Latest light rail usage figures

[northwichcat]

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/lrt01-ocupancy-journeys-and-passenger-miles

Growth for all systems except Tyne & Wear Metro which has seen a reduction in usage. Tramlink hasn't fully recovered from it's previous drop of 3.7 million passengers. Midland Metro has seen an increase in usage of around 30%, while Nottingham Express Transit has seen an increase of just over a third. There is still growth on DLR, Manchester Metrolink and Blackpool Tramway but the level of growth has reduced in each case.

Overall the total of fare paying light rail journeys in England are up to 267.7m from 252m.

DLR services are the busiest carrying an average of 109 passengers per journey, Tramlink carry an average of 58, Tyne & Wear Metro 59, Metrolink 34, Blackpool Tramway 21 and all the other systems 35.

 

[edwin_m]

Looks like the Birmingham extension is finally delivering the sort of numbers Midland Metro didn't get when it terminated down the side of Snow Hill. The Nottingham numbers are probably still building up following the approximate doubling of the network in September 2015.

 

[northwichcat]

Looks like the Birmingham extension is finally delivering the sort of numbers Midland Metro didn't get when it terminated down the side of Snow Hill. The Nottingham numbers are probably still building up following the approximate doubling of the network in September 2015.

Sorry I made a mistake when calculating the increase in usage on Midland Metro from the DfT figures in the spreadsheet. The increase is actually around 30% rather than 50%.

 

[WatcherZero]

Metrolink has passed Tyne and Wear metro in usage for the first time.

 

[northwichcat]

Metrolink has passed Tyne and Wear metro in usage for the first time.

Question is why did usage on Tyne & Wear metro fall?

 

[WatcherZero]

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/lrt01-ocupancy-journeys-and-passenger-miles

DLR services are the busiest carrying an average of 109 passengers per journey, Tramlink carry an average of 58, Tyne & Wear Metro 59, Metrolink 34, Blackpool Tramway 21 and all the other systems 35.

Note that Metrolink is calculated differently to the others, their figure is per vehicle not per service and over 60% are doubles during the day (less offpeak and at weekends) so its actually comparable to the two/three vehicle DLR and two vehicle T&W.

 

[WatcherZero]

Question is why did usage on Tyne & Wear metro fall?

There were early evening (8pm) closures of central station for refurbishment but no change in services operated during the year, 3.5m km standard of the last decade. The passenger km was also still higher than two years ago despite the fall though passengers journeys slightly lower above where it was three years ago, suggesting fewer people but travelling longer distances. Opens the possibilty 15/16 big rise in numbers was a blip as otherwise including last year its remained pretty static ridership of around 37m for five years.

 

[northwichcat]

Note that Metrolink is calculated differently to the others, their figure is per vehicle not per service and over 60% are doubles so its actually comparable to the two/three vehicle DLR and two vehicle T&W.

Not really DLR are carrying around double the number of passengers per service than Metrolink. Presuming 60% of Metrolink services doubled up that would give an loading of 54 passengers on Metrolink services.

 

[WatcherZero]

Services on DLR are operated by up to three lrvs. Upto 109/3 equals 33 comparable to the Metrolink 34.

 

[WatcherZero]

From the figures DLR fleet is 149 with a capacity of 284 passengers, Metrolink has 120 with a capacity of 206 passengers.

When you plug numbers in you get average annual utilisation of passenger capacity on each LRV of 15.85% on DLR and 16.5% on Metrolink, pretty damn close. Whats even closer

Average distance travelled by a Metrolink LRV in a year would be 96.6 thousand km
Average distance travelled by a DLR LRV in a year would be 100.0 thousand km

DLR 4.41m passenger km per LRV on average, divided by passenger capacity gives normalised figure 0.0155
Metrolink 3.29m passenger km per LRV on average, divided by passenger capacity gives a normalised figure 0.0159

 

[northwichcat]

Services on DLR are operated by up to three lrvs. Upto 109/3 equals 33 comparable to the Metrolink 34.

Apparently 31 DLR cars were acquired to allow 3 car operation, which would suggest no more than 37.5% of DLR sets run around as 3 cars (given 149 cars are in service.) If that's correct the average length of a DLR set is no longer than 2.375 cars.

109/2.375 = 45.89 or 46 to the nearest whole number. That is not comparable to Metrolink's 34 per vehicle - it's 35% higher than the Metrolink figure.

 

[northwichcat]

From the figures DLR fleet is 149 with a capacity of 284 passengers, Metrolink has 120 with a capacity of 206 passengers.

When you plug numbers in you get average annual utilisation of passenger capacity on each LRV of 15.85% on DLR and 16.5% on Metrolink, pretty damn close.

In theory a light rail system might have every peak time service leaving passengers behind and every off-peak service with ample empty seats, never mind standing space. That wouldn't be recognised in an 'average utilisation of passenger capacity' figure. If anything it would wrongly suggest no further vehicles are required!

 

[philthetube]

Note that Metrolink is calculated differently to the others, their figure is per vehicle not per service and over 60% are doubles during the day (less offpeak and at weekends) so its actually comparable to the two/three vehicle DLR and two vehicle T&W.

Bearing in mind how busy the Blackpool services are in the summer there must be a lot of empty journeys at other times.

 

[northwichcat]

Bearing in mind how busy the Blackpool services are in the summer there must be a lot of empty journeys at other times.

The Blackpool figure won't include the special tourist services (not that tourists don't use regular services.)

 

[nerd]

In theory a light rail system might have every peak time service leaving passengers behind and every off-peak service with ample empty seats, never mind standing space. That wouldn't be recognised in an 'average utilisation of passenger capacity' figure. If anything it would wrongly suggest no further vehicles are required!

its easier to compare passenger miles per vehicle per year, which tells us directly how crowded each system is. The highest loadings are for Tramlink at 3.3 million; then DLR at 2.7 million, Tyne & Wear Metro at 2.3 million, and Metrolink at 2.1 million. Lowest is Blackpool at 500,000 passenger miles per vehicle per year. Tramilink is the cheapest system to ride on; DLR and Blackpool are the most expensive. Tyne & Wear Metro and Metrolink are both a bit cheaper than average - measured as fare revenue raised per passenger mile travelled.

 

[philthetube]

The Blackpool figure won't include the special tourist services (not that tourists don't use regular services.)

I realise that but the service trams are very busy in the summer and when the illuminations are on.