On Friday members of the Transport for Greater Manchester Authority will be meeting to consider the issue of dogs on trams. At present only assistant dogs are allowed (hearing and sight dogs).

Please sign our petition to Transport for Greater Manchester to allow the carriage of dogs on trams.

Councillors considered the issue earlier in the year after a consultation with the public and Metrolink Users found that 71% of people were in favour of allowing dogs on trams, some of whom felt that there should be some sort of restrictions (e.g. child ticket, off peak).

Now the recommendation of the T4GMC Officers is that ONLY dogs in a secure carrying box should be allowed on Metrolink – which obviously makes a journey highly impractical for all but the smallest of dogs. Read the report here.

Metrolink is extremely unusual in NOT allowing dogs on board. Dogs are free to travel on buses in Greater Manchester and are free to travel on trains across the country. Even in urban areas dogs can travel on the London Underground and on the Tyne and Wear Metro. The Croydon Tramlink, which is an almost identical system to Metrolink with similar two-carriage trams, allows dogs on board.

Many people would probably find it sensible that there would be sensible rules and restrictions. Other transport systems obviously require dogs to be on a lead, not on seats, and well behaved. Given how busy Metrolink is in the rush-hour, it might even be sensible to restrict dogs to off-peak hours.

Please sign our petition to Transport for Greater Manchester to allow the carriage of dogs on trams and let your friends know!