GIVE me the merest sniff of an opportunity to talk about transport and … ‘ducks’, buses and the occasional train all come steaming out faster than the 18A to Liberation Square.

No surprise, then, that I should seize on the suggestion to restore the old railway line to the purpose for which it was designed. This unique and attractive line was last used in 1936 when, having already lost out to the flexibility of the motor bus, the bulk of the rolling-stock owned by the Jersey Railway Company was destroyed in a mysterious fire at St Aubin’s station.

In the ashes we lost an alternative means of moving a growing population in a manner befitting any other modern grown-up conurbation. The Island’s topography restricts the concept to the southern coastal strip, and while St Helier remains the focus for commerce, schools and general people activity, the most densely used transport and commuter links will all converge here.

Permit me to indulge in a little people-moving speculation. Since most of the former railway route, if not the track-bed, still exists, a phoenix-like resurrection from La Corbière to St Helier could be performed using the sort of new hi-tech vehicles being introduced in cities in the UK and Europe.

By creating ‘hubs’, as they call them, where passengers have a park-and-ride option, say at La Moye, Red Houses (with a spur to the Airport) and Goose Green along the way, you could provide release from the daily traffic stranglehold along the western approaches.

Of course you would have to ensure that these were served by a frequent and regular service to town, particularly between 7 and 10 am and 4 and 7 pm.

I certainly have experienced these splendid sleek comfortable trams in places like Manchester and Bordeaux, where they extend out to the banlieu. The passenger take-up has surprised even the sceptics, has revitalised urban transportation and has slashed private traffic jams, all under the banner of an ‘enviro’ ticket.

It doesn’t currently feature on the Hopkins Masterplan, but think of what an enticing prospect for passengers arriving stress-free and newspaper-briefed on a cool, swish tramway system gliding effortlessly into (and with all this proposed digging going on, perhaps even below) the financial quarter, terminating at the original 1901 station, refurbished rather than neglected – all powered by the spin-off electricity created in the new energy-from-waste plant at La Collette – surprise, surprise, under the same ministerial portfolio.

I am aware that the Transport Minister is lukewarm to the notion of mass transit, but in an Island context the possibility of conveying anything more than 50-plus souls in quiet, smooth-running non-polluting vehicles has to be a huge plus. And because we Islanders have yet to adopt car-sharing, it could potentially remove 50 cars per tram cabin load from negotiating the Bel Royal chicane.

And don’t forget that Transdev, the operator with tram experience, is a fierce competitor in the bus business with Connex, which is indeed proposing to expand services on our most populated routes.

Without even hinting at that nasty C-word (competition), whatever the choice and wherever they might be operated now, one advantage we currently have over our pre-war train commuters is integration. When our ancestors were riding the rails, the Jersey Railway Company and Jersey Eastern Railway never actually met in the middle. They terminated at the Weighbridge and Snow Hill respectively. The JER succumbed to the all-conquering motor bus in 1929 and much of its line has since been built over, so no tramway opportunity eastwards, I’m afraid; it’ll have to be buses.

Now the minister has hinted at the possible reintroduction of double-decker buses. Of course, they played a huge part in shaping the JMT’s image before quietly slipping out of St Helier Harbour in a huddle of green and cream nostalgia strapped to the deck of the mv Nincop in 1971.

But as much as I’ll willingly sign up to their capacity for shifting large passenger loads on large city streets, I fear that reality has overtaken them as far as we’re concerned.

The last practical and rugged examples operating here were inherited from London Transport in the 1960s. These were crew-operated, had open platforms and, importantly, were only 7 ft 6 in wide.
Any modern replacement would necessarily be wider than the current Connex vehicles – which themselves breach our local road traffic width regulations by a wheel-nut.

Imagine the difficulties they would have passing each other, especially along sections of Route 1 to Gorey. We’d be back to tree-lopping and road-strengthening. And for passengers, at best there would be a pretty uncomfortable upper-deck ride, given the twisting roads; at worst, the risk of injury mounting and descending stairs for the same reasons – and, in the absence of conductors, an opportunity for vandalism.

So rather than double-deckers, I would plump for bendi-buses. I know they received a bad press when they first appeared in London, and Boris Johnson wanted them banned, even before he became London’s mayor. But they don’t have to be especially wide, they can handle passenger loadings more than a double-decker, and contrary to the views of detractors, they articulate easily round corners.
You can even buy examples with multiple sections and operate them on dedicated guideways. You can see where this is leading … not a million miles away from an alternative tramway concept but with increased flexibility, and certainly cheaper.

We have heard enough of own-goals recently in St Aubin’s Bay concerning both transport for tourists and road infrastructure. We are certainly in need of a positive feature. A state-of-the-art tramway could indeed become both a tourist attraction – albeit without the romantic steam – and a by-word for modern commuting efficiency.
All aboard …