Chris' video from today... kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z6lkhZuG1rPWcoU.html

If I had a nickel for every time a new tram extension to a town's main station was delayed by several years, I'd have 2 nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

The galaxy brain idea would have been to rebuild Blackpool Central as the main train station for Blackpool and then you wouldn't need a tram extension :D

Thanks for the shout out 😁. The timetable is very bad, really disappointing and now how I thought the extension was initially sold. I found it difficult to find a positive.

Another super video Jen. Fully agree about the timetable. You cannot commute to Manchester by T3 from North Blackpool & Cleveleys with its 09:15 arrival every day. That means not getting to Manchester Piccadilly until 11:15! But you can get a much earlier bus which defeats the object of having the very costly, very delayed tram extension. After I saw you at North Pier, the T3 service fell apart as well. The 08:35 journey did not leave until after the 08:49 T1 to Fleetwood and it got stuck at Talbot Square junction for 8 minutes before being piloted through the junction southbound and had to reverse at the wedding chapel to go back north again. The next T3 did not operate and, eventually, after some swapping of trams, the third tram of three on the T3 ran at 10:05 from North Pier. The points and signal in Talbot Square played up for quite some time but drivers and conductors discovered that if you manually changed the points to the wrong direction, they got a clear signal and then changed them back to set off in the right direction. Eventually some guys in hi-viz jackets turned up and it seemed to get fixed. Not a good start, but maybe teething problems? The southbound T1s were absolutely rammed full and southbound T3 had bemused looking passengers getting off in Talbot Square to walk over to North Pier southbound to catch the next Promenade tram. Northbound passengers on T2 looked equally bemused as the tram swung into Talbot Square at 00 and 30, most on time. Technically, they do get 5 minutes to walk or run across to North Pier to get the T3 departing at 05 and 35 but most of those were running so late that they just picked up and left. As you say, the timetable is not good. I am going out again tomorrow morning to look at a weekday operation that I suspect will be much worse. Driving home north along the Promenade, there were big queues at all of the southbound stops and, for some unexplained reason, the tram specials, that have been out all week until today, were non-existent just when they really needed them. Thanks for your excellent video again. You will be able to see all the shenanigans on my KZfaq video on KZfaq Podbaba Transport and on facebook Podbaba Transport too. By the way, you said you were coming back to North Pier so I bought three decent coffees and you didn't come back. I drank all three so will be awake until Thursday next! Haha. Best Regards Michael @ Podbaba Transport

The timetable is shit but a tram extension is better than no tram extension

Even the 700 bus from Chichester to Bognor Regis has a better frequency and spacing than a tram in Blackpool, a hugely more significant seaside resort.

I was here today and I got off the only train to Blackpool North for at least half and hour and had to wait 25 minutes for a tram. Link Them Up!!!

I was wondering what was up with it, but the timetable's just... shocking. I lament that you can't get a tram to Edinburgh Airport before about 5:30am but... not serving the rail station until after 9? That's bonkers!

Brilliant video Jen, it's good that the tram extension to Blackpool North station is open now but I do think the trams should be more frquent than 30 mins.

Live departure boards (based on actual running times and not the timeteable) have been the biggest thing that I have missed when using the Blackpool trams on holiday. This will be even worse if the time between services can be either 5 or 25 minutes depending on your luck. Hopefully Blackpool Transport will hear this feedback and make some improvements. (Also, great video, Jen! 🙂)

Great vlog Jen I mean it’s good that north station is now connected to the rest of Blackpool but a tram every 30 minutes to Fleetwood and Star Gate is unacceptable. And than the main prom service one every 5 minutes then 25 minutes what. In my opinion it should be more trams and every 10-15 minutes on the main prom and every 20-30 minutes to/from North Station. Also no trams into North Station before 9am what about people with early morning trains. 😮

3:51: I CAN'T BELIEVE they copied Prague's chime!

I did the depot tour with the heritage preview yesterday. The Starr Gate loop goes via the sand pumps and tram wash, so it's effectively one way for bringing them back in at the end of service.

The timetable is fixable though. New infrastructure is great.

You'd think with a connection like that, the trams would become the people movers of that whole coastline. They are sitting on a gold mine and not prospecting enough.

