The South Yorkshire Supertram network has been back under public control for over four months and during that time a number of improvements have been introduced. To mark the anniversary, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority are celebrating the improvements with the network now being run in the interests of South Yorkshire’s communities and improvement plans and investment is now being delivered.
SYMCA are investing £33 million in the network, which includes more than £23 million in this financial year alone. They are also happy to announce that fare evasion has reduced significantly with efforts to encourage the pre-purchasing of tickers through the app, detailed analysis of ticketless travel hotspots and investment in new ticket machines.
Some of the improvements seen since the takeover are:
- Passenger journeys up 4.5% on this time last year
- Fare evasion fallen to less than 0.4% of journeys from highs of up to 8%
- New handheld ticket machines introduced for conductors to make ticket purchases on board trams easier and quicker
- 20,000 downloads of Travel South Yorkshire ticketing app, with over 40,000 tickets purchased through it since its launch
- A trial for more trams at peak periods along key routes introduced
Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire, is working alongside Supertram and the SYMCA, to create a bigger and better tram network that is fully integrated with other modes of transport. A new Park and Ride and link road at Rotherham Parkgate is expected to open later this year with a new tram-train station and Park and Ride to follow at Magna in 2025.
Oliver Coppard said: “After 27 years South Yorkshire’s Supertram came back under our control in March. Now, just over four months on we are making huge strides in our journey back to a public transport system that puts people first, connects our communities and helps us to build a bigger and better economy in South Yorkshire.
“Since March, 20,000 people have already downloaded our new app to buy tickets, trams and trams stops are getting a well needed deep clean and our conductors have new handheld ticketing machines which make buying tickets on the tram easier.
“But this is just the start of our journey to a truly integrated transport network that connects all our communities to the huge opportunities that exist right across South Yorkshire.”