Most recent tramway developments in Britain have been restricted to a few transport corridors by the expense of the heavyweight systems used.
The proposed system is based on the 1904 system which was very successful in Bath. The public transport needs have changed surprisingly little since that time because the the increase in residential housing has been constrained by the geography of the City.
The City Centre Circle represents a major departure from previous practice and the peripheral services have been extended to newer suburbs and Park+Ride sites.
The planning of the 1904 system appears to be based on sound principles. The length of track being balanced against the number of properties served.
These historic details are of great value as they illustrate the underlying principles of tramway planning which still apply today. A great deal of future trouble may be avoided by a thorough understanding of the causes of previous successes and failures.
The proposal to use lightweight track and vehicles for Bath, opens up the economic construction of a network of routes which will serve a greater proportion of the population and be much more effective at reducing car use.
As an example, the Oldfield Park route might have saved some track by following the Twerton route as far as Brougham Hayes, then turning south towards Moorland Road. If it had done so, it would have missed considerable patronage from the Upper and Lower Olfield Park area, Junction Road and Shaftsbury Road . It would have only passed a few extra frontages in Brougham Hayes itself and these were within walking distance of the Twerton route in any case.
An additional penalty for using Lower Oldfield Park in preference to Brougham Hayes, was the need for five special low-decked cars which could pass under the low railway bridge at Westmoreland Station Road; but it must be presumed that the extra revenue gained more than compensated for any expenditure on this account.