Exclusive:'Astonishing' Edinburgh Tram losses soar to £55m despite carrying 9.18m passengers in a year

Accounts show the trams registered a loss of £10.3m in 2023, making it the sixth loss-making year in a row. Coming in at more than £400m over budget and three years’ late, the Edinburgh Trams have not run a profit since 2017. 

In the years since, the service has made losses of £7.62m, £9m, £8.8m, £8.7m, £10.9m and £10.3m. The trams have only made a profit twice since opening ten years ago - £250,000 in 2016 and £1.6m since 2017.

Sue Webber, Scottish Conservative MSP for the Lothians, said: “People living and working in Edinburgh will find it astonishing that the capital’s trams are still losing millions of pounds.

“Taxpayers already forked out over a billion on the construction of the trams. So serious questions must be asked about why it is still operating at such a loss, especially when we are constantly told by the city’s Labour-run council that they are such a huge success.”

Ms Webber said the public deserved to know when the trams would “start to represent value for money”.

Edinburgh City Council has charged the tram company an “annual asset fee” of £8.5m since 2018 to “reflect the additional borrowing costs associated with the cost overrun on the original line”.

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This comes to a total of £51m, meaning the losses since 2017 are largely attributable to this fee.

Last year saw a “significant” increase in passenger numbers after the extended line to Newhaven was opened in March. Numbers increased by 92.1 per cent, jumping from 4.78m to 9.18m.

The busiest day ever on the trams was also recorded last year. A total of 56,000 passengers used the service on August 26 to travel to the Scotland versus Georgia game at Murrayfield and to the Edinburgh festivals.

There was also a 40 per cent increase in passengers using the tram to get to and from the airport.

Councillor Stephen Jenkinson, Edinburgh Council’s transport and environment convener, said: “Having just enjoyed another record-breaking summer, our award-winning tram service continues to be hugely popular with the thousands of residents and visitors who use it each day, offering a consistently reliable service with some of the cheapest fares in the country.

“The successful completion of the line to Newhaven last year has brought huge economic, social and environmental benefits to Leith, north Edinburgh, and the city as a whole - demonstrating the value that trams bring to the city, far beyond the cost or profit.”

The Scottish Government declined to comment on the figures.