{"id":2512,"date":"2012-12-11T20:04:33","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T20:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=2512"},"modified":"2012-12-11T20:04:33","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T20:04:33","slug":"blackpools-santa-express-package-is-poorly-received","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=2512","title":{"rendered":"Blackpool’s ‘Santa Express’ package is poorly received"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest duty for Blackpool Transport’s retained fleet of historic trams, the ‘Santa Express’, commenced on Saturday 8th December. The illuminted Western Train 733+734<\/strong> is booked to operate three round trips between Pleasure Beach and Little Bispham on Saturdays and Sundays over the three weekends before Christmas – but unfortunately the company’s newest venture hasn’t got off to a very good start.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The first departure from Pleasure Beach on Saturday 8th December with 733+734<\/strong> was completely empty, and further runs over the course of the weekend were also very poorly patronised, with just three passengers reportedly boarding its second round trip on the Saturday. This was in spite of prominent posters advertising the festive tours being posted at tram stops and inside the Flexity2 trams in the preceding week – possibly a case of too little, too late? Further problems saw the Train miss its advertised second trip on Sunday 9th December following a severe dewirement, although commendably the problem was resolved so that it could reappear during the afternoon. This did, however, highlight the danger of advertising that the tours will always utilise the same tram, with no mention of appropriate substitutes being used if the Train is unavailable.<\/p>\n

However, other factors have probably contributed to the apparent lack of interest in the Santa Express trips. A \u00a35 fare for adults is the same as was charged during the summer and illuminations on the heritage fleet, but the revised \u00a310 child fare is rather pricey. This obviously reflects the fact that the experience includes a gift from Santa – however, rather than a nicely wrapped parcel, youngsters are being presented with a \u00a35 Argos gift voucher! It is not known\u00a0how the children who did ride on the Western Train responded to this, but most heritage railways, tramways etc. always opt to give children a small gift, wrapped in decorative paper, rather than a voucher. After all, for very young children, the thrill of unwrapping a surprise present is a big part of what makes Christmas fun – being handed a small piece of paper which can be traded for a present somehow doesn’t seem quite as exciting! Surely BTS could have invested in some inexpensive presents and wrapping paper to make the ‘Santa Express’ a more attractive proposition to families, and this may even have been cheaper than the gift voucher option, allowing the fares to be reduced accordingly?<\/p>\n

Whilst the winter tours give a rare opportunity to see an illuminated tram operating in winter, and make a welcome change from the 100% Flexity output on the core service, sadly not a great deal of effort seems to have gone into making this venture a success. Although it must be hoped that passenger numbers will rise for the next two weekends, to fulfill its true potential the package on offer really ought to be reviewed – something which may well happen if the ‘Santa Express’ is to return in future years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest duty for Blackpool Transport’s retained fleet of historic trams, the ‘Santa Express’, commenced on Saturday 8th December. The illuminted Western Train 733+734 is booked to operate three round trips between Pleasure Beach and Little Bispham on Saturdays and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2512"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2514,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions\/2514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}