Future of Metrolink ‘unclear’ as passenger numbers fall and government funding ends

Metrolink’s future is ‘unclear’ as government funding ends and passenger numbers plummet, transport bosses have revealed today.

During the Covid lockdowns, Metrolink received a £278m bailout from the government as a result of declining passenger numbers, which have fallen from 45.6m to 30.6m over the last twelve months.

This bailout included a recovery grant of £124m between March 2020 and April 2022, including an extra payment of £20.5m to aid the service until October this year.

However, with the service continuing to experience declining passenger numbers, energy bills soaring to unprecedented costs and the government funding coming to an end, transport bosses have admitted Metrolink’s future is ‘unclear’.

Dr Neil Clifton / Wikimedia Commons

At the start of this year, Metrolink boss Danny Vaughan warned he couldn’t rule out fare hikes or service cuts, telling the Manchester Evening News that rocketing electricity prices would lead to a £6m increase in operating costs this year.

Vaughan said with other bills and passenger decline factored in, this would result in losses of up to £40m.

Roger Jones, the former chairman of the Bus Services Committee, said there may be an argument for reducing some schedules if cash can’t be found, but said a better direction would be to cut fares to boost subsidy.

He said: “Metrolink has never been properly subsidised which is why fares are higher than we’d like. If the Government won’t make up the deficit we have to find some money through council tax or somewhere.”

David Dixon / Geograph

Referencing Andy Burnham’s plan to bring the region’s buses back into public control, Jones added: “If one of the purposes of reducing fares on buses is to get more passengers then maybe we’ve got to do the same thing with trams.

“I think all of us accept that if trams could receive the same subsidy as trains and buses fares would be much lower. But we shouldn’t start cutting Metrolink, it’s taken us so long to expand the network, the last thing we want to see is a reduction.”

Meanwhile, the government has said that operators need to ‘develop effective and financially sustainable networks in light of changing travel patterns post-pandemic’.

Transport Commissioner Vernon Everitt said they remain in ‘continuous dialogue’ with the government about funding for the Metrolink, and that they were grateful for cash already received.

David Dixon / Geograph

He said: “The current funding package runs until October and it remains unclear what will happen after that. What is clear, however, is that we will need further support while we take action ourselves to attract more people to the network and return it to a sound financial footing.

“We have already seen encouraging signs in passenger numbers, especially for leisure trips, and we must continue to offer frequent and reliable transport services as a sustainable alternative to car use in our growing region.

“We are taking decisive action to attract more ridership through the creation of the Bee Network. Single bus fares are being capped at just £2 for adults, and we will also be launching a major new campaign to promote the benefits of public transport.

“We will work with employers to help promote this too. In a little over a year, we will see the first franchised bus routes in operation and we will begin to integrate our value for money fares offer across Metrolink and buses to make everything simpler to use.

“We’ll integrate the local rail network into this in due course too.”