Aside from the controversial timetable and cancellations owing to staff shortages, the introduction of the Blackpool Tramway extension to North Station has been relatively quiet with no big incidents reported. Tuesday 30th July did see a minor incident thought which prevented a tram from reaching the island platform terminus.
The problem was that someone fell off the edge of the platform and was situated on the track whilst an ambulance was awaited. This mean that trams were unable to reach the terminus and were held short until such a time that the person could be treated for their injuries.
Still with the destination display saying T3 North Station, 002 hasn’t made it as far as its destination as its stopped short of the stop. (Photograph by Peter Dockerty, 30th July 2024)
I hope the person concerned has a quick recovery. As for the extension, videos posted by bloggers such as Podbada Transport appear to show passengers numbers very good indeed. Most trams on the extension seem to be rammed…I reckon it’s a SUCCESS!
Count!
I live in Blackpool and are a regular visitor to town on various days and times.I’ve noticed a severe lack of passengers on EVERY tram both arriving and departing to and from North Station since the official opening in June!I can only guess at the average number of passengers per journey as the trams career up and down Talbot Road at an impressive 4 mph!The most I’ve attempted to count was 34 passengers on a single journey and the lowest 6 with an average around 14 per tram journey!!!!!Your information appears to have no connection with the actual reality!Maybe you have photos of all these EXTREMELY BUSY TRAMS FOR ALL TO SEE!(Trams can carry 220 passengers!
No offence meant in this letter put people need to know this is and has always been a disaster waiting to happen.There has to be something wrong when one can walk to North pier from North station quicker than the tram!!!!!
Hello Jack, how is the taxi buisness doing? Go on You Tube and look at Podbada Transport videos of the Talbot Rd extension. Then come back on here and admit it is a very busy extension of the world famous Blackpool Tramway. Wunderbar as we say in the dorf of Dussel! Auf wiedersehen.
Count,
I have nothing to do with any Taxis!My interest in this project is only concerned with the appalling waste of money for something which was never ever needed and back in 1936 a similar project was abandoned due to lack of customers and the congestion caused by trams on certain stages of the Promenade to Layton route.Congestion in 1936 probably consisted of too many horse and carts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Herr Jack, As the strassenbahns ( what we call trams in the dorf of Dussel),are well patronised by fare paying customers then the English pounds are rolling in. Is it possible that you did your National Service in Germany and were stationed in the town of Pimmelkopf, just outside the dorf of Dussel? An English Tommie named Jack was well known there for charging locals a few pfennigs for a joy ride in a Cromwell panzer ( what you Tommies call a tank).
I think you refer to the videos taken on the opening weekend which were well used for the novelty factor. Same for those taken on the Tram Sunday weekend where all trams were going via North Station so passengers had no choice. Maybe look at the vast majority of the other youtube videos of the extension, which show very few people on board during the regular T2 and T3 operation.
I agree Jack. I can’t see the point in such a short route that also disrupts the promenade service.
Thank you Andy.People only see what they want to see!
Jack
What’s the old saying about pots and kettles???
How about some facts from a reliable source (yes I know some won’t like that getting in the way of an opinionated rant)
By last weekend, they had past 50,000 tickets issued from North Station in 7 weeks/49 days. That’s just over 1000 a day on trams from N Station and if I’ve counted right there are 62 departures Mon-Fri so that works out as 16.2 per tram paying on the tram, excluding anyone with pre-purchased day tickets, app tickets, passes etc. exact numbers unknown but for the tramway as a whole it’s over a third of total, so conservative estimate is somewhere around 25 passengers on average per tram in total.
They did admit though that T3s towards Fleetwood are consistently busier than the T2s to Starr Gate, but there’s no easy way to address that imbalance by increasing the T3 frequency without totally messing up the Starr Gate – Fleetwood main line service.
4 mph? Not my experience when I used the North Station service on Friday 2 August. Although certainly the driver did not try to force his way through the traffic in front of him! Perhaps I should have taken him to task?
I did see one totally empty tram, however. I was even able to read the indicator. What does ‘Driver Training’ mean, I wonder?
You have asked for photographs of full trams. Have you any photographs of largely empty ones, I wonder?
Geoff,
I walked up and down Talbot Road a few times over a couple of hours.Sorry I do not own a phone which takes photos!Am I the only person on the planet who does not own a mobile?
Jack.
I was actually in Blackpool again on Monday, and in the light of your comment about the 220 passenger capacity of a flexity, actually counted the number of seats for myself. It was 74, although around 140 more could probably also additionally be accommodated if standing passengers were crammed in to full capacity. Not something that they, nor Blackpool Transport, I suspect, would find acceptable.
The tram I travelled on, from Starr Gate to North Station, had around 40 people on it, at around 2.30 pm or thereabouts.
You do seem to have something of a jaundiced opinion of Blackpool’s trams, I fear. I have a similar dislike of clowns!
Dear Gareth: Perhaps you should terminate this correspondence, before poor Mr Gledhill blows a gasket!
Agree that this should be terminated, but for the offensive nature of the posts by the would-be humourist with the pretentious nom-de-plume.
Dear everybody who seem to think this folly is some sort of a massive money spinning project which is going to benefit the residents of Blackpool.One has to actually live in Blackpool to realise the horrendous traffic issues we have to contend with everyday.This is a permanent issue which has nothing to do with the Tramway extension.Adding a tramway extension simply makes matters worse!
Any seaside town will ALWAYS experience more traffic congestion than inland towns for the blindingly obvious reason that the SEA is NOT a way in and out of town!Thus we are always at a 25% disadvantage regarding traffic issues.
I do not have answers to the congestion caused by traffic in Blackpool.Too much traffic on roads built in the Victorian era are simply unsuitable for traffic today.
What IS clear is that one does not introduce schemes that as well as being an expensive folly actually makes things worse!
The Council also had the crazy idea of pedestrianising half of Blackpool town centre thus causing a permanent traffic nightmare.Don’t take my word for it,ask any Busdriver!
This letter is NOT political as I have NO set political views!
Apologies to tram enthusiasts!Blackpool has the best tramway system ON THE PROMENADE if it was run efficiently so I AM a supporter!
Jack,
if your main concern is about traffic congestion (which in your own words “has nothing to do with the Tramway extension”), surely the solution is to get more people out of cars (including taxis) and onto public mass transit e.g. a tram that can carry over 100 people in the same road space as 8 cars…
Thank you for a compelling argument IN FAVOUR of the North Station line and further extensions.
The extension has had ZERO affect on the traffic flow. I’ve sat in worse traffic before they started running! Reopening High Street has alleviated some congestion.
The biggest issue for me is the stupid 30 minute direct timetable – now I don’t even bother with a tram when I’m in Blackpool I use my car which surely defeats the object of the whole thing.
As much as Jack comes over as being outspoken on the extension, no-one can dispute the lack of passengers on a regular T2 or T3 tram (when they are running and not replaced by buses). How much longer I wonder before the new timetable is replaced by something else? Maybe all trams via North Station (as per the Tram Sunday weekend) to try and justify the work?
And Jack makes a valid point in the fact that the way the Promenade has been treated by the council over the years is the main issue with traffic congestion. The idea to scrap the pelican crossings and replace them with the shared space where one car manages to make it over the extremely wide pedestrian crossing before the traffic is halted by the next wave of people is one of the biggest generators of traffic congestion in Blackpool.
Please note comments are now closed on this article. Its all going over the same ground over and over again with the same people making the same comments all the time.