In recent months local media have been reporting on what they see as the frequent service disruption on Nottingham Express Transit but now as the network celebrates its 15th anniversary the Greater Nottingham Light Rapid Transit Advisory Committee have been told that it is a “world-class network to be proud of”.
Services have been disrupted by power failures, tram reliability issues and other external factors (i.e. cars on the tracks, broken down other road vehicles in the way) leading to frequency complaints on the reliability of the service but despite this it is reported that there was 97.9% reliability between November and January – a significant improvement on previous years.
Mike Mabey, NET Head of Operations, told the Committee: “This week we’re marking 15 years since trams returned to the streets of Nottingham and the network hasn’t stopped improving. We’re carrying more passengers than ever before and, alongside other light rail operators, we’re posting some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the public transport industry. We’re proud to be delivering a high-class service and we hope the city is proud too. Of course there’s always room to improve still further but, generally, day in day out our dedicated team is out there helping to keep the city on the move. We run over 950 tram journeys every day and, overall, we recorded 97.9 per cent reliability between November and January, a significant improvement on the same period in previous years.”
He also pointed out that customer communication had been improved to let passengers know as soon as possible when there was service disruption, a factor which does mean it is more obvious when there are issues.
Mike concluded: “Through careful planning of services, investment in technology and our fleet and an ongoing commitment to putting the customer first we’re continually planning for the future. Nottingham’s tram network is widely regarded as one of the country’s highest performing light rail systems and, as we celebrate a 15 year-old success story, we’re determined to keep it that way.”