As the first calendar year of tram operations comes to a close, Tom Norris our Director and General Manager reflects on Edinburgh Trams' year.
For many reasons, 2014 will be a year that I will always remember. From testing to operations, Murrayfield events, incidents, collisions and lightning strikes, I can safely say we’ve had a fair bit on our plate.
Reflecting back to just one year ago, our team had just tested the very first tram in the city centre and had launched the new Edinburgh Trams brand. We've come a long way since then; our services are busier than ever and our performance continues to improve.
During the early part of 2014, the Edinburgh Trams team went about focussing on training, mobilising and testing everything we would need to run a passenger service. With the launch date pencilled for the 31st of May, we had our work cut out. Our team, alongside the construction project, worked day and night, 7 days a week to achieve this outcome.
Our biggest test before passenger service started came with the well publicised Operation Salvador, our first passenger carrying test. I was delighted with the outcome. Our staff did themselves proud, we learned a lot and most of all our passengers on the day were very positive about the experience and also gave us feedback to where we could improve. For me, this was a real measure of things to come.
As launch day approached, the media frenzy around our people, our plans and our business became incredible. We had roadshows, the #readytoroll tram and as the big day approached even a lightning strike. There didn’t seem to be a thing we could do without making headlines, most of which were positive. For me personally, and our staff, this was a hugely motivating time. I was particularly pleased to see a big positive focus on our drivers, controllers and TSA’s, the people who would (and now do) deliver a fantastic service every day.
Launch day was an incredible experience. From the extremely early 3.30am start for the team, through to the last trams returning just before midnight, the public response was nothing short of amazing. The trams were packed, we couldn’t sell tickets fast enough for the demand and we experienced the first of many busy days to come. Personally those first few days go by in a bit of a blur through to the OneDirection concert at Murrayfield, but we did it, we took Edinburgh Trams live.
Over the coming weeks the operation started to settle and the senior management team were able to take a step back. During the first few weeks we had a ‘command structure’ in place, similar to those the emergency services use during major events. This meant there was always a member of the senior management team on shift as long as we were running trams. This meant that for the first two weeks all non-operational meetings were cancelled so we could focus on the launch of the service.
As we moved into the summer we started to experience the first incidents and service interruptions. As with all new transport systems, we expected these kind of things to happen and did our very best to manage every situation. I’m glad to say that as each week has gone on, our reliability and performance has continued to improve. The festival period, Murrayfield events and various other city events provided us with significant challenges as we moved through the period. I’m pleased we managed to continue to deliver a safe and reliable service during these times and this has been reflected in the most recent releases of passenger information.
We continue to exceed our budget this year for both passengers journeys and revenue. By the end of the year, all being well, we may exceed 3 million passenger journeys. Our safety record and service punctuality remains strong and we are planning a big campaign in the early new year focussed on other road users. Disruption caused by collisions continues to be the biggest impact on our passengers, and in all cases so far I believe there has been nothing our drivers could have done to avoid the situation.
The company success is testament to the superb team who deliver our service. I’d personally like to thank our drivers, TSA’s, controllers and the management and support teams for their enthusiasm, commitment and customer focus throughout the year while delivering a new public transport offering in Edinburgh; you have done yourselves and the city proud. Furthermore, the support and leadership we’ve had from our various stakeholders and partners throughout the city has been great. There is still much work to do and with every tweet from one of our passengers, to the in-depth reviews we do post a service interruption, we will continue to refine our service and look for areas of improvement.
Finally to our passengers; thank you for joining us on our new service, I hope we have managed to delight you. Please keep talking to us and feeding back your experiences. We are, after all, here to serve you.
We look forward to next year. I hope you will join us on our journey.