Cuts to Sheffield Supertram timetable announced starting from Sunday as driver shortage bites

Stagecoach, the company operating the trams, says the reductions in services that will come into operation from November 28 are only intended to be temporary until it can improve staff numbers.

Tim Bilby, managing director for Supertram, said: “As with many industries across the country, driver shortages are having an impact on our services and we unfortunately need to make some temporary timetable changes to maintain the reliability of key services and keep passengers connected across our routes.

"Our team are working incredibly hard and we are also taking proactive steps to alleviate the situation by recruiting and training new drivers. From this recruitment drive we have a strong pipeline of talented individuals currently going through our 10 week training programme.

“Due to the impact of Covid restrictions on our ability to train, the gap between the number of drivers we currently have, versus what we need, is unusually high and cannot be filled until we are confident our new members of the team are trained and ready for the road.”

Mr Bilby added that Stagecoach would continue to monitor the situation with the intention of increasing services again as soon as they could. He added they would continue to keep their passengers regularly updated on any changes and they would like to thank all of their passengers for their patience.

These are the supertram timetable changes from Sunday, November 28:

Yellow and Blue route trams will operate every 20 minutes from the start of service, then every 12 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday and up to every 20 minutes on Sunday. In the evening, services will operate every 30 minutes Monday to Sunday. They previously ran up to every 10 minutes during weekdays on yellow and up to every 15 minutes each day on Blue.Purple services operate hourly, with the exception of Sunday daytime where services run every 30 minutes. They were previously every 30 minutes each day.Tram Train remains on a revised timetable, with 2 services an hour. This is unchanged from the previous arrangement.