City's new public transport 'not a bus', mayor says

The vehicles are being trialled to see they will handle things like roundabouts

People have had a first look at the latest additions to a city's public transport network - amid fierce debate over what to call them.

Trials have started on Liverpool's roads to see how the new "rapid transit vehicles" will handle things like roundabouts when they start carrying passengers in 2028.

Critics have described the 59ft (18m) vehicles as "bendy buses" and have said they do not compare with Manchester's Metrolink tram network.

But metro mayor Steve Rotheram insisted the vehicle on show this week was a "trackless tram", adding: "If you take the tyres off and put it on rails, it's a tram."

Rotheram added: "It doesn't feel like a bus inside because a bus doesn't have the headroom.

"It's a very different type of vehicle – it's got three sets of doors, so people can get on and off quickly and its 30% bigger than a double decker bus."

In Belfast the vehicles are called gliders. Their official name is rapid transit vehicles.

Inside, they have seating and standing areas, dark mustard-coloured padded seats and a grey floor flecked with gold sparkles.

In other cities with rapid transit networks, passengers buy their tickets before boarding, speeding journeys up.

The 18m long single-decker rapid transit vehicle are set to be in use in Liverpool in 2028

Initial routes will link Liverpool John Lennon airport with the city centre and Everton's new Hill Dickinson stadium.

In Belfast, gliders use dedicated lanes on the city's roads, and Rotheram said some infrastructure improvements would be needed to in Liverpool to accommodate the vehicles.

He said roundabouts might need to be taken out to "make it easier for these very long vehicles to get through the narrow confines of some of the roads".

He added: "We want some dedicated road space – not for the whole route, because that causes difficulties for cars, but we want it to have some space where it can make rapid progress and shorten the time people spend on public transport."

"If you take the tyres off and put it on rails, it's a tram," Rotheram says

Plans for a tram system in Liverpool date back decades, but they never came to fruition.

The metro mayor said: "We should have had a tram – there should be trams running here now – but that was abandoned because the Lib Dem council in Liverpool didn't believe in it."

The Liberal Democrats did run the city at the time the tram project was initially scrapped, but it was the Labour government which said it wouldn't fund the increased costs.

Rotheram said a "future benefactor" may decide to give Liverpool "billions" to spend on a tram system and if that happened, the infrastructure for the tram would be boosted by the work going on to accommodate the gliders.

What are people saying?

Critics have claimed the rapid transit system is not ambitious enough, that Liverpool should have trams, and be bolder about prioritising public transport on the roads.

Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Liverpool City Council Carl Cashman said: "The fact we've got a bendy bus while Manchester gets more investment in their tram network says everything.

"Labour are prepared to allow Liverpool to play second fiddle to Manchester.

"It's embarrassing that we've got a bendy bus, we need a tram."

Leader of the Liverpool Community Independents Alan Gibbons said: "Where is the ambition? We should have been planning and building a Merseyrail extension to the airport and a tram system like the one in Manchester."

But some members of the public who saw the branded vehicle for the first time were more positive.

Kieron, who was on a visit to his home city from Dubai where he now lives, said he was impressed with the vehicles but didn't know what to call them.

He said: "They are brilliant.

"This is a great feature. I like how clean they are, and I like the bend in the middle. Even getting from South Parkway to the airport, you've got to get a taxi – so these will be brilliant."

Rotheram added: "People haven't seen what this is, and they've heard this thing that it's just a bendy bus.

"Well go and ask the manufacturers who manufacture buses whether this a bendy bus, they'll tell you this is completely different.

"Basically, if you take the tyres off and put it on rails, it's a tram."

He added: "I'm not bothered if people call it a bendy bus, they can call it what they want.

"What I want people to do is experience it and then they can make their mind up."