I think I mentioned yesterday how narrow the streets are here in Spain. Back in the UK I’m used to fairly wide urban streets with room for cars going both ways and reasonably wide pavements. Here, however, the streets are far narrower, particularly in older parts of cities like Granada. They are barely wide enough for cars to go down, and are usually just used by pedestrians.

As enthralling and evocative as such narrow streets are, the only problem crops up when it comes to public transport: There is no way you could get a bus of any size down such roads. Yet cities like Granada are so spread out that not everyone can get around them easily on foot.

The solution the Spanish have found must be one of the coolest pieces of public transport I have been come across. An amazing combination of a train and a bus, it is a vehicle which goes along the roads, but is formed of three short carriages. Two have seats for ten or so passengers, which are pulled along by a kind of van at the front. The entire vehicle can thus snake its way through the streets, bending around the tight corners, climbing the steep slopes. 

The best part though, and the thing which surprised me to be honest, was that it was wheelchair accessible. The last carriage had a wheelchair lift at the back, so I was able to get on and off easily. That instantly impressed me, and as John and I rode the incredible bus train up through Granada, I wondered whether we could ever see anything like it in London.