Thankyou Jen for going and doing this now I don't have to.

Good video jen for doing the Blackpool North tram extension

Great video Jen, as always! I agree that this is not a very well thought out system. Especially with the real-time departure boards. With the technology that is currently available it would not have been difficult to have included that at all of the stops.

Great video! Tram service I'd horrendous tho! 7:31 yes please go to york my beautiful city!

Tram is cool! Love your videos, Jen❤️

I think one of the big problems we have had from Central Government in the last few years is that they have been focused on reopening stations and reopening branchlines, and the like and have not really spoken about service patterns at all. Although the rails and the stations for railways and tramlines are very important, what is more important is how many people you can fit on each vehicle and how long it would take to do stuff like get everyone who is at a tourist attraction, like a pier over to the train station. That might not be a big enough measure of demand, but if you look at things like the NEC, and you imagine a big pop concert ending at a specific time, you can see that the entire audience need to be got onto trains and sent off to wherever it is they live. What I would like to see some transport nerds to is to create Top Trumps style cards for stations that show how many people can be moved in and out of that station per day. And also show how long it would take to evacuate the entire local population via that public transport link. Not all public transport needs to have the same capacity as Crossrail, but transport links should have daily capacity and service patterns that are roughly comparable, with respect to local population and visitors. Right now, when people say "This is not good enough" the problem is that we do not have any sort of agreed standard measurement of transport provision. And we just end up on the "London gets all the money" track. And that doesn't really help people in places like Lewisham who have waited and waited while over two dozen projects to extend the Bakerloo Line were cancelled. We need to have continuous tram building programs, a number of projects to hand over railways close to the cities of the UK to local transport authorities that can run higher frequency trains. And we need to have a very very easy way to show scientifically how much extra public transport needs to be added to various parts of the UK, so that campaigners can point out under-provision and demand catch up funding.

Sadly didn't get into Blackpool till 10am because Northern pulled a Northern. Honestly I hope this extension is a success but can see the cons that it wasn't planned out. But still a great video Jen.

its nice to see the extention finally open & im looking forward to trying it out later this year & def agree about the timetable i think every 30 mins is too low maby it should be say every 15 mins to ether Fleetwood & Sttar gate & the through Fleetwood to Star gate was every 15 mins & personly it shoud stay every 15 mins maby have a 7 min combine fequency along the sections brilliant vlog

Brilliant video.

Thanks for that video Jen

So it's basically starr gate to Fleetwood via north station in addition to the existing service. Just the through running via north station is unadvertised

Interesting to hear you mention the loop at Stargate. Before the new trams arrived, if you got on at Stargate, you would travel round the loop. What I don't is why they allowed the tram depot to be built alongside the shoreline especially as it blocked the view of the sea from several houses.

Google maps has been pretty accurate before for live tram information. But I'll still be getting the bus as its £2 until the end of the year for a single. Lets see what happens next with the timetable.

The bell is the same as on Prague's trams and buses, just noticed that

3:55 Jen, I live not too far away and this is wholly accurate statement.

I live in Blackpool. I don't think the council know anything at all about timetables! They buggared up the buses a few months ago too. But I think it will get sorted as time goes on and it does improve the area which will hopefully bring in more investment as that part of the town center is looking great these days

Unless I’m looking at the time table wrong, if you travel from Fleetwood to Starr Gate via North Station I assume that the tram pulls in and then straight out again heading south, but if travelling from Starr Gate to Fleetwood via North Station, then there is a 21 minute stop before you head north again (assuming that the T2 then becomes a T3), why?

You're right, the timetable is a real shocker, considering they used the lack of a heavy rail service to Fleetwood as one of the justifications for building this spur. I can see no reason why the first tram of the day from Fleetwood at 0710 could not run as a T3 to North Station, and then onto say, Pleasure Beach as a T2. Is there really so much demand for a service to Starr Gate at such an early hour? I suspect not... that would provide an 0800 arrival at North Station, an 0805 departure and an 0827 arrival at Pleasure Beach, from which it can turn on the circle and depart as a slightly retimed 0828 T2 service to North Station, at say, 0830, running 2 minutes later throughout.

