Both  are raising objections to the scheme's controversial traffic management proposals and have joined the campaigners against plans to stop traffic turning right into Blenheim Place from London Road.

Tram bosses plan to ban right turns into the street as part of a city-wide series of traffic management measures due to be brought in once the trams are up and running. But local business and residents say that will leave historic streets such as Blenheim Place and Royal Terrace like a "gated community."

Nearby Regent Terrace, home to the US consulate was closed to traffic since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Now hundreds of local residents and businesses have objected to plans to ban right turns into Blenheim Place, a move they say would cut off one of the few remaining access points to the streets above London Road and accordingly have commissioned a professional transport study which recommends the council and tram firm TIE look again at the proposal.

A straddled approach to road congestion
Time perhaps to take a leaf out of the China traffic approach, and develop a Straddling Tram. In China, the Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment Co Ltd has developed the Straddling Bus, a public transport solution that drives over the top of cars on a slightly modified road. It is able to stop without interrupting the traffic flow and also to glide over any traffic congestion.

The Straddle Bus requires only modification to existing roads, and the creation of a network of elevated bus stops. The road modifications can either be inlaid rails – at a 30% energy saving, due to lack of rolling resistance – or simply a painted coloured line, which the buses are programmed to follow autonomously, as they roll on regular tires.

The solar/grid electric powered buses charge themselves by relay charging. All along each route, there are charging stations positioned in such a way that there is always a charging post in contact with the bus. The roof of the bus is itself an electrical conductor, so as it brushes against one of these charging posts, it's juiced up as it runs.

As its main load is starting and stopping at each station, the bus runs on high-power, fast-discharge supercapacitors. The remaining energy after a start sustains the bus through to the next stop.


Construction on the Straddle Bus starts at the end of this year. The interesting question is will its production beat "the efficient tram network for Edinburgh scheduled to be running on the Capital’s streets by 2011?"