Its almost time for another meeting of the Greater Nottingham Light Rail Transit Advisory Committee which means that its also time for the public release of the latest report of performance and other issues with Nottingham Express Transit. There is good news in this report as it shows that not only performance but passenger numbers have increased.
The update report covers the two months from the start of December 2022 until the end of January 2023. As would be expected in the lead-up to Christmas patronage on the network increased but what is probably less expected is that this has continued in the new year. The continued increases is said to have been supported by key ticketing initiatives which are aimed at encouraging new passengers to the network.
Meanwhile, reliability was up to 95% and punctuality increased to 91%. The last report (which only covered October and November wasn’t ready at the time of the publication) had these figures at 93.4% and 88%. Going further back and the four months from June to September 2022 were 93.1% and 88.5%, so these latest figures are the best they have been for some time.
The increase in performance comes in spite of several challenges. These included prolonged cold weather which led to issues with the consistency of screen wash – some component froze as a result causing damage to pumps and piping. Slippery track conditions also meant that trams were using more sand and led to almost every tram having to be sanded each night instead of less than 10 on average. These two issues led to tram availability issues on 15th and 16th December. Tram services were also impacted by heavy traffic and footfall in the city centre in relation to the Winter Wonderland event at Old Market Square.
These two months also saw an increase in road traffic collisions, especially in the Radford Road and Lace Market areas. This included an incident on Saturday 10th December when a taxi overtook a moving tram at Lace Market. The taxi driver was unable to see the approaching tram in the other direction and attempted to drive between the two trams – the result was a collision. The tram suffered some damage with the taxi more severely damaged.
There was a serious incident at Nottingham Station on Wednesday 25th January when a pedestrian was struck by a tram. CCTV has shown that they ran into the path of an approaching tram and its been reported that although they saw the southbound tram (which they were aiming to catch) they didn’t notice the northbound tram. They received medical attention by NET staff and an off duty nurse. An ambulance was requested but after liaising with Ambulance control and the off duty nurse a decision was made to use an out of service tram to transport the pedestrian directly to the Queens Medical Centre. NET continue to offer support to the family of the injured person. A review of safety measures are also being undertaken.
On a more positive note, during this period two trams which have been out of service long-term were returned to service and an increase in driver numbers has also helped to improve the reliability of the service.
An update is also provided of the increased parking enforcement at The Forest Park and Ride site. As previously mentioned this was introduced in the autumn and between October and the end of January there have been 886 violations which included 527 warning notices and 225 vehicles being clamped.
Its also noted in the report that a second tram may receive a vinyl wrap in support of the Consent Coalition campaign. This would highlight the Consent Coalition’s aim of raising awareness of this ongoing societal issues with vinyls for the “A-Z of Consent”.
Finally, the last report had mentioned a complaint from a resident in Bulwell that the tram had been causing damaged to their property. A further investigation was promised and after a visit to the property NET have agreed to reduce the speed over nearby points to 40kph, although it is still not believed that the tram has been the cause of the property damage. The resident is said to be happy with this pilot.