By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
A senior manager and a campaigner say it is proving difficult for Nottingham’s trams to compete with buses due to a lack of Government support.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has been funding a £2 cap on thousands of single bus journeys across the country to help with the ongoing cost of living crisis.
It has been extended on numerous occasions and will now run until December 2024.
However, trams have been left out of the deal.
While the DfT says between March 2020 and October 2022, the Government provided around £34 million to support Nottingham Express Transit (NET) in pandemic-related subsidy, critics say it is proving hard for them to compete.
Tim Hesketh, the chief executive officer of Tramlink, the group of companies behind the network, said: “We live in a very difficult and competitive environment.
“Trams generally fall into a bit of a black hole with the Department of Transport, because we are neither fish nor fowl.
“We are not buses, we are not trains, we are sort of a hybrid of the two and nobody really knows quite where we fit in DfT.
“When they start giving out cash to support public transport, it’ll either get put into trains or buses. There has been a lot of it dished out post-Covid and is continuing to be dished out with the £2 capped fare.
“But none of it has come to tram at all. Not just in Nottingham but every light rail system in the country is now competing with the £2 bus fare, which is very difficult.”
The tram recently restructured its loans amid financial difficulties, citing increased costs and lower passenger numbers following the pandemic.
Fares will also cost more across the board from January 8.
The cost of an adult single ticket will again rise by 20p to £3.20, alongside a raft of other fares.
An adult day ticket, for example, will increase from £5.00 to £5.30, while an adult annual ticket will rise from £630 to £675.
David Thornhill, the chairman of the Nottinghamshire Campaign for Better Transport, says he feels the new prices may “dissuade” people from using the trams, particularly when there is a cheaper alternative in the buses.
Speaking of the £2 capped fares for buses, he said: “Tram operators, not just in Nottingham, have pointed out they are suffering due to Covid and the £2 bus fare, and Government has been ignoring them.
“They ought to have taken the tram into consideration.”
Responding, a DfT spokesperson added: “While we recognise the importance of trams for communities, light rail is devolved in Nottingham, and local authorities are ultimately responsible for the financial sustainability of their systems.”
