It is not only the tramways of England who are celebrating an increase in passenger numbers as north of the border on Scotland’s only tramway in Edinburgh the magical 5 million barrier has been hit for the first time with 5.38m passengers carried in the second full year of operation – an increase of 9.3%.
When the figures for the first 12 months of operation were released last year 4.92m passengers were carried but the continued reliable operation of the tramway has persuaded more passengers to use the tram system to bring this increase for the second year. The 5.38m passenger journeys recorded is also better than the target for the second year by 340,000. The increased revenue earned surpasses the budgeted expectation by around 6%.
Concessionary card holders account for 8.2% of passengers – a figure which is well within the Council’s budget.
Lea Harrison, General Manager of Edinburgh Trams, said: “The trams are a convenient, comfortable and cost-effective way of travelling through the city and we’re delighted to see this reflected in our passenger figures. We’ll continue to work hard at providing the best possible service and to introduce further improvements to encourage even more travellers to hop on board.”
George Lowder, Chief Executive of Transport for Edinburgh, added: “These results are hugely encouraging. I am extremely grateful to all the staff at Edinburgh Trams for their dedication and hard work that provides such an excellent service as recorded in the 2015 Passenger Focus Survey and by TripAdvisor. We are concentrating this year on enhancement of the existing service and are certainly not going to be complacent.”
Noting that 8.2% of passsengers are attributable to concessionary card holders, what would this figure be if concessionary travel was made available to ALL Scottish card holders and not just the “select few” residing in Edinburgh ?!