THE MetroLink is great, for the most part, and only set to get bigger and better. According to TfGM the network is “one of the most successful light rail systems in the UK, carrying around 22 million passengers every year.” That equates to around eight times the actual population of Greater Manchester – impressive stuff.
In these dizzy modern days of late-night shenanigans, perennial night-owls, midweek gorging and boozing, galleries kicking out at nine, theatres after ten and cinemas at nearly midnight. Not to mention all the bars and eateries. Are our trams running late enough?
Since the first lines opened to Bury and Altrincham in 1992, the network has more than doubled in size – and with the planned multi-million pound expansion of the system to stops like Manchester Airport and Ashton-under-Lyne, by 2016 the Metrolink is set to become the largest urban tram network in the UK.
Metrolink 2016
But one question that has been plaguing us during this whole 'big-bang' expansion programme is this - Why don't the trams just run a little later?
For example, the last tram on a Monday to Thursday from Piccadilly to the new East Didsbury station is at 11.16pm. If you dare to catch the last tram on a Sunday or Bank Holiday evening then you better be done in the city by 9.52pm – Hold on, the last tram on a Bank Holiday Sunday is before 10pm?
I’m sure that the last time we checked (which happened to be the last Bank Holiday Sunday) people did still like to go out in the city centre past 10pm on a Bank Holiday. This seems deficient at best, downright moronic at worst.
Quick the last bloody tram leaves at 9.52pm
In these dizzy modern days of late-night shenanigans, perennial night-owls, midweek gorging and boozing, galleries kicking out at nine, theatres after ten and cinemas at nearly midnight. Not to mention all the bars and eateries. Are our trams running late enough?
The night buses are certainly pulling their weight, with many services running from Piccadilly Gardens, Shudehill Interchange and other city centre stops until around 3.30am. But with around 80 percent of all public transport journeys in Greater Manchester made on bus, you’d hope they were.
Piccadilly Gardens: Nightbuses
So why aren’t the trams doing their bit for the city’s late-night revelry? As a city striving for a more thriving and vibrant late-night city centre, shouldn’t the Metrolink be trying to support Manchester’s late-night economy? Not only that, it’d certainly create more working hours for the Metrolink staff that needed them.
Transport for London has already cottoned on to the idea, with Tube services set to be extended until 2am under new plans revealed by TfL this year. Following the success of the later Olympic timetable last summer, TfL executive Mike Brown said, “The Tube is the artery of London and we want to make the city’s heart beat strongly and later on into the night.”
“It will be a real benefit for London’s night-time economy, either for people working late or enjoying themselves. If people want to buy that extra meal, cup of coffee or pint of beer, why wouldn’t we want to encourage that?” Hear, hear Mr Brown.
Tubing
So why not Manchester? We asked TfGM Metrolink Director, Peter Cushing, why the Metrolink trams didn’t run any later:
“One of the great things about Metrolink is that we can be flexible when it comes to meeting demand, particularly during major events.”
“On a routine basis, the six Metrolink lines in operation have various start and end times with some continuing to run past 1am on Saturday nights and, in our experience, that meets the current level of demand.
“We have assessed the demand for running services later across the board or throughout the week and it would not be sustainable. We also have to balance the need to carry out routine maintenance and cleaning of the tram fleet, which has to be done outside service hours.”
Peter Cushing
“But we do react to what is happening in the city and have extended our services to run later to cater for major events that people can get to by using the network. We did just that during the Stone Roses concerts at Heaton Park and it worked very well.”
Parklife attendees may very well beg to differ. Gargantuan queues plagued both the bus and tram services put on especially for the event over the weekend. Post-event queuing for both the Parklife Express buses and particularly at the Bowker Vale tram station were akin to a queue for free kisses from Cliff Richard on a Saga holidays cruise liner – immeasurably long.
We certainly doubt an extra hour of two of service added to certain routes around the network would pose a seriously detrimental effect on the 'routine maintenance and cleaning of the trams'. That looks like a convenient brush off.
Regarding this bit - 'we have assessed the demand for running services later across the board', we asked TfGM if they’d ever indeed trialled the idea. They’re yet to respond (if they do respond we’ll be sure to post it).
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Full details of Metrolink times are available at http://www.metrolink.co.uk/tramtimes
Information for Nightbuses around the city is available here http://www.tfgm.com/buses/Pages/nightbus.aspx
