Five million journeys in Edinburgh Trams’ first year

Official figures show 4.92 million journeys were made, around 370,000 more than had been targeted.

 “We’ve beaten our targets and we’re on the right path,” said Tom Norris, director and general manager of Edinburgh Trams. 

“We were absolutely delighted with the initial surge of interest when we launched, but even more grateful that the local and visiting public have continued to give us their support.”

The system has a fleet of 27 trams built in Spain by Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), with around half in use each day. It employs 130 staff.

Between them, tram drivers and Ticket Services Assistants completed 77,525 journeys over the year, covering 674,467 miles up and down the route. The depot was manned for 8,760 hours by staff on a rota system.

The tramline is 14km (8.1 miles) long with 15 stops (16 once Edinburgh Gateway is complete). A journey from the airport to the city centre takes approximately 35 minutes.

Edinburgh Trams carried 21,000 passengers on its first day and 130,000 in its first week.