As would be expected considering it was the first full year of the Cross City Green line extension, 2018 saw a record breaking year for passenger numbers on Luas with nearly 42 million passengers carried on the network.
In total there were 41.8 million passengers carried an increase of 11.17% from the 2017 figure when 37.6 million passengers were recorded. As well as the extension to Broombridge being fully operational in 2018 the seven new longer trams also entered service (after a false start) giving extra capacity on the network.
The Luas figures were released at the same time as the figures for Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann, Iarnrod Eireann and Go-Ahead Ireland with Anne Graham, CEO of the National Transport Authority, commenting: “These numbers are very positive and are a testament to the range and quality of services provided by our public transport operators. It is clear that when there is a reliable, high quality, value-for-money public transport offering that customers will respond positively to it. But none of us can rest on our laurels, and the priority now must be to deliver on those improvements in our public transport infrastructure that are provided for under the National Development Plan announced last year. Meanwhile, work on extending current Luas trams to 55 metres will continue this year.”