Edinburgh embraces the tram with extension plans

摘要

As work begins on the 4.7km (2.9-mile) extension to Newhaven, the City of Edinburgh Council has announced further ambitious plans to extend its tram network. The Council's bold ten-year transport vision considerably reduces the car's access to the city centre, replacing it with a proposed tram loop. A longer-term plan includes extending the network over North Bridge to the BioQuarter medical and life sciences centre and the Royal Infirmary. So how is it that a city that was so conflicted over the introduction of its first tramline has now embraced the concept so wholeheartedly? Carrying over seven million passengers in 2018 (a 10% increase on the year before), surveys always show overwhelming support of the mode, and in the five years since opening it has become a vital part of the urban fabric of the Scottish capital.