The Department for Transport have released the 2025/6 Light Rail Statistics which includes data on passengers carried on English tram and light rail systems. It’s a bit of a mixed picture as whilst some systems have seen record-breaking numbers using their services for others there has been a major fall, leading to the first overall decrease since the 2020/21 numbers (which were down to Covid).
It should be noted that these figures cover the 12 months up until 31st March 2026 and as such the lower frequency services which have run since then in places such as Blackpool and Manchester are not part of the picture.
Overall across England (these stats do not include Edinburgh Trams, although they are included on the data tables so they do actually include them!) a total of 226.1 million passengers were carried across the eight light rail systems – that’s down from 231.2 million last year.
The main culprit for the reduction is the Docklands Light Railway which saw only 90.8 million passengers carried with a reduced service in operation as they waited for the introduction of their new trains (a much delayed project which is still ongoing now). 2024/5 had seen 97.8 million journeys recorded, still a far cry from the busiest year of 2018/9 which was at 121.8 million.
The DLR does, however, remain as the most used light rail network although for the first time Manchester Metrolink is over 50% of its total with that system enjoying a record breaking year with 46.6 million passenger journeys recorded.
Other systems to see a decrease this year are Nottingham Express Transit (down from 15.7 million to 15.6 million), South Yorkshire Supertram (down from 9.1 million to 8.5 million – put down to significant track replacement works) and Tyne and Wear Metro (down from 32.2 million to 31.5 million).
All other systems saw an increase, including Blackpool Tramway (4.4 million to 4.7 million), London Trams (17.2 million to 19.3 million) and West Midlands Metro (8.8 million to 9 million).
Edinburgh Trams also saw a record-breaking 12 months with 12.4 million passengers recorded (12.2 million in 2024/5).
| System | Passenger numbers 2025/6 | Passenger numbers 2024/5 | Best year (since 1983/4) |
| Docklands Light Railway | 90.8m | 97.8m | 2018/9 (121.8) |
| London Trams | 19.3m | 17.2m | 2013/4 (31.2m) |
| Nottingham Express Transit | 15.6m | 15.7m | 2018/9 (18/8m) |
| West Midlands Metro | 9.0m | 8.8m | This year |
| South Yorkshire Supertram | 8.5m | 9.1m | 2008/9, 2010/1, 2011/2 (15.0m) |
| Tyne and Wear Metro | 31.5m | 32.2m | 1985/6 (59.1m) |
| Manchester Metrolink | 46.6m | 46.0m | This year |
| Blackpool Tramway | 4.7m | 4.4m | 1983/4, 1985/6, 1986/7 (6.2m) |
| Edinburgh Trams | 12.4m | 12.2m | This year |
| Totals | 238.5m | 243.4m | 2018/9 (282.3m) |
The statistics also include information on concessionary passenger journeys, miles operated by trams/LRVs, passenger revenue, concessionary revenue plus number of vehicles and stops. You can view all the data by visiting the DfT website at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/light-rail-and-tram-statistics-lrt