Will Bristol ever get a tram network?

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has committed to "making progress" on a mass transit system for Bristol - leaning into a decades-long saga that has left the West of England as one of the biggest city regions in the country without a tram or light rail.

"Mass transit" can include buses, trams and trains - the key is the service moves separately to other vehicles, preventing it from getting stuck in traffic.

Labour's West of England Mayor Helen Godwin has already allocated £150m to develop a mass transit "vision", with the aim of work starting within five years.

But government funding to deliver the project has not been guaranteed. A similar project for a tram system in Leeds is set to cost £2.1bn.

"The big cities of England... should have mass transit systems," Burnham said. "I'm talking about Leeds, I'm talking about Bristol.

"I will work with the wonderful mayor of the West of England, Helen Godwin, to make progress on that.

"To connect Bristol, its new arena, the station, the development at Temple Meads, into a mass transit system that takes Bristol forward."

In the early 1900s, Bristol did have a tram system. It was scrapped after World War Two, when buses were becoming more popular.

Plans for a Supertram were revived in the late 1990s when the Labour government at the time made what would now equate to roughly £1bn available for a tram network between Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

Susannah Peacock was a consultant working on the project in the early 2000s.

"It was supposed to be a jewel in everybody's crown," she said, explaining how three routes were designed to connect Temple Meads and Parkway, Bristol Airport, and South Gloucestershire. "It was so exciting. There were people working 12-hour days on it."

But there were disagreements between councils over a connection to Cribbs Causeway. On the day a funding agreement was due to be signed, the South Gloucestershire representative did not attend, Peacock said.

"We all had to be in the room at midday on the dot," she remembers, explaining that the signed document needed to be couriered to London by the end of the working day. "But this guy from South Gloucestershire doesn't turn up. We call, and his secretary says he's not taking any calls."

The funding was taken from the West and went to Nottingham instead.

In 2016, the final Bristol mayor, Labour's Lord Rees, proposed the city should have an underground system, arguing three metro routes could be delivered within a decade at a cost of £4bn.

That figure was dismissed in 2023 by the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), which believed the scheme could cost up to £18bn.

Lord Rees said the prime minister's words amounted to "great news".

"If we'd had an environment like this that matched our ambition and the technology available, we'd be five, six years into it by now," he added.

A lot of focus has been on the connection to the airport, which is one of just a handful across the UK without a direct rail link.

At Prime Minister's Questions, the Labour MP for North Somerset, Sadik Al-Hassan, said it risked "becoming one of the worst-connected major airports in the country".

But Weca is also developing plans along several other routes - from Brabazon across to Emersons Green, as well as along the A4 corridor between Bristol and Bath, and linking out to Midsomer Norton.

The combined authority has not specified whether these connections will be bendy buses, an electric-powered tram or a light railway.

Bristol's Green party leader on the city council, councillor Emma Edwards, said having a tram system was "a long-term goal and a dream I share with many," but added that "improving bus connectivity for the whole region is the first step".

The Greens hold the largest number of elected councillors on the council and would like to see the prime minister helping the region to move forward with bus franchising.

"While a tram system would be a welcome addition, Bristol and the wider region still face significant connectivity challenges that only a well-funded and reliable bus network can address," Edwards added.

Liberal Democrat leader of North Somerset Council, Mike Bell, said buses were "a critical part of the mix".

"Investing in bus services delivers results far quicker than a multi-billion pound, 30-year programme around light rail or trams," he said.

Unsurprisingly, Godwin welcomed the warm words from Andy Burnham, saying "people are right to be optimistic for the future of transport in the West of England."

"Council leaders and I share a determination to finally start building modern mass transit within four years," she added.

"I am planning to share a longer-term plan much sooner so people can see our ambitious direction of travel and how everything would fit together."

But, while the mood music is much more positive than it has been, many remain sceptical given the lack of detail and historic failure to deliver.

"The key test is not whether ministers support the principle of mass transit, but whether they are prepared to commit the funding needed to build it," said the leader of the Bristol Conservatives, councillor Mark Weston.

"People in Bristol have heard these promises before and will understandably judge this latest announcement by results rather than rhetoric.

"We all await with interest the concrete plans, timetable, and funding commitments that emerge from this recognition that Bristol has fallen behind many other major cities in transport infrastructure."