Cllr Nick McDonald (Labour), portfolio holder for jobs and growth on Nottingham City Council, has said that the extensions of Nottingham Express Transit being constructed at the moment should only be the beginning of the expansion of the system and further lines should be planned now to help drive economic growth.
Cllr McDonald has claimed that the construction of Phase Two has attracted huge investment into Greater Nottingham and has also created up to 8,000 jobs and now he wants to see these benefits continue and be extended to other areas in and around the city.
He said: “A fourth line through Kimberley and up to Eastwood is key to regional growth in the Nottingham conurbation. That means the planning must start now. We should celebrate the success we have achieved in creating excellent public transport infrastructure in Nottinghamshire. We now need to look to the future and plan the next stage.”
His comments come at a rather controversial time as despite his claims that the first phase of Nottingham Express Transit has been a success just last week figures released by the Department for Transport have shown that there has been an 18% decrease in passenger journeys over the past 12 months. Unfortunately this isn’t exactly conclusive evidence that more tram lines are needed in the area.
Phase Two of Nottingham Express Transit is due to open in 2014 with lines running through to Clifton and Chilwell. Currently once these lines are opened there are no official plans to extend the network any further.
* You can read the full article that Cllr McDonald made this comments in on the Nottingham Post website – http://www.nottinghampost.com/Nick-McDonald-need-trams/story-19405475-detail/story.html
Projections of ridership of railways over the next 20-30 years predict a significant increase. A fall in passenger numbers on NET one year may not indicate a continued decline, as improved connectivity at Nottingham rail station once it is rebuilt and the lines into and through it are electrified will increase ridership – and the projected population increase of England means more riders anyway, so new lines are not necessarily superfluous.