Light rail use soars

Docklands Light Railway leads the way as England‘s light rail systems record their highest ever passenger figures.

LIGHT rail systems in England recorded their highest ever passenger figures in 2015-16, according to the Department for Transport (DfT). Overall, 252 million passenger journeys were made on light rail systems, a 5.8% increase on 2014-15.

The busiest systems were Docklands Light Railway (116.9 million journeys and a 6.1% rise on 2014-15) and Tyne & Wear Metro (40.3 million journeys and a 5.7% increase in passenger numbers). Manchester Metrolink was third in the table (34.3 million passengers, up 10.1%), followed by London Tramlink (27 million passengers).

However, London Tramlink suffered a 12.1% fall in the number of passengers due to London Borough of Croydon carrying out town centre pedestrian ambience works, as well as infrastructure enhancements on the light rail system itself.

Nottingham Express Transit (NET) reported the highest growth figures (up 50.2% to 12.2 million passengers) thanks to the opening of its Phase 2 extension in August 2015, which added 10.9 miles and 27 new stops to its network.

Sheffield Supertram was another system disrupted by engineering work, although it still reported a 0.6% increase in passenger numbers to 11.6 million.

Blackpool’s tramway, revitalised in recent years with the introduction of modern trams, reported a 20.3% increase in passenger numbers to 4.9 million. Midland Metro, meanwhile, also scored double-digit growth, with a 10.4% increase to 4.8 million passengers.

Overall revenues rose by 9.3% to £336.9 million, with all systems apart from London Tramlink and Sheffield Supertram reporting increases. The biggest rise in revenue was NET, up 54.9% to £13.6m, while Docklands Light Railway (up 12.3% to £161.9m) and Midland Metro (up 11.9% to £8.6m) all recorded revenue growth of above 10%.

Vehicle mileage also increased in 2014-15, by 14.2%. The DfT says this was driven by a 19.4% rise in vehicle mileage outside London, with NET vehicle mileage doubling to 1.6 million miles and Manchester Metrolink’s figure increasing by 27.1% to 7.2 million miles.

Elsewhere in the UK, while 2015-16 figures for the Glasgow Subway are currently unavailable, Edinburgh Trams reported a 1.2 million increase in passenger journeys (from 4.1 million in 2014-15 to 5.3 million in 2015-16, although this figure is not strictly comparable as the light rail system opened on May 31 2014). Revenue also rose substantially, from £6.6m in 2014-15 to 9.2m in 2015-16.