The Mayor of Greater Manchester has issued a stark warning about the Metrolink system.
According to Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester tram network could close if it doesn’t get government funding ‘within days rather than weeks’.
As passenger numbers have fallen, monthly income has dropped from £6 million to ‘well below £1 million’, the Manchester Evening News reports.
At a joint press briefing with Steve Rotheram, the Liverpool city region mayor, Mr Burnham said: “We are losing millions of pounds every month trying to run a public transport service in these circumstances.
“If there is no deal from the government in the way they’ve bailed out the bus and rail sectors, we are going to face the difficult decision of whether or not we need to mothball the Metrolink.
“It’s not something we have any wish to do because we want to support those crucial workers, those minimum wage heroes, because they still need to get to work for us.
“In absence of that [government] support, we are forced into a corner.”
If the network did close down, it would have a big impact for NHS staff and other key workers, and Mr Burnham acknowledged this.
He added: “We’re still weeks into this now and we don’t have an answer. Metrolink, in normal times, would bring in around £6 million a month and that is now down to well below £1 million.
“We cannot continue to face losses of this kind without any way of understanding how we will make that income up.
“Public transport would probably have to run with social distancing for some time, possibly months rather than weeks – the rest of this year.”
