Tram Frequency

[sparko 14]

Given the little branch to Herdings Park now just has a hourly service, is it time to get rid of it and concentrate on the main services to Halfway? Having a tram service that operates once each hour in a city the size of Sheffield seems odd. 

Edited June 14, 2022 by sparko
Better headline

[hackey lad 3,980]

8 hours ago, sparko said:

Given the little branch to Herdings Park now just has a hourly service, is it time to get rid of it and concentrate on the main services to Halfway? Having a tram service that operates once each hour in a city the size of Sheffield seems odd. 

Why is it once an hour? 

[sparko 14]

Not sure, probably because of Covid. 

[HeHasRisen 3,405]

Would cost a fair bit of money to totally mothball a mile (?) or so of tramway, and one service an hour is still a useful level to provide if you turn up at the scheduled time and its actually there. 

[Resident 1,193]

11 hours ago, hackey lad said:

Why is it once an hour? 

Passenger numbers most likely.

If the tram is only picking up a handful of passengers each hour then there's no point in sending 3 an hour when they can be accomodated by one. 

[GleadlessLad 12]

From 1994 until late 2019, the Herdings Park frequency (Mon to Sat) was 2 per hour in the daytime & 3 per hour in the evening.  The evening frequency was then reduced at the start of Dec 2019 (hence nothing to do with Covid) to 2 per hour.

 

Following the removal in early summer 2021 of the Covid restrictions on socialising, the "late 2019" frequency of 2 trams per hour (Mon to Sat during all hours of service) was reinstated.  That lasted until the end of November 2021 when Supertram introduced a "Temporary Emergency Timetable", due to a shortage of drivers, cutting the Herdings Mon to Sat service down to one tram per hour during all hours of operation; other changes included an evening service reduction on Blue & Yellow Routes from 3 per hour to 2 per hour.

 

6 months later now & these "Temporary Emergency" arrangements - which we were assured would be implemented for a short period only to give time for Supertram to recruit & train sufficient staff to provide the normal level of service - remain in place.  A few minor tweaks were made to the timetables at the end of May 2022 but the "temporary" reduced frequencies were not changed.

 

I haven't commented about Sunday frequencies because I don't use the trams on Sundays.

 

The Purple Route, while admittedly the least used part of the network, is a lifeline for many Herdings residents.  Additionally, for those tram users who live between the city centre & Gleadless Townend, it serves to alleviate some of the overcrowding on the Blue Route at busy times by providing an additional service into & out of the city.

 

Perhaps more people would use the Purple Route if it ran more frequently e.g. twice per hour, as it did between early December 2019 & the start of the pandemic - & again between early summer 2021 & the end of November 2021?

 

 

[hackey lad 3,980]

Good and truthful post 

[BigAl1 143]

Given every yellow tram and crew during the week days sits idle at Middlewood for 10 minutes (sometimes more when it is early) then one might ask if it is lack of crew or Stagecoach having other priorities.

 

One thing is certain that providing only an hourly service is going to make the tram less attractive to residents at the end of the route meaning numbers fall and lo and behold the service becomes even less attractive. One only need to look at the experiences on the traditional railway to see what happens