In a report being given to the July meeting of the Greater Manchester Transport Committee Metrolink and Rail Networks Sub-committee (catchy title!) it has been confirmed that passenger numbers on Metrolink have now increased to 48% of pre-pandemic levels with a further rise expected after the anticipated removal of restrictions from 19th July.
The 48% figure was recorded in two consecutive weeks (14th and 21st June) but hasn’t been the highest that patronage has been on Metrolink as that was recorded the week of 24th May – which happened to coincide with a bank holiday and school half term. This tends to suggest that with 19th July also marking the start of many school holidays that passenger numbers will see a fairly significant rise at that point. TfGM are also expecting that a further rise will be seen in September as businesses continue to open up. Currently more passengers are using Metrolink for leisure with weekend numbers being between 60% and 70% but there is also a return to peak time patterns in the morning and evening peaks.
The patronage figures revealed in this report give an interesting snapshot of how things have fluctuated since the pandemic began. Passenger numbers fell as low as 5% at the start of April 2020 before they gradually increased up to 41% in mid-September. There was then another fall to 23% in November, a rise to 34% in mid-December, another fall to 15% in January before it has mainly increased week on week since. The most significant rise was seen the week of 12th April (going from 22% the previous week to 41%).
Also included in the report was that:
- 2% of scheduled miles operated in the 12 months to May 2021 (against a performance target of 99.4%). This continues to be affected by self-isolation requirements.
- Punctuality remains above the 90% target (12 month average of 94.0%)
- The tram fleet availability is just below the 90% target. The 12 month average has been 88.5%. This has been made challenging by an increase in criminal damage, particularly on the Oldham and Rochdale line
- There were 223 reported incidents of anti-social behaviour (24 more incidents in May 2021 than May 2020)
- Face covering compliance remains consistently high with over 80% compliance up until June when levels fell below that level for first time and have remained at 77% on average since. There remains higher compliance in the morning peak. The Manchester Airport and Oldham and Rochdale lines have the lowest compliance (60-70%) with the Altrincham, City Centre, East Didsbury and Eccles line the highest (80-90%). The Bury and East Manchester (Ashton) line were in the middle (70-80%).