HOW OTHER COUNTRIES SEE LIGHT RAIL

The authors of this article have advised the UK Government on how other countries appraise light rail and support it financially. The article outlines their full report, which studied light rail in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the USA. The report included a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of light rail compared with other public transport modes. The main disadvantage is that more investment is needed than for buses, although light rail's cost per km varies quite widely. A major advantage is that a typical tram can carry 144-188 people (288-465 people for two-tram and three-tram units), whereas an articulated double-decker bus can carry only 80-160 people. On the Continent of Europe, unlike the UK, people perceive trams as better than buses, because of the tram's advantages. Trams are environmentally much cleaner, and usually quieter than buses; they are also easier to design attractively. The success of light rail depends on many factors, of which the most important seem to be the population and employment densities of the light rail corridors and service frequency. Competition between public transport modes is not very helpful. The report also considers various approaches to financing light rail and evaluating investments in it that have been adopted.