Manchester Metrolink: how could it be improved?

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Just as a matter of interest, I was on the tram stop at Wythenshawe Town Centre and the Manchester-bound trams had destination boards stating "Victoria via Market Street" which seems to be quite explicit.

 

[Driver12345]

I really don’t understand what Metrolink have got against route numbers.

I'm not againsit this, I use trams all over the world and a few use route numbers. 1 issue I can think off is that under the normal service pattern we run Eccles to Ashton via MediaCityUK and Bury to Piccadilly, but if the Eccles line is closed or has a service change (Remeberance Sunday comes to mind when Eccles is turned short until dinner time and then only runs to Piccadilly for the reminder of the day) and the service pattern comes Bury to Ashton, how will this be put as a route number as its only now and again so would it need a number its in on right or would there need to a "special" route number. It could get confusing if there is mutiple changes like that.

Somehting like the Bury to Piccadilly service is running Whitefield to Piccadilly could easily be identifed bu using a / throught the route number. From my expericnce, this works well as it shows its the normal X route but terminating short.

There is no reason TFGM couldn't have the same though, looking at the bigger picture signage is cheap and can make a big difference.

Even just more prominent "This Platform for Bury" or similar signage would be a welcome addition.

Most staions aleady have this dont they? Alhtough i thhink they say trams towards the City on the inbound platforms. They cant put trams towards X on them as if there a service pattern change for improvement works this could cause issues for passangers that dont use the network regulary and touritsts as they would be looking for a tram that say X but they all say Y.

Would be more helpful if displays at stops were like train station displays by listing all calling points, rather than destination!

How long woud that take to scroll, espcially on a service like East Didsbury to Rochdale. Like somone else has metioned, just key stops would be better.

 

[VT 390]

I'm not againsit this, I use trams all over the world and a few use route numbers. 1 issue I can think off is that under the normal service pattern we run Eccles to Ashton via MediaCityUK and Bury to Piccadilly, but if the Eccles line is closed or has a service change (Remeberance Sunday comes to mind when Eccles is turned short until dinner time and then only runs to Piccadilly for the reminder of the day) and the service pattern comes Bury to Ashton, how will this be put as a route number as its only now and again so would it need a number its in on right or would there need to a "special" route number. It could get confusing if there is mutiple changes like that.

I think a temporary route number or letter would be fine for amended services, while it is a smaller network when the South Yorkshire Supertram had closures a few years ago they had a temporary Green route which is not normally used and it appeared to work fine.

 

[Russel]

Most staions aleady have this dont they? Alhtough i thhink they say trams towards the City on the inbound platforms. They cant put trams towards X on them as if there a service pattern change for improvement works this could cause issues for passangers that dont use the network regulary and touritsts as they would be looking for a tram that say X but they all say Y.

To be honest, I'm not sure, if they do, it certainly isn't obvious.

My gripe is mostly with the city centre stops like Picadilly Gardens and St Peters Square where you have multiple lines and services converging but very little to point you in the right direction, even network maps seem limited to those on the ticket machines, which usually have a crowd of people around them.

I think the system has grown but signage and wayfinding hasn't kept up and needs a rethink.

 

[HSTEd]

If you assigned the Tram system bus route numbers starting with a "T" prefix, even two digits would allow enough numbers to be used for any number of contingency options.

It would be a question of map design to succinctly convey this to the passenger.

 

[croydontangle]

Croydon Tramlink, a far simpler tram network, gave up on route numbers years ago because they were thought to be confusing.

Tramlink was confusing because it had too many routes for its size and really weird timings that made it hard to plan around reliably.

Spoiler: Explanation of the Tramlink route simplification

Tramlink used to have four routes (all times are from the Monday-Friday timetable):

• Line 1: Elmers End-Croydon-Elmers End, every 14 minutes
• Line 2: Beckenham Junction-Croydon-Beckenham Junction, every 10 minutes
• Line 3: New Addington-Wimbledon, every 7/8 minutes
• Line 4: Elmers End-Wimbledon, every 14 minutes (Line 4 shared a timetable with Line 1 and filled in the gaps to give a service every 7 minutes to/from Croydon)

In 2018 this was simplified to the current network:

• Elmers End-Wimbledon, every ten minutes (ish, there are some odd dropped ones)
• Beckenham Junction-Wimbledon, every ten minutes (alternating with the trams from EE)
• New Addington-Croydon-New Addington, every seven minutes

Some trams run around the loop from Elmers End in the evening, but broadly speaking there's a tram between Croydon and Wimbledon and vice versa every five minutes rather than every two to eight.

I don't think it would've made sense to keep the route numbers after they cut the network down but I wouldn't say the numbers themselves were the confusing part of the old system.