MORE than 1.5 million passengers have used Edinburgh's much-delayed tram service in its first 100 days, meeting targets set by transport chiefs.
Edinburgh Trams said the passenger numbers and revenue levels had been boosted by major events such as the Edinburgh Festival season and a One Direction concert and Celtic's Champions League games at Murrayfield during the first few months of the service.
About 130,000 people stepped on board during the first week of operations, and since then more than 90,000 passengers on average have used the service each week.
Ian Craig, chief executive of Transport for Edinburgh, said: "I'm very pleased with progress so far and with 100 days of the tram service under our belts, coupled with record-breaking patronage on Lothian Buses, we are well-placed to thrive as a modern integrated transport operator.
"What we are seeing suggests a genuine increase in use of public transport across the piece, which is a priority for us but also a shared aspiration for many in the city."
The troubled trams began operating on May 31 after months of delays and wrangling, and the 100 days covered the period up to September 7.
Lesley Hinds, transport convener and chairwoman of transport for Edinburgh, said: "We can count these 100 days as a very encouraging start and the fact we have carried 1.5 million passengers speaks volumes about how quickly people in the city have embraced their new tram service.
"These are still the early days of a new operation and there is always going to be scope to refine things to make sure passengers get the best possible service.
"We have got a great team in place to hone and develop the tram operation and to ensure we deliver a fully integrated public transport system for the capital."
The tram network opened to the public after six years of building work and problems, including a long-running dispute between the council and its contractor, and saw the construction of a line from Edinburgh Airport to York Place, costing about £776 million.
The original estimate of the cost was £545m, and the project was dogged by other problems, including a dispute with the track builders that halted work for months.
First Minister Alex Salmond launched an inquiry to find out why the project spiralled beyond its original budget and timetable after the service began in May.
The tram system has already been shut down twice, once when balloons became entangled in an overhead cable and again when a tram broke down at Haymarket.
Some critics have questioned the passenger numbers, saying they had been inflated to show the project in a good light to the public.
Alison Adamson, of Macphersons the Kiltmakers in Grosvenor Street, said: "I think these numbers come from fantasy land. If you take away the One Direction concert, where there was standing room only, and the festival, the number of ordinary passengers does not come close.
"I would be much more interested in seeing the figures from now until Christmas. We have seen no benefit from the trams at all."
However, Tom Norris, Edinburgh Trams director and general manager, said: "The last 100 days have been a success for everyone at Edinburgh Trams, from our drivers and ticketing assistants to the team behind the scenes at Gogar Depot.
"We are off to a really promising start and I would like to thank all our staff for their efforts and our new passengers for getting on board with us."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article