Accredited official statistics

Light rail and tram statistics, England: year ending March 2024 (revised)

Updated 25 February 2025

Applies to England

Revision

This statistical release has been revised to correct a processing error affecting Statistics in Development in Chart 8 and some of the associated commentary. 2024 FTE workforce figures were double-counted in system-level analysis only. The associated data table was unaffected.

About this release

This release presents the latest annual information on light rail and tram systems in England during the year ending March 2024. The release covers light rail and tram use, vehicle mileage, infrastructure, revenue and workforce.

This publication covers 8 urban systems that are predominantly surface-running (see Table 1 for a list of systems covered). Smaller systems (for example, heritage railway and airport transit systems) are not included. London Underground, Glasgow Subway and Edinburgh Trams are also excluded from this report, but statistics for these systems are included in the associated tables.

This publication includes accredited official statistics, and official statistics in development. For more information, see the Official statistics section.

Headline figures

In England, comparing the year ending March 2024 with the year ending March 2023, there were:

• 228.8 million passenger journeys, an increase of 8%

• 28.4 million concessionary passenger journeys, an increase of 6%

• 21.6 million vehicle miles, an increase of 4%

• £365.8 million of passenger revenue, an increase of 12%

• £29.9 million of concessionary passenger revenue, an increase of 4%

• 550 vehicles, covering 415 stops, with a total route length of 220.6 miles

Details of factors impacting on annual figures including engineering works, technical equipment failures, planned closures (regional and national) and other factors can be found in the quality report.

Summary

Table 1: Summary of the latest annual light rail and tram figures (year ending March 2024) compared with the previous year (year ending March 2023)

System	Passenger journeys (millions)	Percentage change from 2023 - journeys	Vehicle miles (millions)	Percentage change from 2023 - miles	Passenger revenue (£ millions)	Percentage change from 2023 - revenue
England	228.8	8.2%	21.6	3.8%	365.8	11.5%
London	118.9	5%	5.6	3.7%	156.2	6.7%
Docklands Light Railway	98.9	7.2%	3.9	11.4%	141.4	10.3%
London Trams	20.0	-4.3%	1.7	-10.5%	14.8	-18.7%
Nottingham Express Transit	15.5	7.6%	1.8	0%	22.0	10%
West Midlands Metro	8.3	53.7%	1.1	37.5%	13.0	46.1%
Sheffield Supertram	8.7	3.6%	1.3	0%	17.3	18.5%
Tyne and Wear Metro	30.7	4.8%	3.0	0%	68.1	11.8%
Manchester Metrolink	42.0	16.7%	8.3	3.8%	81.1	15%
Blackpool Tramway	4.7	-4.1%	0.5	0%	8.1	19.1%
England outside of London	109.9	11.8%	16.0	3.9%	209.6	15.4%

Table 1 summarises the annual figures for passenger journeys, vehicle miles and passenger revenue, including comparisons to year ending March 2023.

Passenger journeys

Chart 1: Light rail and tram passenger journeys (millions): England, annually from year ending March 1984 to year ending March 2024 - (LRT0101)

Chart 1 is a line chart that shows that in England, in the year ending March 2024, passenger journeys on light rail and tram systems increased to 228.8 million, an increase of 8% compared with the previous year where there were 211.6 million passenger journeys. There has been a steady increase in the number of passenger journeys taken on light rail and tram systems since the 1980s. This reached a peak of 274.8 million in 2019, before dipping over the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Whilst figures have not returned to the previous high, they have continued to increase year on year.

In the year ending March 2024, when compared to 2023, there were:

• 228.8 million passenger journeys in England, an increase of 8%

• 118.9 million passenger journeys in London, an increase of 5%

• 109.9 million passenger journeys in England outside of London, an increase of 12%

Chart 2: Light rail and tram passenger journeys (millions) by system: England, year ending March 2024 (LRT0101)

Chart 2 is a bar chart that shows passenger journeys on all systems in England in the year ending March 2024. The highest number of journeys was seen on the Docklands Light Railway, with 98.9 million passenger journeys. Blackpool Tramway had the fewest journeys, with 4.7 million.

