Leeds shouldn’t fall into Manchester's trap: trams are not the answer

It’s a northern European city with a metropolitan population of between two and two and a half million people. It’s a major regional economic and financial centre. It’s known for its love of beer and is threaded with rivers and canals.

I could be talking about Leeds, but when I add that it has a state-of-the-art metro system, you’ll realise that I’m not. No, I’ve got another city in mind: Copenhagen.

The Danish capital has an economy almost twice the size of West Yorkshire (£132 billion in GDP vs £75 billion). And arguably the greatest factor in its success is the brilliance of its transport network.

Rewind to the early 1990s, and both cities were in a similar place when it came to public transport: a bleak one. But this is where their paths diverged. Leeds fought valiantly for a tram, and we all know how that went. Copenhagen went for a much bigger vision — and pulled it off.

Copenhagen doesn’t have the largest system in the world; indeed, the whole metro only has an annual ridership of 135 million across all four of its lines, roughly half of what the Elizabeth Line in London carries alone. But it has been transformative, spurring urban regeneration right across the city.

Back in Leeds, 35 years have passed. And yet, if you dropped someone from the 1990s into today’s city, they wouldn’t notice much difference in the conversation about the city’s transport hopes. Now, as then, they are all pinned on one thing: a tram.

This, we are told, will be the silver bullet; the godsend that will transform our fortunes and bring about a long-awaited economic boom, dragging us up the table to rival similar-sized cities across Europe. In trams we trust. 

It’s the widely accepted orthodoxy around here. It is also completely and utterly wrong.