Underwired

What’s the difference between a trolleybus and a brassiere? Nothing. Both are underwired, both are supportive infrastructure, both are practical & fashionable at the same time and the effect of both can be quite electrifying. And both come in pairs, if like in Leeds the trolley is articulated.

Is it me or do I sense that planners dislike the humble bus and will only ever allow the bus to make a major contribution to congestion unless it’s disguised as something else.

Build a guided busway or provide other dedicated track (e.g. Swansea FTR) and you have a “scheme” that planners can get behind. Don't call it a bus but disguise it as something more up market. Such grand designs then have potential, they’re perceived differently and above all can attract the middle classes. Unlike the bus.

And so it is with the now fashionable Leeds trolleybus (itself given a rather nice scheme-like name, New Generation Transport). Basically, the tram failed and the bus wasn’t seen as quite good enough. Enter the trolleybus. Trolleybuses lend themselves a sense of permanence (no sudden overnight route changes). They’re different. Indeed, they are to commuting what yellow buses are to schools. In West Yorkshire, you’ll soon see both. Are yellow buses just another disguise? Paint a brand new school bus yellow and you suddenly have a product the CBI can get behind. Yet, any other school bus can bring similar benefits if managed correctly.

Having got that off my chest (ahem, back to bras?), I applaud Metro, the West Yorkshire PTE, for the success in gaining trolley funding. It will come as no surprise to readers that I am fond of them. Clean (at least at the point of delivery), quiet, smooth (assuming the roads are in good order) and swift, very swift. There’s a lot to commend them. Coupled with improvements in traffic signal technology to form “virtual” bus lanes plus actual segregation, Leeds has a product that’s likely to reduce highway capacity on the one hand but, through modal shift, improve highway capacity on the other.

Bravo to Leeds. Even if the trolleys will be articulated. Now, what about the rest of England? Forget the catenary, just let’s have some free roadspace so that the humble bus can become destigmatised and play a real role...