The tramways and light railways of England have never been so popular (well since records began in 1983, we would expect that in the heyday of the trams the number of passengers was much higher!) with record passenger numbers carried on the eight systems combined in 2015/16. 252 million passenger journeys were made on the Blackpool Tramway, Docklands Light Railway, London Tramlink, Manchester Metrolink, Midland Metro, Nottingham Express Transit, Stagecoach Supertram and Tyne and Wear Metro an increase of 5.8% from the previous year.
Once again the bulk of passenger journeys were made in London with 57% recorded on the Docklands Light Railway and London Tramlink but of the six systems included in the Department for Transport figures outside of London all enjoyed a bumper year with increases in the number of passengers utilising the systems. In fact the only system to see a decrease in passenger numbers is London Tramlink where 12.1% less passengers were carried, this can be partly explained by track replacement works and the work on the line into Wimbledon but even with this it does seem a curiously large decrease for the capital’s only true tram system.
The largest increase – unsurprisingly – is on Nottingham Express Transit where 12.2m passenger journeys were record – an increase of 50.2%. With the Phase Two extensions having opened during this period this rise in not unexpected but considering that the lines didn’t open until August 2015 this is a very impressive figure and when we take a look at the data this time next year it wouldn’t be a surprise if there were further rises. There was an impressive 20.3% rise in passengers in Blackpool (up to 4.9m – its highest figure since 2001/2) whilst both Midland Metro (up 10.4% to 4.8m – reaching 2012/3 figures again) and Manchester Metrolink (up 10.1% to 34.3m – the highest figures since it opened) also saw double percentage point increases. The increase on Metrolink firmly establishes the system as the most used tram system in England with the Docklands Light Railway continuing as the most used light rail system (116.9m passenger journeys).
For London Tramlink, Midland Metro and Stagecoach Supertram the figures have been skewed by closures during the year for improvement works. These works have necessitated bus replacement services and reduced mileage for these networks which partly explains why the passenger number figures on these three systems are slightly disappointing (Tramlink is at its lowest number since 2009/10, Midland Metro has increased but has also seen a route opening in this period and Supertram has seen a very small increase but is still some way off its record figures in 2010/1 and 2011/2).
As would be expected revenue has also increased with a 9.3% rise in comparison to 2014/5. The data shows that revenue was £336.9 million in real terms with average revenue per journey higher at £1.34 instead of £1.29.
Passenger journeys by system in England 2015/6 (2014/5 figure in brackets with percentage change)
Blackpool Tramway – 4.9m (2014/5 – 4.1m. Increase of 20.3%)
Docklands Light Railway – 116.9m (2014/5 – 110.2m. Increase of 6.1%)
London Tramlink – 27.0m (2014/5 – 30.7m. Decrease of 12.1%)
Manchester Metrolink – 34.3m (2014/5 – 31.2m. Increase of 10.1%)
Midland Metro – 4.8m (2014/5 – 4.4m. Increase of 10.4%)
Nottingham Express Transit – 12.2m (2014/5 – 8.1m. Increase of 50.2%)
Stagecoach Supertram – 11.6m (2014/5 – 11.5m. Increase of 0.6%)
Tyne and Wear Metro – 40.3m (2014/5 – 38.1m. Increase of 5.7%)
England combined – 252.0m (2014/5 – 238.2m. Increase of 5.8%)
All in all this data gives a positive outlook on England’s tram and light rail systems, a trend which has been continuing for several years and a trend which we hope will continue for many years to come!
* The full data released by the Department for Transport is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/light-rail-and-tram-statistics-england-year-ending-march-2016 (Excel documents of the figures are available at the second link on the page with a summary available from the first link).