Almost as soon as we put one article up saying surely tram services will increase frequency in Blackpool as restrictions are continued to be eased then we have to write another saying exactly that! Sunday 16th May – the day before the next milestone in the government’s roadmap – will see a much improved timetable running on the Blackpool Tramway with first trams off Starr Gate of 0500 and last tram not back until 0116 (Mondays to Fridays).
The frequency of trams will also be changing from Sunday 16th May with the majority of the day set to see a tram every 12 minutes (instead of the current every 20 minutes). Early in the morning trams will be every 30 minutes with the evenings seeing a 20 minute frequency. This is a significant improvement on the current service and is aimed to coincide with the next phase of the roadmap out of lockdown when it is expected that extra visitors will be heading to Blackpool.
While there will be an increase in services the current restrictions on board will be continuing. These include a lower capacity on board with some seats “closed” to passengers (unless you are on board with your “bubble” group) and the end doors remaining shut. This will mean the sight of “Sorry Tram Full” is likely to continue for a while yet. There are also markings on some of the busier stops to allow passengers to keep their distance before boarding.
- The new timetable can be viewed at https://www.blackpooltransport.com/routes/BLAC/Tram?date=2021-05-16&direction=outbound (for different days of the week you need to change the date on that page as no PDF version seems to be available).