Metrolink’s pay-as-you-go contactless system hit a major new milestone following one of the busiest weekends in transport history for Greater Manchester.
More than ten million contactless journeys have now been made on Metrolink since its initial launch in July 2019.
The record number was reached on Saturday (11th June), in a week that saw a series of high-profile events across Greater Manchester, as an estimated 400,000 music-lovers hit the region to see some of the world’s biggest musical acts perform, including four consecutive nights of Ed Sheeran at the Etihad Stadium and Parklife taking place at Heaton Park.
Over the weekend (11th & 12th June), there was a record number of customers using Metrolink with a total of 211,900 journeys taken on the network – with around 82,000 of those journeys being made using the contactless payment system.
A further estimated 585,000 trips were made using the region’s buses, 293,000 on train services and more than 892,000 journeys on the city-region’s roads.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) worked closely with the police, transport operators and other partner agencies over the week to ensure plenty of staff were present across the network and boosted services as much as possible to help people keep moving – as well as operating a 24/7 control room to continuously monitor the network and ensure safety of passengers.
Danny Vaughan, Head of Metrolink for Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), said: “Since its launch, contactless travel has continued to grow in popularity. Approximately 150,000 contactless journeys are made every week – and growing – and, as shown over the last week, it really is the quickest and easiest way to get to the many great events and attractions the city-region has to offer.
