The Sheffield Supertram System

The Sheffield Supertram:- The easiest way to the City Centre and Beyond...

The Routes...
There are 3 main routes to the Sheffield supertram, each are colour coded, so getting on the wrong tram is generally quite hard. The three routes are the yellow line: Meadowhall>City Centre>Hillsborough and Middlewood. The Purple Route: Meadowhall>City CentreCity Centre>Malin Bridge. The routes are quite complex, and despite some people saying it does not connect everywhere it does connect Interchanges, Park and rides, rural areas and shopping centres to the city centre, therefore you can mostly get to where you need to be with ease.

The Trams...
The trams are always very clean and very comfortable, with the exception of rush hour when comfort is not heard of. Though some trams are old the trams are all in good condition with minimal damage, unlike trains and buses in the area. There are currently two main types of tram, one lot that are being refurbished and currently have not been done, and those that have already been refurbished. Those unrefurbished sport greyish seat coverings with green and purple support bars and hold rails. They have "roller" destination displays to the front and rear of the tram and sport white livery with blue, orange and red stripes. These are comfortable, but not as aesthetically pleasing as those that have been refurbished. Those that have been refurbished sport blue and yellow seat upholstry, and blue and yellow support bars and rails. There are LED display screens on the front and rear of the trams and inside the tram to show the next stop, and whether the tram is stopping, as you must place a request to stop at each stop and the trams do not stop automatically. They sport blue livery with orange doors, and orange and red highlights to the front and rear. I do believe that the first of the trams to be refurbished had its colours the opposite way around to this so that red was the main colour but I can not be entirely sure. These trams are light and airy and extremely comfortable to travel on. All trams have three carriages, with the middle carriage higher than the other too and the front of the front carriage and back of the rear carriage also being raised. The doors are located only in the front and back carriages, four sets of doors in each, two on each side. The middle carriage has no doors. each tram seats 80 people and also has room for two groups of travellers with wheelchairs as well as this. This makes travelling very good for wheel chair users.

Stops (Stations)...
Most stations consist of two platforms, one for westbound trams, one for eastbound. Some do have room for up to four trams, and some have just one long platform. On each platform there is normally a waiting shelter, which comes in handy in bad weather. To my knowledge all stations can be easily accessed by wheelchairs, once again making it wonderful for the disabled. Many of the stations are at the side of the road, or on the road though there are some, mainly towards Meadowhall on the yellow an purple routes that are completely seperate to the roads. Generally speaking the tram stops are clean and feel quite safe. A major advantage over the bus.

Staff...
The staff are very friendly, and normally extremely helpful. They are sometimes unable to deal with some situations however I have known trams to be held up by a member os staff calling for a security gaurd on the tram to deal with groups of non-cooperative people. The only major complaint I have with staff is that sometimes, especially during rush hour ticket inspectors will tend to board trams, mainly boarding at Nunnery Square park and ride on the yellow and purple routes. Although they are generally friendly it can be very demoralising if you have no ticket as the conductor of the tram has not been able to give you a ticket as the tram was so full he/she had not reached you yet. This is very intimidating and can cause some problems, though generally they are understanding and will sell you a ticket, it is just often quite downgrading, as I am sure you will be able to understand.

Speed...
If you wish to travel around sheffield at speed then the supertram is by far the fastest mode of transport. They operate partially on roads however so they an sometimes get caught in traffic jams, but at least you are comfortable and do not have to drive through the traffic jam. Where they are off road the trams can reach very high speeds considering they stop locally. Another factor that speeds up journeys is that they do not stop unnecassarily at stops, they onyl stop where a passenger has placed a request to stop (this is done simply by pressing a button), or where there is someone on the platform waiting, meaning that they just skip some stations. A journey that is long distance, such as that from one ned of one line to the other may be quicker by car, however if it is to the city centre the supertram wins every time, with an average journey from one ned of the lien to the city centre taking no more than 25 minutes, and some only 15 minutes.

Pricing...
If you are travelling and getting a single the maximum fare is £1.80, however a dayrider is available for only £2.70 meaning that you can travel all day on the trams, which comes in especially handy for visitors to the area. Children and OAPs can use passes to pay only 40p for one single way journey which is very useful, however full price has to be paid if you are without your pass, which is only fair. The disabled have a pass allowing them to travel for free which is also very god.

Frequency...
there is no proper timetable for the trams however the blue and yellow routes operate every 10-15 minutes Monday to saturday, and every 20 minutes on sundays, on the full route, and 10-20 minutes between the Cathedral(city centre) and Meadowhall. The purple line operates every 20-30 minutes all days. Mondays to Saturdays trams operate from around 6am to around past midnight. On Sundays services start around 8 and finish around midnight on the blue and yellow routes and start around 10-11 and finish around 5.30-6 on a night.

I hope that you have found this review helpful and in conclusion would like to say that the SuperTram is by far the easiest way ro get around Sheffield without the hassle of driving.