Summary of London Assembly Liberal Democrat Group position on the West London Tram Link

5.22.47pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 8th Oct 2004

· On the basis of the very detailed information given to the Liberal Democrat Assembly members and research team by Transport for London's Project Team, they cannot at this stage support the continuation of the West London Transit project proposed by the Mayor of London.

· Liberal Democrats do not believe that at a currently estimated cost of £650 million, building a tramway along the Uxbridge Road from Shepherds Bush to Uxbridge will be good value for money for Londoners. They note that the original estimate given for the project was around £425 million.

· They are not satisfied the "pinch points" along the route, especially at Acton High Street and Ealing Broadway, will be satisfactorily resolved by the current proposals, or that the concerns of residents in Ealing Borough about traffic displacement from the tram route have been met.

· Liberal Democrats believe Transport for London have grossly overestimated the costs and underestimated the benefits of an alternative electric trolleybus scheme for the route. It has been represented to the Assembly's Transport Committee that a Transit scheme using trolleybuses, with most of the benefits of the tram and indeed certain advantages over it, could be provided at one-eighth of the cost of a tram. Even if the trolleybus cost was one quarter of the tram cost, it would represent a saving of £487 million.

Transport for London accept that their original consultation was inept. The anxieties of residents were unnecessarily alarmed by the original document which indicated that residential side roads would be used to divert traffic from the Uxbridge Road when the tramway was built. Although huge efforts have been made since by TfL to work with residents' and community groups, the situation remains that 30 of these groups (who worked for many hours with TfL's Project Team) came out in opposition to the tram proposal earlier this year.

Liberal Democrats accept that it is the sincere conviction of the Mayor and the Project Team that the West London Tram is a necessary - indeed vital - development along a route corridor that is projected to become even more seriously congested over the next ten years. Their mindset is manifestly that while they will make every effort to accommodate and ameliorate objections from the local community and business people the tram must go through. The assumption continues to be that everyone in the area and travelling through it will in time adapt to the West London Tram.

Liberal Democrats do not accept that Transport for London necessarily know better than local communities what is in their best interests. They are concerned that TfL's focus on the Tram as the only acceptable solution has caused them to devalue other solutions to the Uxbridge Road's traffic problems.

The most attractive of these alternatives appears to us to be the electric trolleybus. We should stress that we do not know whether the trolleybus is a practicable solution, but it appears to have considerable benefits. It seems very odd indeed that it has not been considered more seriously - especially in TfL's very difficult financial situation.

Modern trolleybus systems are highly successful in dozens of cities worldwide. The vehicles, being electric, are emission-free, providing very rapid acceleration and a smooth and silent ride. Indeed the individual cars can be almost identical to the tramcars, except that they have rubber wheels and can be steered. There is no need for expensive permanent way or a deep trackbed which may involve disturbing mains and services. The trolleybus has a facility whereby it can disconnect from the overhead wires and run on batteries - giving it a flexibility to go off route (or for example uphill to Ealing Hospital entrance) - which the tram cannot match and which might be vital in emergencies.

Two trolleybuses operating in convoy could carry 280 passengers - very little short of the single tram. When the trolleybus encounters illegally parked vehicles (Ealing Borough Council officers have explained that it is extremely difficult to enforce against such parking) it can manoeuvre round them. A tram would have to stop until the parked vehicle in its path was removed. It may well be that drivers would be less likely to park on tramtracks but we have no confidence that this can be guaranteed.

Liberal Democrats are NOT proposing a trolleybus system, but we do call on the Mayor and Transport for London to investigate this very much cheaper alternative more seriously - not least because it may also be appropriate for other public transport routes that need to be upgraded elsewhere in London.