A SUPERTRAM FOR SOUTH YORKSHIRE – OVER FOUR MONTHS OF PUBLIC CONTROL

Published 1 August 2024 at 9:44am

On March 22, 2024, Supertram came back under public control for the first time in 27 years in an historic day for South Yorkshire.

Just over four months on, customers are beginning to see the benefits of a tram system run in the interests of South Yorkshire’s communities - with ambitious improvement plans and investment being delivered.

SYMCA is investing more than £33m in the Supertram network, with more than £23m being invested in this financial year alone. Fare evasion has also been reduced through an effort to encourage pre-purchasing of tickets through the Travel South Yorkshire (TSY) app, detailed analysis of ticketless travel hotspots and an ongoing investment in new ticket machines.

South Yorkshire's Mayor, Oliver Coppard, together with Supertram and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), plan to create a bigger and better tram network that is fully integrated with other modes of transport.  This will form the basis of a world-class transport network for South Yorkshire that connects all communities to opportunity.

Some of the improvements and successes on Supertram since March 2024, include:

• Passenger journeys 4.5% higher compared to this time last year
• Fare evasion has fallen to less than 0.4% of journeys from highs of up to 8%
• New handheld ticketing machines introduced for conductors to make ticket purchases on board trams easier and quicker
• 20,000 downloads of the Travel South Yorkshire ticketing app, with over 40,000 tickets purchased on the app since its launch
• A trial for more trams at peak times along key routes, to help commuters, introduced

A new Park and Ride and link road at Rotherham Parkgate is also expected to open later this year with a new tram train station and Park and Ride at Magna due to open in 2025.

The journey planning feature on Travel South Yorkshire app is also set to be launched in the coming weeks. This will enable customers to easily plan their journey, view live departures, buy tickets, save favourite routes as well as having an improved search functionality.

South Yorkshire's Mayor, Oliver Coppard, said: “After 27 years South Yorkshire’s Supertram came back under our control in March. Now, just over four months on we are making huge strides in our journey back to a public transport system that puts people first, connects our communities and helps us to build a bigger and better economy in South Yorkshire.

“Since March, 20,000 people have already downloaded our new app to buy tickets, trams and trams stops are getting a well needed deep clean and our conductors have new handheld ticketing machines which make buying tickets on the tram easier.

“But this is just the start of our journey to a truly integrated transport network that connects all our communities to the huge opportunities that exist right across South Yorkshire."