The changes in the number of passenger journeys taken across the light rail and tram systems in England during the year ending March 2024 varied considerably (from -4% for Blackpool Tramway and London Trams to 54% for West Midlands Metro). This contrasts to the year ending March 2023 where all systems showed an increase as passengers returned following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Passenger journeys on all systems except West Midlands Metro remain below pre-pandemic levels. When comparing the year ending March 2024 with the year ending March 2019:

• West Midland Metro has seen a return to 2019 levels
• London Trams has seen the largest decrease, -30%
• all other systems have seen decreases of between 4% and 27%

Chart 3: Light rail and tram passenger journeys per person: England, London and England outside London, annually from year ending March 2005 (LRT0109)

Chart 3 is a line chart showing the average number of light rail and tram journeys per person in England, London and England outside of London annually. In England, the average number of journeys per person was 12.8 in the year ending March 2024 compared with 12 journeys per person in the year ending March 2023, an increase of 7%. The average number of journeys per person remains below pre-pandemic levels (15.7 in the year ending March 2019).

Concessionary journeys

Definition: Concessionary journeys are those carried out by holders of a concessionary travel pass. For more information see the quality report.

In England, in the year ending March 2024, there were 28.4 million concessionary journeys on light rail and tram systems. This is an increase of 6% when compared to the year ending March 2023 figure of 26.7 million.

Chart 4: Light rail and tram concessionary journeys (millions) by system: England, year ending March 2024 (LRT0102)

Chart 4 is a bar chart that shows that Manchester Metrolink had the most concessionary passenger journeys in the year ending March 2024, with 9 million. Blackpool Tramway had the least, with 0.5 million. The majority of systems have followed the national trend and seen an increase from 2023.

As with total passenger journeys, concessionary passenger journeys are still below the numbers seen in the year ending March 2019. When comparing the year ending March 2024 with the year ending March 2019:

• Tyne and Wear Metro are back to the same level as 2019
• Manchester Metrolink and West Midlands Metro both had more concessionary passenger journeys (3.4% and 9.1% respectively)
• all other systems saw a fall in numbers

In England, 12% of all light rail and tram passenger journeys were concessionary in the year ending March 2024, which was similar to the previous year. This varied by system from 5% on the Docklands Light Railway to 38% on Sheffield Supertram. The proportion of journeys made by concessionary passengers for each system have remained broadly similar from last year, apart from Sheffield Supertram who saw a decrease from 49% last year.

Concessionary travel on light rail and trams represents a relatively small proportion of passenger journeys when compared with concessionary travel on local bus passenger services in England. In the year ending March 2023, 31% of all bus journeys were concessionary.

Vehicle mileage

Vehicle mileage can be used as an indicator of the level of service provision by operators.

Chart 5: Light rail and tram passenger journeys and vehicle miles index: England, annually from year ending March 2012 - (LRT0101 and LRT0106)

Chart 5 is a line chart that shows that in England, both passenger journeys and vehicle mileage have increased since 2012. After a dip in mileage during the COVID-19 pandemic, vehicle mileage in 2024 has returned to a similar level (21.6 million miles) to the high of 22.5 million miles seen in 2019.

In the year ending March 2024, compared to 2023, vehicle mileage was:

• 21.6 million miles in England, an increase of 4%

• 5.6 million miles in London, an increase of 4%

• 16 million miles in England outside of London, an increase of 4%

Between 2012 and 2019, both passenger journeys and vehicle miles saw a similar upward trend. During the COVID-19 pandemic, vehicle mileage decreased by less than passenger journeys as the government provided funding support to the sector to ensure the continued running of services. This was initially to provide sufficient service provision for National Health Service (NHS) staff and key workers, and subsequently to ensure that service levels were maintained while passenger numbers remained lower due to social distancing and home working requirements. This support ended during the year ending March 2023.

Chart 6: Light rail and tram vehicle mileage (millions) by system: England, year ending March 2024 (LRT0106)

Manchester Metrolink counts vehicle mileage in a different way to other systems. When 2 tram sets are joined together to form one train, vehicle miles are counted twice (once for each tram set). Figures for Manchester are therefore not directly comparable to those for other systems. It is thought that the use of these double tram sets has increased in recent years, and now accounts for approximately half of all services run in Manchester.

Chart 6 is a bar chart that shows that in the year ending March 2024, Manchester Metrolink had the highest vehicle mileage of all systems, at 8.3 million miles. This is likely to partly reflect the fact that when 2 tram sets are joined together to form one train, the vehicle miles are counted separately for each tram set for Manchester Metrolink. Other systems do not have this issue, and therefore the Manchester figures are not directly comparable to those of other systems. Manchester Metrolink is also the largest system, operating over 64 miles of track.

