Patronage on the Tyne and Wear Metro is estimated based on Continuous Monitoring Surveys carried out by Nexus. Almost 100k interviews are conducted each year on Metro.
As an estimate, caution should be taken if comparing small changes between years. Survey data is captured in 4-week periods and responses are scaled over 3 periods which reduces the influence of seasonality slightly. In most cases, it is advised to use a Moving Annual Total when looking at patronage.
Patronage is provided as an overall figure, by section of network and by timeband to maintain as high a level as possible to provide reasonable estimates whilst allowing some disaggregation of data. Combined segments (i.e. patronage by section and timeband) and lower level data (i.e. station) is available upon request.