A new tram system for Shrewsbury? What do you think?

Should Shrewsbury have a tram system, to give residents and visitors the option to travel around the town quickly, safely and without the need for a car?

That’s one question being put to local residents and businesses as part of a public engagement exercise that has seen a number of ideas published for improving transport and travel in north east Shrewsbury – if funding becomes available.

With the challenges of climate change and reducing carbon emissions, one of the proposed ideas is for Shropshire Council to create a tram system in Shrewsbury.

New electric technologies are significantly reducing the cost of installing trams: current costs are approximately £7 million per km (versus £35-60 million per km for existing conventional tram systems)​. They can be manned or unmanned, run every few minutes, and will have a lower running costs than conventional trams, meaning ticket prices are lower. Being electric their impact on the environment would be much lower than electric or diesel buses.

The tram proposals could allow Shropshire Council to work with stakeholders to reopen unused/closed railway lines, and create a network that links key strategic sites to each other.

The early proposals would deliver an efficient link into Shrewsbury for outlying villages and would help to directly connect strategic sites such as park and ride sites, the hospital, the sports village and the town centre.

Do you think Shrewsbury would benefit from a town-wide tram system? Would you and your family use a tram? Views and comments about this and and a number of other proposals can be shared via the public survey found using this link until Thursday 25 November 2021.