Blackpool Tramway had the lowest vehicle mileage at 0.5 million miles. Blackpool Tramway also have the smallest network, covering 11.2 miles of track. In addition, several factors can affect these figures for individual systems, such as planned engineering works or technical issues such as those seen on West Midlands Metro during the year ending March 2023, and London Trams during the year ending March 2024.

The majority of systems reported either no change or a slight increase (up to 11%) to the number of vehicle miles taken in the year ending March 2024 compared to the year ending March 2023. The exceptions being West Midlands Metro (38%), most likely due to a drop last year because of a series of engineering works that limited service as well as the opening on an extension, and London Trams (-11%), most likely due to several engineering works that have limited service this year.

Infrastructure

Between the 31 March 2023 and the 31 March 2024, route miles and number of stops stayed the same on most systems in England. The exception to this was West Midlands Metro, which increased slightly due to the opening of the Wolverhampton extension in September 2023. As shown in Table 2 below, there were some small increases and decreases in the number of vehicles used on several systems.

Table 2: System summary (year ending March 2024)

System	Length of system (miles)	Percentage change from 2023 - length of system	Number of stops	Percentage change from 2023 - stops	Number of tram vehicles	Percentage change from 2023 - vehicles
England	220.6	0.2%	415	0.5%	550	0.2%
London	41.0	0%	84	0%	181	0%
Docklands Light Railway	23.6	0%	45	0%	146	0%
London Trams	17.4	0%	39	0%	35	0%
England outside London	179.6	0.3%	331	0.6%	369	0.3%
Nottingham Express Transit	19.9	0%	50	0%	37	0%
West Midlands Metro	14.9	3.5%	33	6.5%	42	31.3%
Sheffield Supertram	21.1	0%	50	0%	32	0%
Tyne and Wear Metro	48.5	0%	60	0%	83	-9.8%
Manchester Metrolink	64.0	0%	99	0%	147	0%
Blackpool Tramway	11.2	0%	39	0%	28	0%

Table 2 summarises the length of system, number of stops and number of tram vehicles for all the systems in England, including comparison to the previous year.

Revenue

Chart 7: Light rail and tram total and concessionary passenger revenue index: England, annually from year ending March 2012, at current prices (LRT0301 and LRT0302)

Chart 7 is a line chart that shows that light rail and tram passenger revenue increased by 12% of its year ending March 2023 value (in current prices, that is not adjusted for inflation) to £365.8 million in the year ending March 2024. This reflects the increased passenger numbers over this period.

The passenger revenue from all systems outside of London have returned to or exceeded the levels of 2019. This indicates a good recovery across the industry from the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the year ending March 2024, when compared to 2023, the passenger revenue was:

• £365.8 million in England, an increase of 11%

• £156.2 million in London, an increase of 7%

• £209.6 million in England outside of London, an increase of 15%

Concessionary revenue increased by 4% of its year ending March 2023 value (in current prices) to £29.9 million.

Unlike commercial revenue, which decreased significantly during the pandemic, most local authorities chose to maintain concessionary reimbursement at pre-pandemic levels in the year ending March 2021, with several maintaining these into the year ending March 2022. These payments, in conjunction with funding support from the Department for Transport (DfT), worked together to help ensure the continued operation of light rail services across the country.

Several local authorities changed their concessionary funding back to normal (pre-pandemic) arrangements in the year ending March 2023, so that it was based on concessionary passenger numbers. After an initial dip last year, the revenue has returned to pre-pandemic levels for all systems outside of London.

For the year ending March 2024, compared to 2023, the concessionary passenger revenue was:

• £29.9 million in England, an increase of 4%

• £6.7 million in London, an increase of 10%

• £23.2 million in England outside of London, an increase of 3%

Workforce

About these official statistics in development

These statistics are official statistics in development, reflecting the fact that they are new, innovative statistics that are still undergoing development, with an intention to develop them further in future years. We would welcome feedback on these statistics and how they might be developed further in future to meet user needs. There are some known limitations of these statistics, and these should be considered when reviewing the data.

The figures show the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff employed by light rail and tram systems, including those contracted externally where possible. Where figures are not whole numbers, this is to take into account those working part-time.