I am sure the timetable will be sorted though you would have thought they would have with the time they have had been able to design a timetable that matched the old service. Here we recently had a rejig of our tram service line routes were altered and we still get a 10 minute service and in the core part between the town hall and the train station we have a two minute service. The only noticeable change was that the trams used to go through the core in order 1, 2, 3 then 4 and now it goes 2, 1, 3, 4 - oh dear how sad never mind.

It's not the extention that is bad. I actually would say it is very useful. The timetable is just not good.

was on it yesterday,be on it next tuesday,i get free travel,being a oap,what happens when two trains pull in together,loads of people get off,fill up the tram,and where do they put there suit cases not enough room and they all pay with money,which is £3.50p each single jornery blackpool has bot got the space,

Thanks for the video. But, a tram every 30 minutes is better than no tram. The 5/25 rythm only effects the south part of the shore line and only southwards. Furthermore, if you want to reach north station early coming from north you can exit at north pier and walk, or change to another line. There should be more trams, but compared to all the towns that only have diesel busses ...

I suppose it really isn'tt an extension but a partial route re-instatement that looped back to Gynn Square down Dickson Road. It closed in 1963.

I would have two trams standing at North station Tram stop before the services of the day start, have one had off to each direction, probably Fleetwood first (as this is the longer journey, if I'm not mistaken), and have a tram at each end start at the same time as the corresponding service from the Station. As I said: timed as the first services of the day (which may be around 06 a.m. or so). But that's just some weird thinking on my part (and not the complete story of course).

Hi Jen, good video, shame about the time table. Hopefully that will get sorted, especially if the Tram management team see your video...😀 Take care, Jon B.

The original business case for increasing the tram fleet had all trams from Fleetwood going to Starr Gate, with a second service between Bispham and Pleasure Beach going to the station and back en route. I have no idea why they changed it - maybe an attempt to provide through trams for Fleetwood and Cleveleys. But people from there mainly go to Poulton-le-Fylde station and of course commuters - of whom there are plenty - don’t have the option of the tram in the morning.

This just seems really badly thought through. Blackpool isn't a huge place so i understand that it might not 'need' the same frequencies as a big city, but if the infrastructure is there to support it you'd might as well run it and encourage more people to use it. Equally though, having the hotel between the tram stop and the station feels very strange. I know there's a cut through but it makes it feel disjointed and like the tram was an afterthought. It also adds a liminal space which might not feel particularly safe/secure between the tram and the train station, especially on a night. It seems a particularly bad decision when you consider that a future extension beyond North station to the zoo and hospital could have been a really sensible next step.

If you've just missed a tram at North Station, you could probably walk to North Pier and back twice before the next tram. Not exactly the best timetable planning 3:48 nothing wrong with fish and chips at 7am 🤣

Yeah as far as know trams are bi-directional, in the Uk we drive on the left, so our trams and trains are understadardly orinatated that way too. (consider the confusion if not). Here in Manchester we operate trams at turn around against signals, consider single line running with a token. Just like it seems at Starr, but in Manchester we'd do the switch to the left hand rail, with pax aboard. The "station" from a trams point of view is single line. Would have thought the engineering/depot turning loop, is just that for engineering/depot moves, who knows the state of any trams that need to use it. But it does seem to have not been thought out that well. Going to try it in the next week or two.

My understanding is that Blackpool Transport is short of staff and that they would want to run a more frequent service but this is the best they can do (frequency wise) with the resources they have.

I think I'll be sticking to the buses next time I go to Blackpool

Although most Tramstops on the South Yorkshire Supertram network have PIS displays, the stop that has the most interchanges (Ponds Forge / Fitzalan Sq) doesn't....

Great video Jen 😊

The positive is a new tram extension this is necer a bad thing . I agree the timetable is very bad . Lets hope Blackpool transport listen to the criitsum and try and up it . I assume it's a staffimg issue at present . A recruitment drive is needed . The illumination period will be interesting to see what they do

That double reverse is a time burner.

At least the weather’s nice today, better than yesterday, but that’s to be expected as it’s Club Day.

I thought there would have been at least a 15 min service to the pleasure beach and back!

