Question reference: S6W-12693
- Date lodged: 29 November 2022
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Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 December 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what basis was used to determine that "up to around 15 kilometres" from Glasgow city centre should be the area to be considered for the Clyde Metro transport system.
Answer
A benchmarking exercise was undertaken, as part of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review’s appraisal of Clyde Metro. That work considered UK and international cities, with a comparable population to Glasgow for both the city itself and the wider urban areas and/or metropolitan area and a comparable mix of urban public transport offerings in terms of mode, historical systems, modern systems, etc.
Applying this criteria, resulted in the identification of a list of thirteen cities across the UK and eight other European countries, comprising:
- Newcastle (UK);
- Manchester (UK)
- Copenhagen (Denmark);
- Dortmund (Germany);
- Dusseldorf (Germany);
- Rotterdam (The Netherlands);
- Bilbao (Spain);
- Lille (France),
- Gdansk (Poland);
- Nuremberg (Germany);
- Lyon (France);
- Helsinki (Finland); and
- Oslo (Norway).
The transport systems in each of the above cities was then reviewed against the following criteria; the different public transport systems on offer (e.g. commuter rail, metro, tram) and the interaction between these; the historical development of the network; socio economic factors; engineering aspects including underground running; density of stations; total length of network; and distance served by mode.
The average distance of Metro services was assessed at around 14km from a City Centre, while Tram has an average range of 9km and Commuter Rail has an average range of 40km. The 14km range is comparable to the urban area of greater Glasgow and Glasgow also had a good suburban rail network density. Therefore it was on this basis that Clyde Metro was put forward as a transport system serving up to around 15km in range from the city centre.