The number of passengers using public transport in Vélez-Málaga, which includes the tram service, continues to fall and is now at its lowest level since 2006.
There were over 8,000 fewer passengers in the first quarter of 2011 than during the same period in 2010. The number of people using the tram service has been declining since the introduction of the system, falling well below the number required to make the service viable.
The downward trend with the tram service began in 2008, one year after it entered service with the number of passengers falling to 782,126. In 2009 the figure fell to 695,038, which was 472,291 fewer than anticipated, or needed.
In 2010, there were 701,064 passengers, a little short of the 1,200,000 required for the service to break even. The Council is required to make up the shortfall and, as a result, is heavily in debt with the tram service.
The 1.2 kilometre extension to the tram service was seen as a way of attracting more passengers and was completed more than two years ago. However, it has not yet come into service.