Midland Metro trams pull in 300,000 extra passengers in two months
Hundreds of thousands of extra passengers flocked to use the Metro tram system in the run-up to Christmas following a string of improvements to the service.
Extensions to Birmingham city centre brought the Bullring and Grand Central shopping centres in reach of Metro users, while thousands of commuters avoided the city's roadworks by letting the tram take the strain.
Figures released to the Express & Star show nearly 300,000 additional passengers travelled on the Metro in November and December, taking to the total over the two months to more than one million.
November was the busiest month of the year. Passenger numbers surged by nearly 170,000, up 45 per cent to 565,419, while in December they were up 29 per cent to 517,126.
The transport boss at the West Midlands Combined Authority, Councillor Roger Horton from Sandwell, said the surge in passengers numbers underlined the case for a £1.2 billion investment in expanding the Metro over the next decade.
Work is already under way to link the Wolverhampton end of the line to the city's railway and bus station interchange, while vegetation is being cleared from the old South Staffordshire Railway line to prepare for the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension of the Metro.
Last summer saw the opening of the new link to Birmingham's Grand Central shopping centre, in the wake of a £128 million project involving the introduction of a new fleet of 21 Urbos 3 trams and the refurbishment of the Metro's depot at Wednesbury.
Mr Horton, lead member for rail and Metro on the West Midlands Combined Authority's (WMCA) transport delivery committee, said: "These increased passenger figures demonstrate why the WMCA will be undertaking a £1.2 billion expansion of the tram network over the next decade and why Metro is an important component of its economic and transport strategies.
"These tram extensions will greatly improve connectivity between key destinations in the West Midlands, including the forthcoming HS2 stations and can be a catalyst for economic growth and jobs.
"While the Metro's 99 per cent per cent reliability and quick journey times have always made it popular with weekday commuters, these latest figures show big increases in weekend use which suggest many more people are now using the Metro for shopping and other leisure pursuits.
"It shows how improved connectivity can make the Metro an even more attractive proposition for people wanting to leave their cars at home. We are very optimistic."
