Midland Metro sees the biggest rise is customer satisfaction in the UK

A key survey by Transport Focus has found that the overall satisfaction with Midland Metro rose from 81% to 92% – the largest rise of all the tram networks surveyed.

The Midland Metro, which is owned by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), also saw passenger numbers on the line between Birmingham and Wolverhampton rise to an all-time high – 7.89 million passengers took the tram between June 2016 and May 2017.

“The survey and the patronage figures prove the Midland Metro is going from strength to strength and totally vindicate the investment we have made in the system,” said Counsellor Roger Lawrence, WMCA lead member for transport. “The Metro is key to the WMCA’s vision for strategic growth and regeneration in the West Midlands so we are absolutely delighted with these figures.”

In its report about the latest survey, Transport Focus said satisfaction levels of users in 2015 would have been influenced by the work to build the Birmingham city centre extension from Snow Hill station to New Street station.

“These are great results. The city centre extension has been a huge success,” added Colin Saward, general manager of National Express Midland Metro which operates the system on behalf of TfWM. “We also introduced contactless payment on the trams at the same time. A fifth of tickets sold on the trams are now bought using contactless cards and over two thirds of our customers tell us they like it because it’s quicker.

“But we are not resting on our laurels. We are still improving journeys for our passengers and we are working with the manufacturer to make the trams even more reliable.”

To find out more about Transport Focus’ tram survey, click here.