Sounds like the Spanish rail infrastructure, outside the MAD-BCN corridor. Build fantastic infrastructure, don't run any trains on it. (Eg the HS line Barcelona to France. 2 trains per day. Station on line between Seville and Cadiz at Jerez airport. 4 trains per day stop. And not timed with flights either.). So in summary. to make this work, they really need to run a much more frequent service, in all directions?

What i will presume since this is a new line services will obv be crap at first. But what i have heard is its going to be every other tram.

How much to build a Stargate at Starr Gate?

I’m always happy that there’s new infrastructure but that service pattern is rubbish! And that the first tram of the day from the north is after 9am is absurd!

Given that there are electronic information boards for the tram stops in most of the UK's other tram networks (including Manchester, Sheffield, Edinburgh etc.), its absolutely ludicrous they didn't add any electronic information boards for the Blackpool Tramway stops (I know its the oldest running non-heritage tram line in the country without counting the special heritage services, but still, that's not good enough) on top of having such awful frequencies - I pretty much agree with all your points Jen because its pointless operating tram services with frequencies at every 30 minutes (every 10 minutes should at least be the minimum for trams).

Maybe revisit it in a year then decide.

Excellent

Can you have a purple 'white elephant'? - - It seemed very bumpy and rather noisy inside, too!

I'm on my way to Blackpool northing wrong with the New line to the railway station

I'm with you, 7am fish and chips need to be a thing.

Thanks Jen, shame the news isn't better.

Not just that Trams at Blackpool are Expensive aswell compared to Birmingham Network that also get down from me it a shame because they had fairly new trams and withdrawn them time table situation need to definitely need to be sorted especially if there was a football game Blackpool F.C or Fleetwood F.C nice if what TFWM have done put PA system installed and Dot Matrix makes life so much easier

And how much did this extra 600 meters cost?

Trams each way should be scheduled to arrive a reasonable time before and depart a reasonable time after each train departure, allowing enough time to get to or from the railway station, buy tickets, etc. It need not be the same trams hanging around, but with an approximately half hourly rail service in the week then it should not be beyond the skill of timetable planners to organise it.

I've seen many comments about the poor timetable. Hopefully if demand warrants, it will get better. But I am underwhelmed by the tram terminus. It has taken years and £23m to get somewhere near the North Station, through a subway that looks a bit intimidating. Why couldn't they do a proper job and run the tramway another 100 metres or so and end up as part of the station? Better still, make it a proper bus/tram/ train interchange. It feels as if it was designed as urban regeneration rather than for actual passengers.

In a few weeks I am using a North West Rover to travel all the lines in the area and I need to get from Blackpool North to South as quickly as possible. I had no idea this link to the station had just opened and was looking at the timetables just the other day. I'm sad to report that, in order of speed, my options are: WALK - quickest. BUS - middle, TRAM - slowest! The whole Blackpool tram system seems pretty pointless, to be honest. I haven't been since I was a kid in the 80s and the service used to be really frequent. I get that it needed modernising and upgrading but it seems it was only retained for it's historic value - which is no longer there with a modern tram service. Surely it's the least-densely populated area in the UK to have trams? They should have just retained a small section, with historic trams for tourists and replace the rest with buses.

So... T2. Who would actually use it? If it's every half hour, passengers getting off at Blackpool North will likely try and find alternatives towards the Pleasure Beach... e.g. walking towards the front and using the previously existing line. From the Starr Gate end, the Blackpool South train will be easier for heading towards Preston, etc at least 50% of the time.

It’s a distance you can walk in 10 mins to the sea front don’t see the need for it…

I wonder what the new map looks like…

New transport is always good news. Please shut your negative trap.

They desperately need departure screens at each tram stop. Real time information is available online so they could easily just put a screen on each platform that displays the same information

Just needs to buy more trams! Any tram line with a service less than every 10 minutes is a failure

Upside: it can't be extended. No wait, that's not an upside. Sure, the town is pretty linear along the water, but it does have enough depth that a line going north-south further east could make sense? Maybe to form a loop at the southern end of the line? But no, let's make it a permanent end of line station.

