Date: 30/12/2016

Edinburgh's £776m tram network was running at an average of 25% capacity, newly released figures show. Passenger numbers on the network almost doubled between 2014 and 2015 to 5.3 million, but the services have the potential to carry 21 million people per year. Each tram has a capacity of 250 and the vehicles make a total of 85,000 journeys per year. It means, on average, three-quarters of the space on the network was unfilled. The trams were originally designed to run for 15 miles from Edinburgh Airport to Leith by 2011, at a cost of £375m. But a truncated nine-mile service, stopping in the city centre, opened in 2014, at a cost of £776m - with interest charges expected to push the final bill to about £1bn.

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Trams running three-quarters empty

BBC News

Edinburgh's £776m tram network was running at an average of 25% capacity last year, newly released figures show.

Related images

An Edinburgh Tram about to emerge from South St Andrew Street onto Princes Street on 25 March 2015. The angle gives a perspective on the overall length of these units.
Location: St Andrew Square [Tram]
Company: Edinburgh Trams
25/03/2015 Colin Miller

Edinburgh Tram 260 calls at Murrayfield Stadium with an Airport service on 4 August 2015.
Location: Murrayfield Stadium [Tram]
Company: Edinburgh Trams
04/08/2015 Bill Roberton

'Oh ...ballast!!!' Three fed up looking would-be passengers just miss a Sunday morning city bound Edinburgh tram leaving Ingliston Park and Ride on 13 July.
Location: Ingliston Park and Ride [Tram]
Company: Edinburgh Trams
13/07/2014 John Furnevel

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Tags: x Edinburgh Trams