Paid my first visit to Blackpool post upgrade over the Bank Holiday. I was generally quite impressed with the new trams and the new track ensured a smooth ride although there still seems to be a few teeting problems with the units themselves. The onboard displays and announcements had failed in one of the units I travelled on and in another unit the announcements kept going excruciatingly loud. A conductor was heard discussing that the driver was considering failing his unit when back at Starr Gate due to some undisclosed technical issue.
Hopefully they will get these issues resolved before the peak summer season.
I noticed that all the new units were timetabled on a Starr gate to Fleetwood Ferry 20 minute interval service. Certainly this appears to be satisfactory for the 'suburbs', Bispham, Cleveleys, Fleetwood etc but there definately needs to be additional trams on the peak loading North Pier to Pleasure Beach section. I cannot recall when I last saw so few trams on the promenade - gone are the days of trams running 3 or 4 deep (and full). Surely a Bank Holiday monday deserves a better service? The double decker balloons will really be missed.
As for heritage trams, the illuminated train (??!!) and Blackpool and Fleetwood Car 40 were running with few people in. There seems to be confusion as to what these are being used for and how do you board them as they don't stop at the new disabled access platforms.
Have they actually kept any of the 'modern' double deckers (rebuit baloons and Jubilee cars)? These would be ideal for a fill in on the promenade between the normal 20 minute service. Are there any existing trams being modified to take passngers from the new platforms?
One think I also noticed was that the points and cross-over have been installed at the North Pier pointing towards Talbot Square - presumably a future network extension is planned?
