Boris Johnson abandons £170M plan to extend Croydon Tramlink to Crystal Palace (From Croydon Guardian)

Wasn't this all over the news last week?

Arr... "lack of funding eh" well the bubble has well and truely burst in this country - personally, there is nothing wrong with the exsisting transport network - and it's welcome news that the already congested streets will not be dug up for years to come installing trams - I did hear that hardly anyone buys a ticket on these trams anymore in certain areas!!

It doesn't make sense. Roads don't necessarily need to be dug up to put down tran tracks; they can be put down fairly easily wherever there's already a backstreet, or a driveway, or a mud-track, or a disused railway line, or a disused canal bed. Indeed, putting down tram tracks may even be cheaper than tarmacking over such routes and turning them into roads.

Trams can take much sharper corners and climb steeper hills than ordinary trains, or even tube trains. And Crystal Palace is a very hilly area, which is why the TV transmitter is there. There's absolutely no way that the tube is going to reach Crystal Palace any time soon.

Can't deny that Crossrail would probably be useful to many many more people, though. But I anticipate that it will all be suited businessy types, rather than scruffy council estate kids. And the Crossrail fares will be priced accordingly. My point is, I believe the Tramlink extension will do far more for social inclusiveness, and breaking down the barriers between the rich and the poor, than the Crossrail will. And it should be much cheaper too.

That said, ideally we should have both. It shouldn't have to be one or the other.