Midland Metro fare rises to be capped as tram future outlined

Bosses have promised that fares will rise by no more than the Retail Price Index plus one per cent.

And discount tickets for apprentices, NHS staff, families and part-time workers have also been promised, as well as expansions further into the Black Country and Birmingham.

The 50 pledges made by Centro in partnership with National Express are part of the Transforming Tram Travel partnership.

Geoff Inskip, chief executive of Centro who own the metro, said: "This is an era going forward whereby the future is very very bright now for tram travel.

"We always knew that this project would be the signal for the West Midlands, for Birmingham and for the Black Country to move forward and get further extensions.

"We already know we have extensions through to centenary square, we know we've got extensions out to Edgbaston. Digbeth, Curzon Street, Wolverhampton at the other end - we're going to build expansions out there too.

"So the future's bright bright and it's looking very very good for tram travel.

"We're also working still on the Wednesbury-Brierley Hill extension and also on the extension from Solihull to the Airport.

"We hope through the devolution deals which are being worked on at the moment by West Midlands Authorities, that we will receive news later on in the year for those two.

"This is a brand new era going forward, the new trams are excellent and spectacular, the old trams have really done their business and really worked very well together.

"Transforming Tram Travel is very much about National Express committing to us and us committing to National Express. But also about making joint commitments to the passengers to improve passenger services and on what they expect to get out of the tram system."

Peter Coates, the managing director of National Express West Midlands, added: "Our Transforming Tram Travel partnership will deliver a host of improvements to the Midland Metro customers between now and 2018.

"There's 50 pledges on this document and it's a public document so I welcome everyone to read it and let us have your comments if there's improvements in other areas you can identify let us know and we'll work on them.

"But one of the ideas we have already picked out are fare caps. As we go over the years we want to keep fares affordable and get as many customers as we can on the system."