Cardiff moved car based transport to light rail trams - Prof Barry -Why?

This is an Afternoon Invitation Only-Meeting at the offices of Burgess Salmon for Senior Transport Civil Servants and Politicians, with limited spaces.

Time: 1545 for 1600 prompt start.

Please note there is an evening event on the same day at 1900 at the Bristol Royal Infirmary for which tickets are rapidly disappearing:

Professor Mark Barry, About Mark Barry – Mark Barry (swalesmetroprof.blog) is the driving force behind Cardiff's new tram and light rail approach to dealing with congestion; improving connectivity, and growing the economy - the logic being that people can then reliably and cheaply commute to jobs. Indeed t is the policy of many large companies not to invest in cities unless they have a good tram-based transport system according to the driving force behind the successful Nottingham trams, Roger Harrisson; as otherwise they know they can't call on a large pool of labour. Can Bristol and Bath can learn from Cardiff?

How and why do light rail/trams improve employment and the local economy and environment? Having removed nearly all its trams post-war, why has France reinstalled them in all its major cities?

The project covers the wider Cardiff Capital Region, with 1.6M people in 10 local authorities. The Welsh Government (via Transport for Wales) is leading the Metro project.

It was recognized that basing the commute into Cardiff on cars from up to 30 miles away was slow, inconvenient, and did not boost local growth and the economy, unlike light rail and trams which do promote growth.

Nor was only bus and car-based based transport sustainable from the environmental approach.

The event is organized by the Bristol Civic Society, Bristol Rail Campaign (FoSBR), Bath & Bristol Area Trams Association - (bathtrams.uk).

Many thanks to Burges Salmon for providing the venue.

Back Ground Notes:

Here is a recent pre-feasibility study on light rail for Bristol and Bath - Bristol Tram Feasibility Report — West of England Shared Transport and Active Travel Network (westact.org)

A recent report by the National Infrastructure Commission says Government should commit to long-term funding of £22 billion for major transport projects in cities - NIC and Bristol gets a specific mention for a tram system.

Poor public transport (buses and no trams/light rail) explains uk’s poor productivity - Bristol & Bath Area Trams Association (bathtrams.uk)

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The offices of Burgess Salmon. One Glass Wharf, Bristol, BS2 0ZX, United Kingdom