He's not right about trams being a mistake though.
Saying "we shouldn't have kept our trams and just built more metros" is silly. We should have done both, and not given over so much of our roads to car traffic. We should definitely not cancel SRL, and the changes the premier is pushing through to it are very stupid also.
Alan Kohler said that trams clog up the roads, which is an objectively stupid thing to say if you listen to any town planners.
The whole reason trams are slow IS BECAUSE OF CARS, and the fact that trams don't have priority signalling. Cars are clogging up the roads, not trams.
The only solution to traffic is providing viable alternatives to driving, and trams play a great part in that. Obviously they can't replace the role of trains, but they serve their own function of street-level transport much better than busses. We need trains AND trams.
Here's a great video on why trams are great https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bNTg9EX7MLw
Alan Kohler should stick in his lane of finance only, unless he actually wants to read about how public transport works...