http://www.mers.org.im/merspressreleasejul162007.htm

Sloan

Reminds me of the Mayor of San Francisco who advocated getting rid of cable cars. As I recall, his political career was rather short after that. Having ridden MER and even operated one of their trams, one hopes this ill-advised idea goes to scrap and not the cars.

This was long before I lived in San Francisco. But the bumbell suggested making a circle around Union Square and running the cars there.

The City and City council got so mad that they amended the city charter to keep the cars running.

And that was many years before the 1980s re-build where they spent $50 million on the cable car system.

It may have been the voters who signed a petition to put a referendum on the ballot, which the voters voted for, against some politicians wishes! You can do that in California.

As for the Isle of Man, back in the 1950s there was a Manx politician who said that it would be cheaper to provide buses for the tourists who came to ride the trams!

Looks like Manx trams will continue. Scroll down to Isle of Man item to note that Isle of Man government is funding some track improvement.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view ... _2007.html

Sloan