The key point here is that they are using the overall capacity of 250, which is 78 seated, 2 wheelchair spaces and the rest standing. I don't think I have ever seen statistics used for loadings that don't relate to the number of seats, so in my opinion this is a blatant attempt to rubbish the success of the service. Saying that 80% of seats are taken on average would give a completely different picture, particularly averaged out over the day.
precisely. Surely a tram (or a bus or train) system is designed for the seats to be mostly filled most of the day and for the standee capacity to be for peak times only.
Also, there is no attempt at comparison with other systems. From Manchester to Munich (two systems which I think most people would agree are successful and well used) the standee spaces are not filled all day.