Readers' Best Comments

It's groundhog day . . .

JulesF

Croydon tramlink . . .

Construction started Jan 1997.

Operational May 2000

17 miles of track with 38 stops.

Total cost of construction: 200 million.

I don't think we can be trusted with independence quite frankly if the trams/parliament building is indicative of our ability to manage capital projects.

Louis Catorze

Scrap it now. Cut the losses

Alternative (High Octane) Fuel Head

Political finger-pointing and TIE failings aside, there is the very real and very practical issue of a funding deficit.

My reading of the project is that the initial 45m contribution by the council has not even been sourced, let alone an overspend above this amount. With the project continuing to bomb, the funding gap over 545m will only increase. Seriously, where is this money going to appear from?

Steven P

Having concluded several years ago from TIE's background papers that this project may well never be delivered as promised, I hope the press now keep up the momentum to ascertain the true status of the tram project. If not, I have little doubt that TIE will spin it all out as long as possible whilst they work their way through what remains of our considerable investment.

With members of the public and even, it seems, our politicians having been refused information by TIE for the last two years on the basis of "commercial sensitivity/confidentiality" or some such nonsense, then it seems the media is our best hope of getting some up-to-date information.

At a time when council services are being cut, with more cuts to come over the next decade, I think it is imperative that we have robust information regarding the largest capital project we have ongoing.

Sarah B

Despite your gripes about the tram project, a new survey has found that Edinburgh residents are a happy bunch . . .

It's worth noting that, despite spending 34 grand on a survey of questionable merit, no-one seems to have asked whether people are happy with the state of public transport in the city.

The shambolic road works throughout the city (and not just the ones for the trams) have effectively destroyed what was once an, allegedly, award-winning bus service.

Americanbob

Oh, no I think it is much improved. I enjoyed the challenge of working out just where exactly some of the bus routes have been diverted over the past few years. The added challenge of working out where exactly some of them are likely to stop in the Princes Street area has also been great fun.

Liz

We'll see just how content they are when the bills have to be paid for all this. Once the lid is lifted off the council tax freeze there'll be many people in Edinburgh locating to East and West Lothian. Only those on benefit and the very rich will be able to afford the new rates.

Black Five

Perhaps they didn't survey any of our online contributors.