The Tyne and Wear Metro will be subjected to more public accountability, the North East mayor has promised.
Transport chiefs faced calls from passenger groups last month to be “much more open” about issues facing the rail network.
The Metro has long faced struggles with the reliability of its ageing fleet of trains, which have been running since 1980 and are well beyond their expected lifespan, and other infrastructure.
Metro users have also been left frustrated over recent months by problems afflicting the new, Swiss-built models being introduced to replace the old fleet, including leaking ventilation systems and an incident in which a train’s doors opened on the wrong side.
North East mayor Kim McGuinness told councillors on Tuesday that she was “leaning really hard” on officials at operator Nexus to improve the service, having previously demanded that it becomes “world class” by 2028, and pledged to increase transparency.
Her commitment came in response to questioning from Newcastle Lib Dem opposition leader Colin Ferguson, who pointed out that previous bodies which “gave a public degree of accountability” to the region’s transport system have been abolished.
Prior to the mayor’s election and North East Combined Authority (NECA) being set up in May 2024, formal scrutiny of the Metro was the responsibility of the old North East Joint Transport Committee.
That meant that Nexus chiefs had to regularly produce detailed reports on issues like finance or performance and appear in public for questioning by councillors at least once every couple of months, including at dedicated scrutiny and audit panels.
No such watchdogs specifically focused on transport issues exist within the new NECA structure, sparking concerns that there is now significantly less detailed scrutiny of the Metro, the Shields Ferry and other public transport functions.
Speaking at a NECA overview and scrutiny committee in Durham on Tuesday morning, Ms McGuinness said: “For me, I want to see improvement in performance on Metro and in transport in general. I have fortnightly performance meetings with Metro… what we will be doing is setting up a process where we bring that performance, and other areas of combined authority performance, to cabinet twice a year. That will increase transparency.”
She added: “We are leaning really hard on Metro to improve performance. We have 10 or 11 new trains out every day now… with every new train rolled out, that will have a positive impact on performance over time.
“I want this [scrutiny] publicly done. But people can rest assured that as the person here to scrutinise it, it is being scrutinised.”
The mayor said that the first of six-monthly Metro performance reports would be “up and running as soon as possible before the end of the year”.
Cathy Massarella, managing director of Nexus, said: “As a responsible public body we are open and fully transparent about the performance of the Tyne and Wear Metro.
“This is a commitment that we have undertaken throughout the 45 years we have been operating the Metro system.
“Metro performance information is displayed at each Metro station as well as being published periodically on our website, www.nexus.org.uk.
“We have regular meetings with the Mayor to provide updates on all aspects of performance, and to provide progress on the roll out of the new Metro fleet and other major projects.
“We are happy to be part of the Combined Authority’s new performance and review process.”