I don't understand why it can't be done like media city, just one service that does the whole run

I think Blackpool needs to stick to what it's good at which is heritage trams because even with the new trams and extension it's not very well thought out the current timetable is terrible and who doesn't include real time travel information stops especially new ones

Great video, and I agree with all that you say. Tram services should be frequent, and the service at North station is ridiculous. Also why on earth didn’t they take the tram right into the station forecourt ? The link to the station is horrible for pedestrians, especially anyone with luggage. The trains themselves are very good however !

where are you from.

0:47 If they are going to call that stop Starr Gate, that big round curved thing should really have been extended down to ground level and made to look like the Stargate from Stargate SG1: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hMt-krKE0sDad2g.html For added fun, move it around the tramline and make it have chevrons that light up every time a tram is going to go through. It would be come a tourist attraction, in it's own right.

Oh well HS2 of Blackpool

I wonder if the person who designed the Blackpool Tram timetable actually uses them? Not being able to commute into Blackpool in time for the start of collage/school/work is ridiculous. And the 3 routes will confuse the hell out of the tourists too.

I’m not mad but disappointed by the timetable. Even every 15 minutes on the piers is too little during summer. I use it a lot in the summer and it can be feeling like the London Underground. I would be satisfied with an every 10 minute service but it’s also about punctuality. Last two times I’ve gone, it has broken down on me and/or been waiting for a long time just for them to come together. Really annoying but I’m not “mad”.

Why do we excel at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?

Go to Blackpool for the airshow, see the Red Arrows, get the hell out.

Reference your timetable comments.. perhaps the "planners" watched Field of Dreams first...."build it and they will come". Seems to be a case of timetabling to suit the trams rather than passengers.

I don't think the new extension will last either Gen xx

Wow that timetable is shocking, gone from every 15 minutes to "We'll just figure it out..." and I bet the tram times aren't timed to the arrival and departure of the trains either. Which is a shame because it was such a good idea at the time it was announced.

Croydon Tramlink runs every 10 Minutes to Elmers end (A single track line) and 30 Minutes for a double track line 😒.

Have they really just spent loads of money and made a massive fanfare out of building an extension to a railway station that's only 10mins walk from the original tramline? Whats the point? Sorry if I'm missing something here (I've not been to Blackpool for years and never by train) but was walking from the prom to the station really ever such a hardship that they needed to extend the tramline?

How long until someone tries to nick a tram

Whilst I understand your valid concerns about the timetable and Passenger Information Display, I think you have missed the bigger picture Jen and that is the infrastructure investment to build the extension is part of something bigger, it's part of Blackpool starting to believe in itself again as part of it's own regeneration journey. The timetable I'm sure will be tweaked in the future and hopefully one day we will finally see Passenger information displays at our busy tram stops but crucially we will see economic investment on the back of this project including the new DWP building currently being built round the corner and a new office block, but it hopefully opens the door to more tram extensions with more trams. I love Blackpool so am biased but today was a brilliant day for a place I love.

Sounds like a pretty poor service pattern to me, considering how long the locals have been waiting to get this. If anything, it'd be better to walk into town or get a bus, then again why would you want to visit Blackpool apart from the seaside and the heritage trams?

BLACKPOOT TRANSPORT need to re do the Tram Timetable; And maybe scrap the T1 T2 &T3 and just have 1 service serving the station in both directions every 12/15 mins; And 09,15 from the North side to the station is unacceptable; It needs to start at 05.30; It would have been better thought out for the T2 to be extended to Cleveleys; And the T3 to be extended to Pleasure Beach; But this is what I would have done; BT and the boffins in HQ have made a big error; And this will become very clear very quickly;

If the North Station is just a short spur why not just divert the existing end to end full line in and out of North Station rather than the 3 different services nonsense.

Refreshingly honest analysis that many are saying in private but reluctant to say publicly. It was critical moment for the tramway and unfortunately senior role-holders don’t seem to grasp how important first impressions are. When you consider what was promised as part of the Light Rail Upgrade business case and then the seperate business case for North Station Extension this falls well short..

Hello 61016, I'd like to report a badly designed system extension \m/

just let the no1 star gate to fleetwood bus divert at north pier and use the new terminus ,in and out 5mins ,no need for millions spent ,🤔

Walk on the wild side thinks it's o.k.