Re: New Melbourne trams have fewer seats than the old ones but they're longer!

["Test For Echo" <testforecho@ultranet.ca>]

David McLoughlin <davemclNOSPAM@iprolink.co.nz> wrote in article
<399E13FC.6518@iprolink.co.nz>...
> David Bromage wrote:
> > 
> > David McLoughlin (davemclNOSPAM@iprolink.co.nz) wrote:
> 
> > > Somebody really seems to have goofed with this new tram order.
Longer
> > > trams with fewer seats?  The proverbial will hit the fan in a big
way
> > > the moment these trams hit the streets or the useless Melbourne
news
> > > media get a tip-off.
> > 
> > Welcome to reality. Low floor vehicles usually have fewer seats.
Wait
> > until all the older buses are replaced with low floor versions,
which also
> > have fewer seats.
> 
> 
> The issue of fewer seats in low-floor buses has been an ongoing
debate
> in the mtu-t group. It appears that in North America, low-floor buses
> are not very well designed and have fewer seats than standard buses
> because they don't have seats over the wheel wells, for example. But
> low-floor buses here in NZ have as many seats as high-floor buses.

Agreed that our low-floors aren't the best designed in terms of
interior seating. Ironically it was the mobility-challenged persons
these buses were designed to serve that were the first to complain
about the low-floors. Wierd.
 
> I think the issue with the new Melbourne trams is not that they are
> low-floor, but that they are European designed and built for the
shorter
> routes in compact European cities. European buses and trams have long
> had fewer seats than buses and trams in Australia (and NZ and Canada
and
> the US) where cities sprawl more and transit routes are longer and
thus
> people are not as happy to stand as they are in Europe.

Let's see if I get this straight. Melbourne is purchasing trams from a
European supplier and these trams will be built in Europe and shipped
to Australia. Why can't the Melbourne transit authorities specify an
interior seating design that meets their needs? Or do they not care
about their customers? Australia has designed and built their own trams
in the past, why not this order? Is it because the European product is
better and costs less per unit including shipping? Okay, that's a good
reason for choosing the European bidder. But you'd think the
company/consortium would want to build a product suited to Melbourne.
It's called customer satisfaction.

Just pondering ...
Cheers
Alex