Outrage over evening tram cancellations after Sheffield’s Tramlines

Stagecoach Supertram and Tramlines had on Friday issued a joint decision not to run evening trams in the area on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening due to reduced staff resources after a surge in employees being instructed to self-isolate by the NHS Test and Trace system.

But surrounding residents and festival goers said the "last minute" decision would only cause more congestion in the area, as complaints flooded the Stagecoach's Twitter account.

A user said: "What an embarrassment..Tramlines with no trams. You honestly couldn't make it up. Is there any wonder Sheffield gets left behind.

"Could you imagine this being allowed to happen at the Leeds festival?"

Another commented: "Only in Sheffield could you have a "tramlines" festival where the trams refuse to service it.

"And you wonder why South Yorkshire gets left behind - no way this would be allowed to happen in any other major city. The council and mayor would have stepped in."

A resident said: "The tram is running everywhere, other than Hillsborough, and it’s only been cancelled for the three days of the festival.

"Please don’t lie and say it’s Covid. We are not stupid. But Hillsborough residents who aren’t isolating, and whose parking is precious, will be now, due to this."

Travel South Yorkshire, in response to one of the complaints, said while the majority of tram services will continue to run with the staff available, they still have to consider other people's safety.

They said: "That's why the decision has been made not to run the festival area after the event. We're sorry for the inconvenience."

Stagecoach said its services will continue to be disrupted starting Monday (July 26) with drivers having to self-isolate due to close contact with a positive Covid case.

The tram operators said there will be changes to their Yellow Route timetable until further notice.

On Saturday, Northern Rail also announced travel disruption to its services after more frontline staff have either tested positive for the virus or been told to self-isolate during the past weeks.