As at 31 March 2024, compared to 2023, there were:

• 1,222.5 light rail or tram drivers, an increase of 5%

• 640 other on-board staff (such as conductors or ticket inspectors), an increase of 3%

• 1,024.5 maintenance staff, an increase of 5%

• 452.5 admin staff, an increase of 15%

Chart 8: Number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff on light rail and tram systems: England, as at 31 March 2024 (LRT0501)

Figures for the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London Underground and West Midlands Metro do not include cleaning staff, and so are not directly comparable to those for other systems.

Chart 8 is a bar chart showing that the biggest employers were Manchester Metrolink, Tyne and Wear Metro and Docklands Light Railway with 1,058, 986 and 945 full time equivalent employees respectively. However, the DLR and West Midlands Metro figures do not include cleaning staff, whereas figures for the other systems do.

There are variations in the types of staff employed by each system depending on the nature of the system. For example, the DLR does not employ any drivers as the trains are driverless, whereas London Trams does not employ any on-board staff other than the drivers.

Light rail and tram passenger behaviour

Previous versions of this release have included data from the National Travel Survey (NTS), which gathers data on personal travel behaviour by households in England and can be used to analyse users of light rail and tram systems in areas where such systems exist. This analysis was based on combining several years of NTS data to provide a sufficient sample size to analyse trends.

Data collection for the NTS was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with lower response rates and substantial missing data around the start of the pandemic. Travel behaviours and the profile of survey respondents also changed significantly during the pandemic, meaning the findings will be less comparable to previous years. For these reasons, we are not providing updated analysis of passenger behaviour in relation to light rail and tram systems.

For previous analysis, please see the year ending March 2021 statistical release.

For the 2023 analysis on Ethnicity and Disability during the period 2012 to 2019, please see the year ending March 2023 statistical release.

Light rail and tram safety

The Office of Rail and Road publish information on passenger injuries on trams, metros and other non-Network Rail networks (such as heritage railways) in Great Britain. In the year ending March 2023 (the latest available data), there were 2 passenger fatalities resulting from collisions, a decrease from 3 in the previous year. There were 26 severe injuries that required hospitalisation, which was lower than any year since data was first collected in 2018, apart from the low of 17 during the pandemic in 2021. The low in that year is likely to be in part due to the decrease in light rail and tram usuage during the pandemic.

Further information can be found on the Office of Rail and Road website.

Changes for 2024 publication

Ceased publishing table LRT0107 (average journey length)

Last year we suggested that we cease producing table LRT0107, having received no feedback we are no longer updating this table, which presented the average length of journey on light rail and tram systems. This was calculated by dividing total passenger distance travelled by the number of passengers and should users wish to calculate average journey length themselves, they will still be able to do so by dividing passenger distance by passenger boardings for each system. If you have any comments on this change please contact us.

About these statistics

Uses and users of these statistics

These statistics are collected to provide information on light rail and tram systems within England to monitor trends in passenger journeys, service provision and revenue. They help to provide a comprehensive picture of public transport use in Great Britain. Within DfT, they are used as background information in the development of light rail and tram policy, for ministerial briefing and to answer public enquiries. Outside DfT, known users include researchers, academics and Parliamentary groups. These groups appear to primarily use the statistics as context for reports related to light rail.

Strengths and weaknesses of the data

The survey first ran in its current format in 2010 and has been running on an annual basis since with a consistent 100% response rate, although some data are available back to the 1980s. The data captured has remained largely unchanged, meaning that long-term trends can be monitored.

As the figures are provided by different operators, there are some differences in the methods used to count journeys or to estimate passenger or vehicle kilometres, which may affect comparisons between different systems. However, we have attempted to ensure comparability as far as possible.

More information about strengths and limitations can be found in the quality report.

Official statistics

These statistics were designated as accredited official statistics in February 2013.

Further information on data quality, including the methods used to compile these statistics, users and background information about the systems covered can be found in the quality report.

This publication is a compendium of accredited official statistics, and statistics in development. The type of statistics presented is detailed in Table 3 below.

Table 3: Categories of statistics presented in this publication

Name of category of statistics	Label	Description
Light Rail and Tram survey	Accredited official statistics	These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in February 2013. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
National Travel Survey	Accredited official statistics	These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in July 2011. The continued designation was confirmed in September 2018. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
Office of Rail and Road – Rail safety statistics	Accredited official statistics	These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in December 2022. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
Light Rail and Tram survey (workforce questions)	Official statistics in development	These statistics are released under the ‘official statistics in development’ label – formerly called experimental statistics. Official statistics in development are official statistics that are temporarily undergoing development and are being tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

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Contact details

Light rail and tram statistics

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