£8m funding announced to help keep Metro on track
More than £8 million of financial support for the Tyne and Wear Metro has been announced by the Department for Transport.
It will help to sustain essential services for the next 11 weeks, while Covid-19 restrictions ease.
More than £33m of emergency funding is being provided overall for light rail and trams in the North and the Midlands.
Nexus, the public body which owns and manages Metro, says the support is vital at a time when customer numbers are 30% of normal, but are expected to recover further as lockdown eases.
The money will be used to cover the Metro’s running costs. It will replace fare and commercial revenue losses incurred as a result of the pandemic, while it continues to face what bosses have described as "the biggest challenge in its 40 year history."
While the support has been welcomed, transport bosses in the region say more long-term funding needs to be considered as public transport recovers from the effects of the pandemic.