Metrolink has unveiled plans to dip into cash reserves of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to help fund and secure its future, transport bosses have announced.
But the exact costings of the bailout proposal have not been revealed despite the Manchester Evening News asking for them. The owners of Metrolink, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), gets the majority of its revenue funding from Greater Manchester Combined Authority anyway via a council tax levy.
Despite no amount being confirmed, it's said GMCA's reserves would need to be 'subsequently replenished'. Details of the proposal featured in agenda papers for a transport committee meeting held today - but the issue wasn't discussed by members.
The move comes as TfGM revealed that despite plummeting passenger numbers during the Covid-19 pandemic, commuter levels over the weekend of the Parklife music festival this year are estimated to have been the highest in Metrolink's 30-year history. Patronage - the number of single journeys made on the network - continues to increase, said TfGM, but 'recovery remains well below pre-Covid levels'.
The Metrolink tram network, run on TfGM's behalf by private company KeolisAmey Metrolink Ltd, was kept on the tracks by Government funding during the pandemic - Metrolink received a grant of £124m between March 2020 and April this year.
An added package of funding support from central Government was also agreed - an extra £20.5m - but that lasts until the beginning of next month. The Department for Transport, said transport leaders, 'has indicated that no further recovery funding will be provided beyond this point'.
Now Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has revealed that 'as a last resort, GMCA has sufficient reserves available to temporarily fund Metrolink's forecast net deficit for the remainder of 2022-3'. It's also been recommended that it continues in 2023-4. No actual costings have been revealed, but there's a warning that the reserves 'would subsequently need to be replenished'.
The M.E.N. has asked GMCA and TfGM for the figures and exact costings, but no further details have been revealed.
A plan to secure financing for Metrolink is being worked on and, bosses, said TfGM was 'engaged in ongoing dialogue' with the Department for Transport.
A report by Danny Vaughan, head of Metrolink at TfGM, considered at a meeting on Friday of the Metrolink and rail sub-committee of the Greater Manchester transport committee, says: "A package of funding support from central government has been agreed up to the beginning of October 2022. The Department for Transport (DfT)/HM Treasury have indicated that no further recovery funding will be provided beyond this point.
"TfGM is engaged in ongoing dialogue with DfT.
"As a last resort, GMCA has sufficient reserves available to temporarily fund Metrolink's forecast net deficit for the remainder of 2022/23 and it is recommended that provision is made for this to continue in 2023/24, noting that these reserves would subsequently need to be replenished.
"In parallel, a financial sustainability plan is being prepared, which will include a strategy for Metrolink to cover its operating, renewals and financing costs in the medium to long term, including replenishing the reserves."
The M.E.N. revealed earlier this months that passenger numbers fell from 45.6m in 2019 to 30.6m over the last 12 months, as transport bosses admitted the future was still 'unclear' as Treasury funding reaches the end of the line. What exact impact rocketing electricity costs will have on the network remains to be seen.
Transport Commissioner, Vernon Everitt, said TfGM remains in 'continuous dialogue' with the Government about Metrolink funding and that they were grateful for cash already received. But the report reveals patronage 'has been steadily recovering' since Government restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic.
This weekend, the last of 27 new trams will arrive ready for use on the network - bringing Metrolink's total number of trams to 147. A £72m deal for them was first signed in 2018.
Mr Vaughan said an 'uptick' had been seen in recent weeks and reported that on the Altrincham line last week, pre-Covid levels of patronage were seen in the mornings.
The figures, however, show that national events, holiday periods, rail strikes and engineering work - combined with this year's heatwaves which impacted overhead lines and led to temporary speed restrictions and some cancelled services - all hit passenger numbers.
The report says: "Taking in to account the factors referenced above, journeys on the network have recovered to between 70 per - 75 per cent of pre-Covid average patronage on a regular basis.
"Increases in patronage continues to be correlated to football matches and large concerts across the city. For example, journey numbers carried during the weekend of the Parklife festival (11 June – 12 June 2022) are estimated to have been the highest number carried in 30 years of Metrolink operations - 151 per cent of a pre-Covid average weekend.
"Commuter trip numbers, although still supressed, have also begun to recover on an upward trajectory. Estimates suggest that approximately 70 per cent of pre-Covid average commuter patronage has returned to the network with some pressure on peak capacities between Tuesdays and Thursdays on Altrincham, Bury, East Didsbury and Eccles lines."
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