“Volunteer” cyclists to be invited for trial allowing bikes on Manchester trams, as councillors express “serious concerns” about safety

A trial allowing bikes on Greater Manchester's Metrolink tram line is set to invite "volunteer" cyclists to assess the "risks and issues" of the policy change — one of Mayor Andy Burnham's key election pledges — and is set to take place after months of deliberation and delay. However, opinions among councillors seem torn on the issue, with some welcoming the trial but others expressing their concerns their concerns about the safety of other passengers.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is planning to introduce the trial next month for a period of six weeks, inviting "volunteers" to take different types of bikes on pre-determined tram journeys travelling to different locations at different times of the day. They would also be accompanied by staff to ensure passenger safety.

The Metrolink tram currently allows only folding bikes which are fully folded and covered to be taken on board. The pilot scheme, supposed to take place during off-peak times, is going to be used to derive "insight into the identified risks and issues" of any future policy change.

The pilot scheme aims to observe the experiences of the travelling public and the volunteers with various bikes, by recreating the exact conditions cyclists and non-cyclists would face on a tram and at tram platforms and stops. TfGM also plans to invite those with a range of lived experience, including people with disabilities and those travelling with pushchairs, to make the trials as inclusive as possible.

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However, several councillors have raised "serious concerns" about the safety of passengers due to the trial, Manchester Evening News reports.

Bike on Metrolink (licensed CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED on Flickr by Juan Monroy)

At a meeting of the Bee Network Committee which makes decisions on transport policies in the region, councillor Phil Burke said: "Only two weeks ago I was involved in a crash where a car went straight into the side of a tram. I head-butted my colleague twice, first of all because of the car slamming into tram, then the tram putting on the emergency brakes.

"Four of us suffered injuries. This was on a quiet night - on a Wednesday night when not many people were on the tram. Should something serious happen on a tram where we have got bikes, I would hate to see what sort of injuries people would suffer."

He said that in many cases, bikes would not be onboard trams for long, as some people only travel one or two stops. "I do have serious concerns about safety," he added.

Stockport councillor Grave Baynham added that she was concerned about the financial impact this trial and the subsequent change would have on the longer-term future of Metrolink. "It would be nice to think that we've got Metrolink into every borough in Greater Manchester before we spend huge sums of money on this," she said.

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As of now, Edinburgh is the only city in the UK to allow cyclists to carry their bikes on the tram for most hours of the day. TfGM mentioned that it spoke to Edinburgh Tram to assess how well it works in the city.

Councillor O'Brien, chair of the Bee Network Committee tried to alleviate the concerns of the councillors, saying: "Safety is the top of everyone's concern on this and if we can't make it work safely we can't make it work, I think is the fundamental of it. The best thing to do is pilot it and see if we can make it work. The red line for all of us would be, we have to do this safely if we are ever going to do it at all."

A few councillors, however, said that they were optimistic for the trial. Oldham councillor Howard Sykes welcomed the trial and said: "We need to come up with a solution that allows people to do this accepting all the technical difficulties there might be. I don't think it's beyond the good people employed to come up with a solution that will work for cyclists and other passengers."

Trafford councillor Aidan Williams said that he felt "cautiously optimistic that this can work". "I think most members of the public are pretty sensible and will know when is appropriate to take a bike onto a tram and when it is not," he said. "We've seen that with the introduction of dogs on trams as well. People aren't going to take the mick with this I don't think."

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Allowing bikes on Greater Manchester's trams was a key policy in Mayor Andy Burnham's re-election campaign in 2021, along with allowing dogs. While the latter is now allowed after a trial, the trial of bikes had been delayed until now, despite Burnham promising that it would be in place by the end of last year, much to the disappointment of many cycling and walking campaigners from the area.

"We are disappointed to hear that the bikes on trams trial promised by the end of this year has been delayed," Walk Ride Greater Manchester’s Cazz Ward told the Oldham Times last month.

"We again reaffirm our position that bikes on trams must be trialled in order to facilitate the Bee Network's multimodal transport ambitions. The trial needs to be on an existing line with members of the public."

The trial, confirmed last week, has also been backed by Dame Sarah Storey,  the Paralympic cyclist-turned-active travel commissioner for Greater Manchester.

She said: "My recommendation to trial the carriage of non-folding bikes on trams is borne from the ambition to deliver a universally accessible Bee Network in Greater Manchester, where everyone has the choice to switch between different modes in one journey should they need to, as well as ensuring that people who use their cycle as a mobility aid aren't excluded from using the service.

"Like many others - I’ve experienced for myself the disappointment of being forced to travel by car with my bike when I’d rather not, because the choice to travel by tram isn't currently available."

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TfGM said that they plan to appoint independent researchers to observe the tests. They will interview the volunteers, other passengers and staff and produce a report to guide risk assessments. The results are expected to be analysed during April and May, with a further report presented to the Bee Network Committee in the summer.