With last week’s government announcement that more coronavirus restrictions are to be lifted at the weekend, light rail operators have been preparing for an expected increase in customer numbers.
Tram capacity proved the ‘hot topic’ of conversation at last week’s ‘virtual’ Light Rail Operators Committee ‘Sounding Board’ meeting and reported that the slight relaxation of the two-metre rule to one-metre plus will make very little difference.
Colleagues from networks in Manchester, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Sheffield and the West Midlands joined in the discussion and you can read the full story here.
In addition to the usual news roundup, we’ve included a handy guide to how operators across the country are helping customers choose the best times to make essential journeys during the pandemic.
In the West Midlands they have produced a ‘heat map’.
In Edinburgh, a handy graph is tweeted out every week showing the busy travel times.
Sheffield Supertram have also produced a guide to how busy trams are likely to be.
In other news from across the sector:
Edinburgh Trams
Following the introduction of mandatory face coverings on public transport in England, the Scottish government has introduced similar rules which came into force on June 22.
To help its customer comply, as part of its #StaySafe campaign, Edinburgh Trams has produced a guide to businesses in Edinburgh that are currently producing and selling face coverings online. The guide can be found here
Metrolink
Transport for Greater Manchester has updated its coronavirus travel advice. At https://tfgm.com/coronavirus it says that the national guidance on social distancing changes to one-metre plus on July 4, but customers should continue to keep two-metres apart where they can.
Tyne & Wear Metro
Swiss train builder Stadler has moved its new management team into place as it prepares to deliver the £362m Tyne and Wear Metro train fleet and new depot on behalf of Nexus.
Stadler will oversee the transition to the £70m depot over the next four years, and the delivery of Metro’s state-of-the-art new trains into passenger service by 2023.You can read the full story here
Heritage
British Trams online have produced an update on how some of our heritage systems and museums are starting to reopen and the full report can be found here
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