Transport for West Midlands to assume responsibility for Midland Metro

Midland Metro

The transport arm of the West Midlands Combined Authority is to take over the day-to-day running of the Midland Metro service.

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) will assume responsibility for the trams from October 2018 when the current concession, held by National Express, expires.

The move will enable TfWM to plough millions of pounds of future profits back into expanding the network.
Existing National Express staff will be transferred over to a new subsidiary company – Midland Metro Ltd – which will be wholly-owned by the WMCA.

The combined authority is set to start a number of extensions which will see the network triple in size over the next decade, with passenger numbers forecast to increase from around 6.5 million at present to more than 30 million.

That is expected to generate profits of around £50m over the first 11 years which the WMCA will be able to channel back into the network for the benefit of passengers and the local economy.

Cllr Roger Lawrence, WMCA lead for transport, said: “Metro is a fundamental part of our future plans not only for transport but for the West Midlands economy as a whole.

“It is a proven catalyst for economic growth and is critical to best connect and feed into HS2 so we can reap the maximum economic benefits possible from the high speed rail line.”

The introduction of the HS2 rail link has been the trigger for the Metro expansion and the combined authority believes that by bringing responsibility for it in-house it will be better able to manage and develop the service.

Laura Shoaf, managing director of TfWM, said: “The end of the existing concession provides us with an ideal opportunity to change the way we operate services to better meet the needs of passengers, the wider community and ultimately the economy.

“If we didn’t do this and instead outsourced operations to a private company at a time of such major expansion then it would be extremely difficult to accurately define the scope of services required from the operator.

“That would lead to continuous and expensive commercial negotiations to agree the price for the delivery of those network changes.”

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