Vandals were today blamed for a slump of almost half a million passengers on the Midland Metro by forcing services to shut down.
Centro, the passenger transport authority, has asked Travel Midland Metro to attend monthly performance meetings after passenger numbers fell from 5.2 million in 2006 to 4.8 million in 2007 and 2008, as reported by the Express & Star this week.
But bosses today blamed the decline on vandalism on the tram line, forcing people who would want to use the service to make alternative arrangements.
And they released revised figures claiming that the service would have seen a 2.6 per cent rise in passengers if the days that the Metro was shut down were removed from the calculation.
Centro media manager Steve Swingler said: “More people are discovering the benefits of using the Metro and as a result passenger numbers have actually increased this year by 2.6 per cent.
The system is well-used and highly regarded and provides a reliable, frequent, fast and environmentally-friendly service.
“It has taken an estimated 1.2 million car journeys off the roads with 15 per cent of passengers using the tram instead of their cars for the same journey.
“It operated at 98.9 per cent reliability last year and carried 4.8 million passengers.” But he said that figures suggested the numbers had fallen over the last couple of years.
“It is important to realise why and it is certainly not because people are deserting the Metro”, he said.
“During this period there have been a number of incidents of damage to the system which has forced its closure.
“One act of vandalism in May last year resulted in all Metro services being cancelled for a very lengthy period of time. Together with other incidents, there have been a significant number of days when no one could use the trams, which obviously resulted in a significant fall in the full year passenger figures.
“This drop in patronage was not because people were choosing against using the Metro. If we exclude these forced closures then passenger numbers have actually been increasing.
“These incidents also left two trams badly damaged and these have been out of service for extensive repair work.
“Having two less trams means the number of people we can carry during peak time is reduced by 250 an hour so this too has affected overall passenger numbers but again it’s not because people don’t want to use the Metro.
“The good news is that both these trams will soon be back in service very soon so frequency can be stepped up once again,” he added.
5 Comments
So Vandals are responsible for the Metro slump? Not the fact that the fares are extortionate, the trams are noisy, it takes an age to get from Wolverhampton to Birmingham and at rush hour you get packed in worse than cattle?
I used to take the metro from Wednesbury Parkway to Birmingham every day because it was cheaper than taking the car into Birmingham or going on the train. However, its now so expensive to use the metro I’d rather pay the extra few pence and get a return on the train from Tamebridge. The park and ride there is just as accessible and just as free. It takes less time and there isn’t that irritating woman telling you “our next stop will be…” At worst theres always the no 79 bus which doesn’t take that much longer and costs half as much!
The Metro was great. I just think now its operators have ideas above there station. Its only just quicker than the bus and only just cheaper than the train. I suppose the vandals are actually responsible, as they have pushed people to look at these options and the people have decided they may just be better!
Have to agree there its way over priced.
You can get a daysaver for an adult for about 6 quid to go on trains/buses/ metro but i always take train from wolvo to bham as loads quicker
Of course it has nothing to do with terrible attitude of the staff…
I always had a monthly pass for the metro but have now changed for a monthly bus pass, the 79 only takes a bit longer than the bus but I’m saving £18 per month. I had to change and get the bus on so many occasions anyway!
well its certainly not the vandalism that puts me off…its the overpriced fares. I travelled 114miles on a train for a fare of £10 2 weeks ago. It costs me £4.20 to get to wolverhampton. There is just no encouragement whatsoever to use public transport at all.