abstract
| - Following years of transport studies in Edinburgh — two bills were submitted to the Scottish Parliament to reintroduce a tram network to Edinburgh. Both bills were passed in March/April 2006, and received Royal Assent. Movement of underground utilities commenced in Spring 2007, once the draft business case had been accepted by the Scottish Executive. As of October 2006, the scheme is being developed and designed under a joint design contract lead by Parsons Brinkerhoff and Halcrow, and overseen by Transport initiatives edinburgh (tie), a company wholly owned by the City of Edinburgh Council. Currently, work is ongoing to refine previous designs and to undertake survey work where needed in preparation for moving of utilities and later network construction. Once the network becomes operational it will be operated by Transdev who were awarded the contract in 2004 to help develop, and eventually operate the network. Ticketing and fares will be fully integrated with Lothian Buses. The fare for a single journey on the tram network will be the same as on Lothian Buses, expected to be around £1.25 when the network opens in 2011. Day tickets and Ridacards will be valid on both the trams and buses. Estimated date of opening for Phase 1a is July 2011, at a cost of £512 million.
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