{"id":55424,"date":"2024-09-20T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T21:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=55424"},"modified":"2024-09-20T20:30:56","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T19:30:56","slug":"english-light-rail-journeys-increase-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=55424","title":{"rendered":"English light rail journeys increase again"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what is a mainly positive story, the latest Department for Transport figures have shown that passenger journeys being undertaken on English tram and light rail systems are continuing to increase and whilst they have still not yet got to pre-pandemic levels they are starting to edge closer. But while it is mainly positive there are some outliers which have seen numbers fall over the past 12 months \u2013 including London Trams and Blackpool Tramway.<\/p>\n

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In total 228.8 million passenger journeys were recorded across eight systems (Blackpool Tramway, Docklands Light Railway, London Trams, Manchester Metrolink, Nottingham Express Transit, Sheffield Supertram, Tyne and Wear Metro, West Midlands Metro) which is an increase of 8.2% from the 2022\/3 figure.<\/p>\n

The biggest winner is West Midlands Metro which saw a 53.7% increase to 8.3 million journeys. This is probably not unsurprising considering the issues the network had the previous year with tram availability leading to the complete suspension of the service followed by significant strike action.<\/p>\n

Manchester Metrolink also saw a double digit increase with a 16.7% rise to 42 million, although this is also partly down to a new way that they calculated passenger numbers on that system.<\/p>\n

Just two systems saw a decrease in passenger numbers. It was down to 20 million journeys on London Trams which was a 4.3% decrease \u2013 this has been attributed to major engineering works which took place on the network. Meanwhile, the Blackpool Tramway reduced passenger numbers by 4.1% to 4.7 million. There is no official explanation as to why this occurred and other figures released don\u2019t seem to put it down to a reduction in service.<\/p>\n

The Docklands Light Railway continues to see the most passengers \u2013 98.9 million recorded which was a 7.2% increase. This helps to contribute to the fact that London sees over 50% of all journeys in England.<\/p>\n

The release of the data also includes other information such as vehicle miles travelled. The only tramway to have seen a reduction is London Trams which fell by 10.5% to 1.7 million (engineering works one explanation plus the tram shortages seen at various points in the period under review). At the other end of the scale West Midlands Metro saw the biggest increase going up 37.5% to 1.1 million.<\/p>\n

Passenger revenue details are also given. Again, London Trams is the only system to have seen a decrease with \u00a314.8 million taken, a fall of 18.7%. Its probably not a surprise considering the other numbers that West Midlands Metro saw the biggest increase with a 46.1% increase to \u00a313 million. Every other system enjoyed a double digit percentage increase, including the Blackpool Tramway which despite seeing a 4.1% fall in passenger journeys saw a 19.1% increase in revenue.<\/p>\n

Although the release is for English light rail systems the actual data does also give numbers for Edinburgh Trams. This confirms much of what was known that the opening of the Newhaven extension has seen a big increase in passengers \u2013 10.1 million for 2024 compared to 5.3 million the year before.<\/p>\n