Newly released figures show that Edinburgh Trams carried 5.38 million passengers in its second 12 months of operation, an increase of 9.3% on the previous year, when 4.92 passengers were carried, and around 340,000 ahead of the target for the period.
Launched on Saturday 31 May 2014 at 5am, Edinburgh Trams has built on its first year success with increased revenue surpassing the budgeted expectation target by around 6%.
Concessionary card holders account for 8.2% of passengers which is well within the Council’s budget, which was set to ensure that Edinburgh’s card holders get free travel on the tram. This level of patronage is mainly due to the system being fully accessible and work done by Edinburgh trams with groups such as guide dog users and mobility scooters owners.
Edinburgh Trams received a 97% overall customer satisfaction rating following an independent UK wide survey by Passenger Focus and operated with 99% service reliability. It also celebrated its second birthday by picking up a Certificate of Excellence from travel review site TripAdvisor.
Lea Harrison, General Manager of Edinburgh Trams, said:
The trams are a convenient, comfortable and cost-effective way of travelling through the city and we’re delighted to see this reflected in our passenger figures. We’ll continue to work hard at providing the best possible service and to introduce further improvements to encourage even more travellers to hop on board.
George Lowder, Chief Executive of Transport for Edinburgh, said:
These results are hugely encouraging. I am extremely grateful to all the staff at Edinburgh Trams for their dedication and hard work that provides such an excellent service as recorded in the 2015 Passenger Focus Survey and by TripAdvisor. We are concentrating this year on enhancement of the existing service and are certainly not going to be complacent.
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Chair of Transport for Edinburgh, added:
There is no doubt Edinburgh Trams is going from strength to strength, as these latest passenger figures show, alongside consistently high customer satisfaction ratings. This is thanks to a great team of staff, who over the last two years have helped make Edinburgh Trams the service it is today, and I look forward to continuing our journey as it develops and expands.