New records for tennis trams

Yarra Trams has continued its Australian Open Tennis success story with a total of 376,962 tennis fans taking the tram to and from Melbourne Park during the 2010 event.

The tram usage throughout the Grand Slam tournament was up two per cent on last year’s figures.

Yarra Trams carried record numbers of passengers on three days of the 2010 event.  

For tennis fans, a ticket to the Australian Open was also a ticket to ride the shuttle trams connecting the City with Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena.

More than 5000 special services operated to and from the tennis in addition to the regular trams on Route 70 which also stop at Melbourne Park.

Across the tournament, just under one third of the crowd chose tram travel to and from Melbourne Park.

On eight days of competition, the free shuttle trams carried more passengers than the same days in 2009.

Since Yarra Trams started the tennis shuttle in partnership with Tennis Australia in 1999, the service has recorded more than 3.9 million passenger trips.

Date of publication: 1 February 2010

Photos by John Krutop