After a three-month pilot scheme taking place last year, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has confirmed that pet dogs will permanently be allowed on Metrolink trams. After a successful trial, this is welcome news to Manchester’s many dog owners, who will be allowed to travel safely across the city with their pooches. Talk about paw-fect news!
Manchester transport bosses confirmed the news today after receiving “very positive” feedback from the TfGM survey, the move will be approved by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority at the end of the month. As part of Andy Burnham’s manifesto as Mayor of Manchester, the trial saw TfGM expand access for dogs from just trains and buses to trams, allowing our four-legged friends to travel with us on all transport services across the city.
Since the beginning of August 2022, the pilot scheme permitted dogs to travel on the Metrolink network subject to rules regarding safety, cleanliness and consideration of other passengers are followed. Until the pilot scheme was launched, only assistance dogs were permitted to board tram carriages.
However, time constraints for dogs travelling on trams will be introduced, which comes after some councillors raised concerns over the plans, with one calling for the rules to be tightened. TfGM has introduced some new rules regarding dogs travelling on trams which state that “busy services must be avoided” and dog owners must follow rules on safety and cleanliness.
Speaking to the BBC, Danny Vaughan head of Metrolink said that enforcing strict rules would be “virtually impossible” because of staff shortages so he wanted to keep the rules simple. He furthered: “I’m sure there will be complaints, I’m sure there will be incidents in the future, but we just need to keep on top of it.”
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