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UK Light Rail figures:
The Department of Tranport has released the patronage figures for UK light rail systems upto 2001/2 which shows that the number of passenger journeys on light rail systems in England increased by 6 per cent, from 119.6 million in 2000/01 to 127.3 million in 2001/02.
The table below shows trends in patronage (passenger journeys (millions)) over the last 7 years and the percentage change over the last year:
| 1995/96 | 1996/97 | 1997/98 | 1998/99 | 1999/00 | 2000/01 | 2001/02 | % change | |
| Docklands | 14.0 | 16.7 | 21.0 | 27.6 | 31.3 | 38.4 | 41.3 | 7.6 |
| Tyne & Wear | 35.8 | 35.4 | 35.0 | 33.8 | 32.7 | 32.5 | 33.4 | 2.8 |
| Manchester | 13.0 | 13.4 | 13.8 | 13.2 | 14.2 | 17.2 | 18.2 | 5.8 |
| Sheffield | 5.0 | 7.8 | 9.2 | 10.4 | 10.9 | 11.1 | 11.4 | 2.7 |
| Midland | 4.8 | 5.4 | 4.8 | -11.1 | ||||
| Croydon | 15.0 | 18.2 | 21.3 | |||||
| TOTAL | 67.8 | 73.3 | 79.0 | 85.0 | 93.9 | 119.6 | 127.3 | 6.4 |
It reports that much of the growth in the last 6 years has been in London, with use of the Docklands Light Railway almost tripling since 1995/96. In the last year, growth in DLR patronage continued, and the Croydon Tramlink increased patronage in its first full year of service, having opened in May 2000.
The 10-Year Plan for Transport published in July 2000 set a target of doubling light rail use by 2010, from a baseline of 119.6 million passenger journeys in 2000/01.
The full release can be found at www.dft.gov.uk/news/0208/tr-019.htm while a further more detailed report is available at www.transtat.dft.gov.uk/tables/2002/literail/literail.htm
16 August 2002
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