by John Watson of the Nottingham Development Enterprise) with a smattering of people, mainly enthusiasts eager for a ride on the new trams. During the day passenger numbers started to build up as the locals of Nottingham wanted to see what the new transport system was like in their city and trams were soon starting to see standing room only and at one time the Nottingham Evening Post reports that conductors were having to tell people at stops that the trams were full. The Nottingham Tram Consortium predicted that Day 1 saw between 40,000 and 50,000 people riding the trams, up from the expected daily total when things have settled down of around 30,000. People who were riding the trams on this historic day seemed to be full of praise according the Nottingham Evening Post's reports. One of those interviewed was 89 year old George Dallison from Hucknall who said ""We normally get the bus into town," he said. "But we thought we'd give this a go. It's much easier to get on and off than on the buses. I've only had one journey down and back up again, but so far I've got no grumbles." His views of easy access were echoed by Stacey Jamieson who tried out the tram along with her 2 year old daughter and said ""My pushchair is a lot easier to handle on the tram. I think we'll be using it from now on.". Other people interviewed by the people were equally enthusiastic about the tram with Melvin Chamberlain saying "We used to live in Carlton, but we moved up here [Hucknall] because the tram is so good to commute on." There was some disruption to services in the afternoon when there were problems with the rail crossing barriers at David Lane in Basford which stuck in the down position at approximately 4.15pm. This caused NET to automatically halt all of the trams on the network whilst the problem was solved and road traffic also had to be diverted by an alternative route. Passengers on one of the trams which was stuck near to the crossing were given free travel day tickets by the conductor on board the tram and those who were affected were still full of praise for how it was dealt with. Michael Taylor from Donington in Lincolnshire said "It was just teething troubles. The staff dealt with it reasonably well, although we were kept waiting too long without proper explanation." whilst Naz Ghafour of Lenton said "The conductor was good and kept us informed. It could have been a lot worse.". However this did not mean that there was not criticism over the crossing failure with local Councillor Mary Bloomfield saying "There have been a lot of problems at the crossing already. I've been bringing it up and bringing it up but nobody's listened. The crossing was supposed to be so hi-tech that nothing could go wrong." |
|
Phoenix Park terminus with the first tram set to be flagged off on Tuesday morning just before 6am. Photo: Stephen Parascandolo |
|
Tram 203 is seen at the Station Street terminus having completed the first journey on NET. Photo: Stephen Parascandolo |
|
Hucknall is seen with 214 and its crew on opening day. Photo: Stephen Parascandolo |
|
Standing room only seen on opening day on board the trams. Photo: Stephen Parascandolo |
|
Wednesday 10 March 2003: Day 2 of Public Services Day 2 was the day when British Trams Online went to the city to see the new trams in operation. The trams were again fairly well patronised with the morning particularly well used. Standing room only was the order of the day for this period as people were still trying out the trams for the first time. Many people were just travelling on the trams for the experience as they were not alighting when they got to the termini at Hucknall and Phoenix Park. Comments that were overheard during the day were mainly complimentary with many commenting on how neat they were and how easy they were to get on and off. However one person was heard to complain out the cost of travelling with the TramRider (day ticket) costing £2 each whereas they claimed previously they and 4 of their friends could travel for £2 in total rather than £10 in total. In the early afternoon there was an incident involving a tram in Bulwell when an object was thrown from a bridge damaging a door. The tram had to be taken out of service and returned to the depot at Wilkinson Street for repairs to take place. The incident happened between 3pm and 4pm. By mid afternoon passenger loadings were starting to become less and less as people went home after their days shopping in the city centre and the outlying districts, however there were still some people having to stand on some journeys. First impressions of the system have to be almost totally good as it is still looking very neat and tidy with the local youths not yet having the chance to vandalise and grafitti the trams and tram stops. However the one concern on the system is probably the chance of fare dodging with at times the one conductor on board struggling to keep up with people getting on and off, especially several groups of kids who were getting on and off around Hyson Green for a lot of the day. It must be said though that all light rail systems in the UK do have the same chance of fare dodging and it has been said by NET that they will be looking at where and when the busy times are so they can provide extra conductors on board and at stops to collect the fares, something which had already started at Old Market Square and Hucknall on Wednesday. Trams in service on this day were: 203 (H), 204 (from depot at 1423 - PP), 205 (H), 206 (PP), 207 (PP), 208 (PP), 209 (H), 211 (PP), 212 (H), 213 (H), 215 (H) Letters in brackets show the service trams were on - H for Hucknall and PP for Phoenix Park Sources: Nottingham Express Transit, This is Nottingham, BBC News Online and ITV Central News East And thanks to Stephen Parascandolo for permission to use the photos of Tram Celebration Day and Day 1 public services. |