It does sound a bit like a stuck record but the latest performance poster for the Tyne and Wear Metro shows that the number of trains running on time remains at a low level. The fact that the service isn’t working as it should is not lost on Nexus though as the latest poster does have an apology of sorts along with the attempt to make things a little more positive.
This latest poster covers the four weeks from 7th January to 3rd February 2024. The important score this time is 79% of trains reported as being on time (within 3 minutes later of 30 seconds earlier than scheduled). That does, unfortunately, see a fall from the previous four weeks (81%) but if you want to see a positive it is an increase from the same four weeks the previous year which was at 75%.
The poster also tells Metro customers: “We understand that unplanned service changes can be frustrating for our customers. We are working hard to get the best possible performance from our current fleet of trains, Investing in further maintenance and increasing winter resilience. We know things need to be better, however, Metro is still a service customers can rely on.”
A number of key service facts are also given:
- 100,000 customers travel on Metro every day
- 13.5% increase in customers in the last year
- On average nine out of ten trains run each day
- On average four out of five trains are on time
The sad fact is that the service is very unlikely to significantly improve until the new Stadler trains enter service and there has been no word for a little while on when this may be with the last update giving news of a further delay for further testing. Daytime testing has yet to commence on the new trains so it seems to be quite some time off. Of interest, is that one of our contributors has seen only 63 of the original 90 trains in service this calendar year which helps to explain why the service frequency is so badly affected.