Creating a new 21st century tram network for Bristol and Bath looks set to be one of the major campaign pledges for some of the leading candidates to be the next Metro Mayor of the West of England, Bristol Live can reveal.
Heather Mack, a Bristol city councillor who has been named as the Green Party’s candidate for the Metro Mayor election next May, said a tram network was ‘definitely on the cards’, after a presentation to local politicians on the idea from one of the nation’s leading experts on trams.
Cllr Mack (Green, Lockleaze) joined the Green Party group leader at City Hall, Cllr Emma Edwards and other key figures in the region, for the presentation by Dr David Walmsley, a transport analyst and leading expert on the creation of tram networks in cities in the UK.
Trams, or a ‘light rail system’ have been introduced or reintroduced in Birmingham and the West Midlands, Newcastle, Sunderland, Sheffield, Rotherham, Nottingham, Greater Manchester, Edinburgh and Croydon – but not in Bristol, where the tram network was shut down after the generator building in Redcliffe was bombed in 1941.
Creating a mass rapid transit system has been something talked about in Bristol and the West of England for years, but neither of the two metro mayors – Conservative Tim Bowles and Labour’s Dan Norris – have got further than initial studies into whether it’s possible.
Former Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees consistently said any mass transit system would have to go underground once the lines got near the city centre, or they would either exclude other traffic or end up just as stuck in that traffic as buses do in pinch-points like Gloucester Road, Bedminster Parade, Church Road and Bath Road. The arguments over what any tram or underground system would look like overshadowed the attempts to put together a coherent plan to raise the billions any scheme would require.
Now, the idea of creating some kind of mass transit system looks set to be a major issue at the next Metro Mayor election, in May 2025. Cllr Mack, the Green Party candidate, said the meeting with tram expert Dr Walmsley was ‘brilliant’. “I’m excited about the prospect of bringing trams to Bristol and Bath, we need to create the system and the right environment for the demand to follow,” she posted on BlueSky.
“(It’s) definitely on the cards. Underground sections make it a lot more expensive, but I’ll need to see the full feasibility study to see if it’s necessary,” she added.
Bristol’s Green group leader Cllr Edwards was equally enthusiastic. “We learned trams are not only feasible, but vital for a growing city that is trying to decarbonise and be accessible. What we need is the political will, which is why we need a Green Metro Mayor for the region like Heather Mack,” she said.
The Labour candidate for the next Metro Mayor is former Bristol city councillor Helen Godwin, who was backed by Marvin Rees and a member of his cabinet during his eight years in office at City Hall.
She has pledged to ‘revamp transport’, with ‘delivering the mass transit solutions we need’ on her list, which also includes ‘reliable buses for every area, more trains, free travel for 16-19 year-olds, extended diamond passes, safe and step-free transport and integrated ticketing’.
Transport in Bristol and Bath is now the responsibility of the West of England Combined Authority, under the Metro Mayor, and the lack of a mass rapid transit system – which would cost billions to create but then bring in substantial revenue – has long been cited by current Metro Mayor Dan Norris as the key reason why the bus network can’t be brought under public control under a franchising deal. Other cities, including London and Manchester, have the financial ability to run the buses using subsidies from the tram or light rail system.
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