Letter: Tram nightmare

If any tram line is to be brought into operation, further funds will have to be borrowed. With public finances severely straitened and likely to remain so, these loans cannot be repaid.

It is expected interest rates will rise so the cost of servicing these loans will be an increasing burden for the foreseeable future.

Even if the original scheme had been completed it was anticipated it would run at a loss for the first year or two. It is inconceivable that the truncated line, which is all that is now on offer, and which would have to bear all the overheads, could ever break even.

Even the most ardent tram supporters admit that buses will continue to be the predominant mode of public transport in the city and I can see them being starved of the funds needed to update to hybrid or electric vehicles as they increasingly become the norm.

Is it worth it to rescue a fragment of a dream which has turned into a nightmare?

S Beck

Craigleith Drive

Edinburgh

As a wheelchair user the trams would be useful for me. The buses provide access but the space provided has a bell pole in the middle of it.

To turn into the space without causing damage to other passengers could be an Olympic event and that is before you have to go backwards to alight.

Members of the anti-tram lobby have a very good case, and very few citizens will have one in their area but accessible travel for all needs to be addressed in the long term.

Doris M H Duff

Belmont Gardens

Edinburgh