What if?

In between my mountains of uni work over the last few weeks I have been working on a completely made up side project just for a bit of fun!

The Deep is one of Hull's biggest attractions, but its location at the opposite side of the busy A63 (Castle Street) to the rest of the city centre means it isn't especially easy to reach on foot due to the long waiting times needed to cross the road. This is even more true for the old fruit market which is now one of the most diverse and exciting areas in the city. A bridge over the road has been planned for a few years now but still hasn't materialised. I believe this is now planned for 2018, frustratingly a year after the City of Culture celebrations. 

After visiting various large cities over the last couple of years with fantastic public transport coupled with the problems reaching the fruit market area, this got me thinking: What if Hull had a modern day city centre tram system? 

Unlike most large cities it feels like Hull's public transport infrastructure has gone backwards. This is because Kingston Upon Hull actually had its own substantial tram network between 1896 and 1945 known as the City of Hull Tramways and later a trolleybus system which replaced the trams running from 1937 until prematurely closed in 1964. All of which were replaced by conventional diesel bus routes which largely survive to this day.

One of only 2 Hull trams to still exist located in the Streetlife Museum in the city centre

As to be expected there are next to no remains left in 2017 of either the tram or trolley bus systems which both sprawled along the 5 main roads from the city centre, so any proposed new system would have to completely start afresh. 

Hull Corporation trolleybus pictured in 1963

Some of the only remains of Hull's former tram network located at the old Wheeler Street depot on Anlaby Road

I decided that I would keep the system very compact with the primary aim of linking the individual areas of the city centre as well as the idea that it would allow the council to some extent ban cars from the area, improving the air quality. In reality the system I've come up with is far too small to ever be commercially viable but that is the beauty of projects like this!

I wanted to relate this new modern transport system to what had gone before it, therefore I settled on the brand name 'HULL TRAMWAY' a slight tweaking of the original title dating back to the late 1800s/early 1900s. I wanted to give this new entity a bold icon that sub-consciously breathes Hull, for this I took inspiration from arguably the most iconic piece of Hull architecture and engineering: The Humber Bridge. The local saying "You know when you're home when you see the bridge" I thought backed up the importance of this magnificent structure and verified its selection as inspiration for my logomark. 

 Upon its opening the Humber Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world

The towers of the bridge lend themselves quite well to representing the letter "H" which is the foundations of my design shown below. The colour scheme is a modernisation of the original pallette of dark crimson with gold which has matured into a ultra modern vibrant pink and orange.

As shown below the route of this proposed tram link would in effect act as a shuttle around the city centre, until reaching the fruit market and returning. The map I have developed is in the now conventional style featuring equally spaced stops with distances that are not to scale.

The livery builds on the strength of the icon using it to form a line across all of the carriages originating from the letter T, this is then mirrored at the other end of the vehicle. The bold pink of the colour scheme is used to gain maximum attention and really stand out on Hull's newly refurbished streets, as well as alert people to its presence in pedestrianised areas. 

As stated at the beginning of this post this concept is very much a curious what if exercise and is in no way intended as a serious proposal! It is still a work in progress and I may add/edit if time allows over the coming months but for now i've got to get back to my heaps of work and stop procrastinating!