Safe Speed Forums

Almost half a million Metro passengers deserted the service over the last two years, new figures reveal today.

Travel Midland Metro lost 400,000 passengers a year since 2006, down from 5.2 million.

Regional transport body Centro wants to see 5.8 million people using the trams by 2010 so it can lobby the Government for funding to extend the service. But the latest figures show a two per cent drop on last year’s numbers and only 4.8 million passengers a year, prompting calls for a monthly check on the line’s performance.

By comparison more than 310 million people used buses in the region last year.

In a report to Centro’s business improvement committee Chris Hinde, clerk to the authority, said two Easter holidays in the same financial year had contributed to drops in numbers.

Mr Hinde said: “A key problem with Metro patronage is there is no opportunity to recover lost journeys.

“If there are problems on a bus route, passengers will switch to another bus. Metro passengers have no alternative but to switch to a bus or possibly a car or cancel their journey altogether.”

Councillor Mavis Hughes, who chairs Centro’s business improvement committee, said: “The figures are a little distorted. I have travelled on that tram in rush hour and it is packed so full the conductor cannot get to everyone.” National Express West Midlands, which owns the Metro and 80 per cent of the region’s buses, today disputed Centro’s findings. Spokeswoman Carly O’Donnell said: “Our research indicates there has been an increase in passengers.”

Quality reporting

"By comparison more than 310 million people used buses in the region last year."

Impressive for a country with not even a third that number of people living here :p

Not really....the West Midlands has a population of 5.2 million, so if 20% go to work or school etc. on the bus, with about 230 working days (not to count leisure travel) this gives about 478 million bus journeys at a conservative estimate.

Okay, what you probably meant was "1.04 million people used the buses at least twice a day on each working day last year leading to 478 million journeys being made".......yes I'm falling asleep too.

Maybe the first version was best......

( BTW 1/3 of 310 is 103....there are currently just over 60 million people in the UK. Just so you know, like.)

we have a tram system ?

Trams are shit.

how come they work so fantastically in europe then ?
recently used them round zurich and very impressed.

Trams are shit.

They have all the disadvantages of a bus (subject to congestion, having to deal with idiot drivers, having to avoid idiot pedestrians), subject to low speed limits in the city.

They also have all the disadvantages of a train, namely your route is determined by your rails and there is no ability to go around any obstacles or incidents that may happen, and crappy brakes so if someone steps out in front of the tram, they get hit (some many not see this as a disadvantage

The only possible advantage trams have is sometimes the rails go through pedestrian areas and thus you can avoid the cars, but a bit of red and white paint lets you lay a bus lane through a pedestrian area, and it's an awful lot cheaper than laying new rails.

I am so glad Liverpool never managed to get enough funding to built it's planned tram system, just extend the existing underground system, idiots!