The last of Blackpool’s new Flexity2 trams to enter public service, car 016, recorded its first use with passengers on Tuesday 3rd July. The tram had appeared on test on Monday 2nd July, this being its first appearance on the main line and a further outing then occured the following day. The tram then surprisingly came into service that evening – presumably as a changeover for another car.
This means that all sixteen Flexities have now run in service at Blackpool, although 002 is thought to have carried passengers on just one day and was then confined to crew training duties until it was recalled to Germany for attention. Car 001 also remains off the road, undergoing unspecificed work within the confines of Starr Gate depot. The remainder of the class are now seeing extensive use thanks to the new, more frequent timetable introduced from the beginning of July; indeed on the first day of operation for the ten-minute daytime service, all available Flexities were out at some point during the day, either for service, driver training or on test.
With so few spare trams available, the reliability of the new fleet will really be put to the test over the weeks ahead. This would also seem a good opportunity to use some of the widened Balloon cars, and with 707 and 713 currently housed at Starr Gate, these are expected to be the first choice cars. However, so far there have been enough Flexities to meet the service requirements, putting a further question mark over the future operation of the modernised double-deckers. Indeed, on 3rd July car 720 suffered damage to its centre platform area during a shunting incident which must put the liklihood of this particular tram running this year in further doubt.