Blackpool tramway future

[Andyh82]

Since the tramway was modernised and the new trams introduced, the service looks fit for the future and provides a good year round service, but from a tourist perspective, I think it is lacking, for three main reasons

Trams no longer have the fun 'Daddy can we ride on a tram' element. Flexity trams are just a way to get from A to B.

Trams aren't frequent enough in peak summer season

Heritage trams are limited and when running can only be caught with a separate ticket and from a small number of stops. Most tourists won't know anything about this. As a result they often sail past busy tram stops nearly empty.

I know the numbers probably wouldn't stack up, but for the peak summer season, I think they should do the following:

Every 10 mins Starr Gate to Fleetwood as now, using Flexity trams

Every 10 mins Pleasure Beach to Little Bispham, using widened Balloons

Modify the open top Balloon and the remaining Boats, to enable them to also be used on the above service during good weather.

These improvements would probably solve all the issues, but as I say would probably not be profitable. Anyone agree or have any other opinions?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The open top trams are invaluable in good weather and during the illuminations, though. They do have enough closed top heritage trams to run that doubled up heritage frequency you mention ( I think it's normally 20 minutes at the moment on summer Saturdays, Sundays, Bank Holidays? ) but they'd need proof that enough extra passengers would use them to make it worth their while.

I can't comment on the publicity levels and clarity as the special event on 26th September was the first time I'd been back since the Flexity fleet came in and obviously things were a bit different on that day from what thy normally would be.

 

[WatcherZero]

I think the original plan was to run the modified Balloons and other heritage stuff more but they proved to be too unreliable for intermingling with a commuter service.

 

[Chrism20]

I used to live in Blackpool when I was a kid and my parents are still there.

From observation since the new trams were introduced I would say that the current timetable isn't far away from meeting regular demand.

Before the upgrade the summer service was every twenty minutes Starr Gate to Fleetwood and every ten minutes Pleasure Beach to Cleveleys, now its every ten minutes end to end. What is missing now though is the 'extras' that used to run in addition to the normal service. For example back in the day (Now I feel really old) there used to be extras running Pleasure Beach to North Pier/Cabin/Bispham which helped move people through the core which is where the crowding problems lie. I am guessing they will look at it with the view that one flexity can carry two balloons worth of passengers and therefore the extras aren't needed.

The heritage service this year has been the one that has been advertised the best, last years was really poor and the service was seriously scaled back. The OP raises a really valid point about ticketing though and I did have a chat with a conductor one night when I was down there in May and they said they had been asking the powers above for the facility to offer a "Heritage add-on" to the day ticket but they never introduced it, it does at times feel like they want to make it as difficult as possible for you to use the Heritage service. The new ride and dine service which runs once a month has apparently been quite popular, particularly with the locals - my parents have been on every one that has ran and they say there are quite a few repeat faces.

I do agree there should be more heritage stops, particularly out towards the North Prom hotels to capture that market. I'd like to see the widened balloons used more and these have the luxury of being able to run in service and use the platforms rather than the heritage stops although I think a twenty minute service of those would be more than enough. Other than Bank Holiday weekends and the height of the summer holidays where demand really swells I personally don't think there is demand for twelve trams an hour through the core and I also feel it would result in delays due to only one door on the balloons as opposed to four on a Flexity.