BOLTON is unlikely to see Metrolink trams in the borough for at least a decade.
Transport bosses are currently preoccupied with the system's "Big Bang" expansion which will see trams travelling to Oldham and Rochdale, Stockport, Trafford Centre, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Airport.
But it has emerged that a decision over which of those lines to start first will not be made for more than 12 months.
And the new network will finally be complete in 2010, carrying 50 million passengers a year. There will be 35 miles of new track in a scheme costing £800 million.
Once complete -- creating the biggest public transport system outside London -- it will be some years before moves to expand it to the remaining two Greater Manchester counties, Wigan and Bolton.
Bolton's deputy council leader Guy Harkin said: "We are currently looking at an alternative electronic transport system to Metrolink which is soon to be tested in Italy."
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