Saturday 1 July 2023

to Ellen Robottom

Hi Ellen

Many thanks for your prompt reply to my scattergun broadside to all and sundry, from my bed, as I woke up this morning, feeling so fresh and full of the joys of spring!

I live in heavenly Halesowen in the blackest, darkest, the bleak, backward and barren Black Country that destroys two of its mainline railways for flash, wealth-flaunting, prestigious, all-style-over-substance, trams.  We are a 1 million population on the W side of 1 m population Brum.

The billions comes from our splashing out on £15 billion to 2040 for 8 Metro tram lines, over 150 miles and 380 tram stops to go one better than Manchester, our rival for UK Second City (empty) status.  In the 1980s, it was to be 8 lines over 200 Kms by the year 2,000 AD.  Long since gone and never achieved!

I've read and re-read the Transport chapter in 'Climate Jobs: Building a workforce for the climate emergency'.  Everything in the book is brilliant.  I am not so happy about the lack of opposition to highly expensive and thus high GHG emitting tramlines, in their construction, that are so popular to replace buses and trains.

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