FOLLOWING £1.5M expenditure at the start of a plan to repair the capital’s neglected promenade roadway, the horse tramway’s southern terminus now has a lengthy traffic island where passengers can stand and await the arrival of the next tramcar.
Some 10-months of work have produced amongst other things “wide granite footways” between Peveril Square and Walpole Avenue including “improvements to the landward side of the carriageway up to, but not including the existing horse tram tracks.”
As can be seen from the photograph, the new island does not follow the alignment of the tramlines, as it is intended to move the horse tramway towards the seaward side of the roadway at a future date.
At the time of writing, none of the the estimated £17M budget for the promenade scheme as a whole was available to provide either a seat or shelter for any prospective tramway passengers. And it may come as no surprise to some observers that thanks to the infrequency and cost of the tram service indicated by signs (INSET), some may choose to walk, or a (small) family, intent on getting to the other end of the promenade, may choose to spend less than the price of just two and a half tram tickets (£8) on a taxi.
“Always a tramcar in sight” was a maxim of many a tramway operator and in Douglas until the early 1980s, a 2½ minute headway at peak times and a service to suit promenade revellers until at least 10.30pm with a maximum fare of less than 30 pence - the tramway was heavily used. Times have changed - but there is a tipping point where infrequency and cost can make a service unviable and pointless.
Recently there have been questions over the continuation of the Horse Tramway’s survival, owing to a projected loss this year of £250,000. Clearly a sensible re-appraisal of the purpose, value and contribution (and its part in a £17M 'regeneration') of what many think should be the ‘Jewel in the Crown' of the Island's capital is overdue.
It beggars belief that in the face of all this expenditure on road repairs (which has included the nearby Jubilee Clock being “moved a bit to the left”) the appeal and attraction of the world’s only remaining municipal horse tramway, the potential of its (threatened) stables containing as they do a unique opportunity to meet and interact with appealing working horses, and a depot with a fleet of original open and closed tramcars has not been has not been more closely considered.
As the internationally recognised Horse Tramway faces extinction, the good news is that the end result of this revamp will, according to officials “help to re-establish the status of the promenade as the gateway to the capital and the island.”
In other news, a scheme published today by the Manx Government sees a plan for “Demolition of the Sea Terminal and its replacement with a bold state-of-the-art facility, creation of a Winter Gardens and the construction of a new bridge over the river at the Nunnery...”