Peter Cushing apologises to Metrolink passengers after week of woe

Peter Cushing, TfGM’s Metrolink Director, has publically apologised to passengers affected by a catalogue of unrelated delays and service suspensions which caused major delays at a time when large crowds were in the town attending the Ashes Test Match at Old
Trafford.

As reported on British Trams Online the problems started on Wednesday 31st July when a pensioner was hit and killed by a tram at Freehold on the Rochdale line and continued the following day when there was a RTC at a notorious spot on Mosley Street and problems with the overhead on the Bury line. Friday 2nd August saw services through Manchester
city centre suspended after a woman threatened to jump from the roof of the Arndale Centre. Then on Saturday 3rd August there was a signal failure at Cornbrook and a tram derailed heading into Queen’s Road depot. This last incident saw 3056 partly come off the tracks as it was returning to depot and again saw services suspended on the Bury line just as the crowds were starting to leave Old Trafford. Unfortunately repairs to the track on the Bury line affected services on Monday morning.

Peter Cushing said: “I would like to apologise unreservedly for the level of service that has been provided on the Metrolink network in recent days. I can fully appreciate how frustrating it must have been for passengers who have had to face disruption over several days, and how angry people are about it – feelings that I wholeheartedly share. People expect a high level of service when they use the network and in recent days they have had nowhere near that standard. We planned carefully for what was always going to be a very busy and very challenging period for the network. Several thousand cricket fans were expected to use Metrolink to attend The Ashes at the times of day when it is already at its busiest. The challenge was to deliver a service that kept regular passengers moving just as much as visitors attending the match.”

He continues: “We provided extra double trams between Piccadilly and Altrincham and from East Didsbury to specifically cater for this additional demand, but several events affected the operational plan. In short, the whole spectrum of events that can affect the Metrolink network all came to pass in the space of four days. Each was a separate, unconnected incident during the busiest period of the day and each one had considerable  knock-on effects for passengers across the network. It has been an incredibly challenging period and, at times, we failed to rise to that challenge. We failed to keep passengers informed and support them fully through the disruption, which is unacceptable. Together with the operator, MRDL, we will be reviewing every aspect of the past week and will be taking action to improve. We are incredibly proud of the Metrolink network and will be working tirelessly to ensure our passengers can be as well.”

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5 Responses to Peter Cushing apologises to Metrolink passengers after week of woe

  1. nigel says:

    So finally one of mine and so many people main issues is accepted,”We failed to keep passengers informed”, let us see now what happens and if indeed lessons have been learned.

    • Ken Walker says:

      Not if Wednesday evening just gone is anything to go by. Got on a Rochdale service in the city centre, only after the tram arrived at Victoria did the control advise the driver, and therefore the driver advise the passengers that the service was terminating there. So instead of passengers having the information to allow them to get off in the city centre and catch a bus, a tram load of passengers was dumped at Victoria, 3/4 away from the nearest relevant bus stop at 10 o’clock at night, where we waited 20 minutes for the next service which itself sat in the platform for nearly 10 minutes.
      There are no information screens on Victoria, and no customer information intercom. The control staff, who apparently have the facility to make announcements on stations or on individual services, opted to do neither. 2 Metrolink staff who were on the platform obviously considered themselves to be there only for revenue protection purposes and not to help the public, as when they were politely asked what was happening with the service they hadn’t a clue (other than “they had a problem earlier”), and it was obvious that they didn’t think it their job to find out, despite Peter Cushing’s statement that helping with information is part of their job. The disruption was being blamed on a tram failure at Rochdale – which had apparently happened at 1700, 5 hours earlier!
      The following day I went to Newhey to catch my usual tram to Victoria only to find the first service was expected 12 minutes after the one I went for, but it appears to have been ‘my’ tram running 10 minutes late, and at least it resulted in a rather exhilarating run, with the normal 35 minute run to Victoria being achieved in 27 minutes, which is only 4 minutes longer than the semi-fast trains used to take when they called only at Shaw and Oldham Mumps!

  2. nigel says:

    Ken,

    I would put your factual statement in writing Private and confidential ftao the addressee only and send it to Peter Cushing, his response would be very interesting to see.

  3. Mike Norris says:

    Hi Nigel & Ken,
    Mr Cushing went live for an hour on Facebook last Friday at noon.
    It was all followable on there.
    There was much criticism (from real passengers) as opposed
    to us as enthusiasts/passengers including one from another
    blog/web ‘Mancnews’ which did not hold back, with very colourful
    language. Mr Cushing answered that one, but also made an offer of
    further discussions to take place at his request ‘ over a cup of tea’
    Overall, my impression was that Mr Cushing was remote from the
    real Metrolink passengers grievances, but we shall have to wait ( again)
    for results.
    Mike

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