TFGM Transport Update

Transport update

Towns, city centres and key retail centres have seen a big increase in visitors and all transport modes have seen an increase in activity.

On Tuesday 13 April, 6.2m trips were made on Greater Manchester’s roads and across public transport services, an increase of 8% compared to the same day in the previous week (5.7m) and up by over 119% on the same time last year (2.8m).

Across transport modes there was a significant uplift in passenger numbers compared to the previous Tuesday. For example, commercial bus trips rose to 260,000, up 41%, and Metrolink journeys increased to 48,000, up by 59%.

On the whole, the situation has been manageable across the network and within the social distancing constraints we have around capacity at present. However, as anticipated, we are experiencing some challenges in respect of social distancing at specific locations and at specific times – particularly on services inbound to the Regional Centre​.

As we head into the first weekend following the easing of restrictions, and with hundreds of thousands of young people set to return to education as the Easter holidays end, public transport use across the city-region is expected to be far busier than in recent weeks.

We are continuing to work with operators to keep passengers safe when travelling, including running as many services as possible. This includes Metrolink operating all available trams, and bus and train operators providing more services across the city-region.

Given the fact more people will be heading out to enjoy the leisure and hospitality options available to them we do expect there to be extra demand and use of taxis and private hire vehicles, as such we are also keen to promote safe travel behaviours for anyone choosing to share a lift.

Business/employer communications pack – latest update and feedback

We have updated the pack this week to include bespoke taxi and private hire messaging. If you found the pack useful, please share as appropriate on your own channels and share with your networks for them to use. You can also find all this information and more on tfgm.com/employers

If you have any feedback on the pack, we would like to hear if you find it useful or if there is any specific content or messaging you would like us to include. Please contact [email protected] with any suggestions.