The Urban Transport Group today welcomed the extension by one month (from June 21st to July 19th) of funding from Government to close the gap caused by loss of patronage due to the pandemic.

Stephen Edwards, who leads on light rail for UTG, said:

‘We welcome this extension of funding which will enable us to maintain services on our light rail networks and which reflects the revised roadmap for ending COVID restrictions announced recently by the Prime Minister. However, we are continuing our dialogue with Government over the need for longer term funding given that patronage is unlikely to recover for some time. We also continue to make the case for better alignment of funding support across all forms of urban public transport in a way which enables us to support Government objectives for carbon reduction and for levelling up local economies.’

For more contact Jonathan Bray on 0781 804 1485

The Urban Transport Group membership includes the transport authorities responsible for five of the six light rail systems in England which are included in the Government’s Light Rail Revenue Restart Grant. These systems are Manchester Metrolink, Tyne and Wear Metro, Nottingham NET, Sheffield Supertram and West Midlands Metro.

This factsheet has more on the key role that light rail has played during the pandemic and how essential it will be to building back better afterwards.