Taxi Driver Online

Edinburgh trams expected to run at operating loss,
Trams are due to return to Edinburgh next year




Edinburgh's trams will run at an operating loss over the next 15 years, according to the council's first full financial projections for the scheme.

The £776m project is due to begin running in July next year.

A report to councillors said the trams would need an initial start-up loan of up to £3m.

The council expects to receive £51m in payments and dividends over 15 years. However, it will pay out £85m in maintenance and refurbishment costs.

Lothian Buses is expected to generate a £33m dividend for the council over the same period.

However, when the costs of the tram scheme are included, the profit drops to £5m.
Financial risk

The council has confirmed it will absorb any losses if the trams do not perform as well as expected.

A spokeswoman for the council said: "The council would carry the financial risk on that."

Lesley Hinds, Edinburgh City Council's transport convener, added: "Although the arrangements are still in draft form, we'll ensure that any dividend drawn from income will go back into Edinburgh's transport system and that there will be no financial impact on the city's bus service.

"We'll ensure that ticketing and timetabling are fully integrated across bus and tram and I'm determined that all modes of transport in Edinburgh are considered as we develop our approach."

Professor Richard Kerley, Queen Margaret University's local government finance expert, said: "I am slightly surprised that the projected figures for cash transfers and dividends are so firm when you don't have tram lines up and running yet."

It was originally intended that the trams would run from Edinburgh Airport to Newhaven in the north, at a cost of £545m.

They will now terminate in York Place in the city centre, with the project costing £776m


I think anyone from anywhere would have could have told them that..

An absolute disgrace of a project!!

_________________
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Well considering the article states they will run at an operating loss for quite some time I wonder who the council will pass these losses on to??

_________________
"I'm going to tell you the story about the geese which fly 5,000 miles from Canada to France. They fly in V-formation but the second ones don't fly. They're the subs for the first ones. And then the second ones take over - so it's teamwork."

How are they meant to run with all that traffic chaos happening up there, then competition from the other bus services, all it would take is for a few busses or lorries who cannot drive at the side of the road to block the line and then the tram would have to crawl along

Nice..

I wonder if Jasbar will get in front of one, with a sign saying i want my own plate

Just a thought, will they have to scrap the bus lanes along the rout???

Skippy you're a genius! Jizzy i'm not sure you'll get your own tram but they might let you drive one! We need a people person such as yourself giving tourists a fantastic first impression. Come on Jizzy a new dawn awaits! I'm excited for you.....

_________________
"I'm going to tell you the story about the geese which fly 5,000 miles from Canada to France. They fly in V-formation but the second ones don't fly. They're the subs for the first ones. And then the second ones take over - so it's teamwork."

Well, I did, many times.

I said at the outset that the trams were always going to be a subsidy junky. When truncated to stop at York Place, it only made it even more certain that they would run at a profit.

Will the council scrap the excellent, and popular, airport bus service, to force more to use the trams?

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Naw, I'll just hang a skippy41 sign around my neck and call out in traditional Town Crier fashion how happy I am to be a cabbniggr.

PRATT!

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Who's baby was this anyway, was it The Edinburgh Council or the then Labour led Scottish governments?