Next ten years will be most crucial for city tram network
NOTTINGHAM’S tram network is celebrating two decades of operation in the city and, while its past is regularly pored over, bosses now have their sights set firmly on the future.
A milestone birthday it may be, but it is the next decade that will prove the most crucial in terms of making the NET network a sustainable proposition for future generations.
The consortium currently running Nottingham’s tram operations hands its contract back to Nottingham City Council in 2034. In the end, though, particularly given Nottingham’s bleak financial situation, responsibility for the network is set to end up in the hands of the upcoming East Midlands Combined Authority.
The handover is bound to come with a greater degree of something which those running Nottingham’s tram network in recent years have craved – stability.
With its funding from 2034 set to be guaranteed by taxpayers rather than the private sector, fluctuations in passenger numbers due to external events like the Covid pandemic are likely to come with far less risk to the operation of Nottingham’s trams than of late.
Such has been the impact of these events that Nottingham’s tram network was faced with “running out of cash” to pay off its debts if it had not recently carried out a major financial restructure. Public transport across the board has been hit hard by Covid, but Nottingham’s tram network has been in the unenviable position of having much less Government support than its counterparts.
Even though the network received millions in grants during the pandemic, such support has now effectively ceased – despite the ongoing £2 cap on bus fares, funded by the Government, a scheme which tram operators say creates an uneven playing field.
With £1.5 billion having been announced in transport funding alone for the East Midlands Combined Authority, it’s clear that the greater stability afforded by public sector protection should stave off any further reports of Nottingham’s tram network running out of money. Although perhaps allowing greater flexibility in terms of passenger number fluctuations, public sector support will of course only be credible if strong evidence of demand continues to exist.
It is this point that Nottingham’s tram bosses are hoping to prove before handing their contract back in 10 years. Another key point will be looking at the investment needed to prepare for possible extensions to the network when the combined authority takes it on.
Derby city centre, East Midlands Airport and Ratcliffe-on-soar Power Station are among the wide variety of locations that have been suggested as potential areas for the tram network to extend to.
Returning to the passenger demand point, looking for new markets and exploiting them is seen as key given how the pandemic and the growth in home working have affected the tram network’s previous passenger base.
In the next 10 years, then, we’re unlikely to see too much change to our tram network.
Instead, the focus will be on making the next decade as strong as possible in terms of passenger numbers and reliability.
Only then will the door be unlocked to a future beyond 2034 that will undoubtedly see our tram network become much bigger and much more stable.