Following the relaxing of coronavirus restrictions on Monday 12th April, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) have revealed how passenger numbers have been affected by the reopening of outdoor hospitality, retail and other sectors across the city-region.
TfGM reported that towns, city centres and key retail centres have seen a big increase in visitors and all transport modes have seen an increase in activity throughout Greater Manchester.
On Tuesday 13th April, 6.2 million 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 (5.7 million) and up by over 119% on the same time last year (2.8 million) during the height of the first national lockdown.
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 social distancing constraints, there is capacity at present. However, as anticipated, TfGM is experiencing some challenges in respect of social distancing at specific locations and at specific times, particularly on services inbound to town and city centres?.
As a result, TfGM is continuing to work with operators to keep passengers safe when travelling including: running as many services as possible, 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 TfGM also expect there to be extra demand and use of taxis and private hire vehicles; as such, the media packs for employers to help promote safe travel have been updated accordingly.
The media pack is available to download here, with visual content to download here; you will need to enter your name and email address but no password is required.