Manchester Buses

First improve access to night buses, "24 hour city" no closer

It's been a while since we've seen any changes to the night bus services that run out of Manchester.  Now we get news that as of the 6th of June First are to reroute their 8, 17, 39, 67 and 135 Friday and Saturday late night services to run via Shudehill Interchange.  This provides an opportunity to capitalise on the growing popularity of the area around Shudehill as the place for a night out.  There are a number of fancy (and not so fancy) bars in the Northern Quarter just a stone's throw from the Interchange, as well as The Printworks just round the corner.

A smart move from First, then.  We just wish it wasn't only a small part of south Manchester that benefited from night buses through the week.  Unless you live on the Wilmslow Road or Stockport Road corridors you haven't a hope of getting a night bus on a weeknight.  All other night buses (including all of First's) are Friday and Saturday only.  Many parts of Greater Manchester have no night buses at all.

People talk of Manchester being a "24 hour city", but if there's no public transport in most places after midnight, how can we truly have a hope of living up to that aspiration?

Manchester's transport system struggles through the UEFA storm

And to think that a couple of days ago we were worried about how Manchester's transport infrastructure would cope with what we called "several thousand" Rangers fans.  In reality, an estimated 200,000 of them descended on the city centre and the infrastructure certainly did struggle.

Such a large amount of people were crammed onto the city's streets that by the afternoon peak many bus services were suffering significant delays (we waited 40 minutes on Princess Road for a service with a timetabled 5 minute headway).  The Metrolink, meanwhile, avoided the city centre completely with Altrincham and Eccles services terminating at G-Mex and Bury services at Victoria.

We avoided the city centre yesterday and we were glad we had when reports started filtering through via Twitter that the the big screen in Piccadilly Gardens had failed and trouble was brewing.  The trouble turned into an all-out riot as some of the Rangers fans vented their frustration on the police.  This CCTV footage from Newton Street will show you what we mean.  For a look at how the day descended from good-natured fun into violence, this blog is the place to go (it's best to view the posts from the bottom up, even though the timestamps on the posts are wrong).

So, how did the buses cope with the trouble?  To be honest, we don't know.  If you were in the city centre last night, fill us in!

Can Manchester rise to the UEFA transport challenge?

The City of Manchester Stadium plays host to the UEFA Cup Final tomorrow night and thousands of Rangers fans are expected to be making the trip down from Glasgow.  GMPTE is on the case for getting people to the stadium and have announced plans for additional bus services to and from the game.

Stagecoach will be running their usual special 216 journeys from Piccadilly to the ground all day from 0800 until kickoff at 1945.  Who needs to get there for 0800 we've no idea.  Maybe they want to hang out at Asda, play 'dodge the falling spikes' at B Of The Bang or gorge themselves on the stadium's gorgeous Chicken Balti pies?  Rail Replacement service specialists Faser Eagle will also be running special services from St Peter's Square.

Albert Square will be sealed off all day.  A special 'Fan Zone' will be set up there, meaning services 12, 32, 36, 37, 42A, 46, 47, 50, 191, 197, X40, X41, X43 and X44 will be re-routed.  Services 42A, 46, 47, 50, 191 and 197 will terminate at St Peters Square.  No word on the route for other diverted services, but Peter Street and Deansgate would be the obvious diversion for them.  Other Fan Zones are being set up in Piccadilly Gardens and Cathedral Gardens, but bus services will not be affected by these.

People traveling to Manchester without tickets are being encouraged to park at Old Trafford Cricket Ground and get the Metrolink into Manchester.  Obviously, the Metrolink won't cope well with so many extra passengers, so Fraser Eagle will also be running services between Old Trafford and the city centre.

So, can Manchester's transport infrastructure cope?  We'll find out in under 24 hours.  If you're in the city centre tomorrow and spot anything of interest let us know!  Take a photo if you can, too.

Greener bus ads trialled in Manchester

The bus world continues to become more environmentally friendly.  Recently we've had Warrington Borough Transport's pun-tastic trees-for-tickets campaign and GMPTE's solar-powered bus shelters.  Now the adverts on the side of buses are becoming greener.

CBS Outdoor, responsible for the adverts you see on many of the nations buses are looking at replacing the traditional vinyl ads with a recycled alternative.  The new material, called Mondi Xtreme, is to be trialled in Manchester and Newcastle.  30 Manchester buses will get the new-style ads as part of the six week trial that involves First, Stagecoach and Arriva.

The advertising company's Commercial Director, Jason Cotterrall, said "Once successfully trialled, this material will provide the first environmentally friendly solution to bus advertising without impacting negatively on the quality. Having received full backing from the bus companies, this alternative will potentially be made available to clients in the very near future.”

It's good to see that our area is once again involved in trying something new to make the bus industry a little greener.

Boss left fuming by 'smoking' drivers

Vale of Manchester's General Manager, Ken Dawson has pledged to investigate after a teenager accused three of his drivers of smoking on a bus, reports The Bolton News.  The story goes that a teenage smoker, 16 year-old Rebecca Hill, saw three Vale of Manchester drivers smoking on an out-of-service relief vehicle at Farnworth Bus Station on Friday.

Apparently, Rebecca reported the incident because "It annoyed me to see them doing it because you are not allowed to smoke on buses".  Indeed, it is illegal to smoke on vehicles that are used for commercial purposes.  Vale of Manchester told the paper that they would look into it and ensure their drivers keep their vehicles smoke-free in future.

Of course, you have to wonder why a 16 year-old girl felt the need to report an incident like that to the media.  The quote from her above seems to indicate it was simple jealousy at not being able to smoke on buses herself!

More Congestion Charge doubt as Roger Jones loses his seat

Roger Jones, chairman of GMPTA, has lost his seat in a voter backlash against his plans for a Manchester congestion charge.  The count for his Irlam ward in Salford saw Jones come third with the Conservatives second and the Community Action Party winning.  The CAP made a point of letting Irlam voters know that it was an opportunity for them to show their displeasure at the idea of a Congestion Charge, and that's exactly what they did.

So what now?  Well, GMPTA will be looking for a new chairman and with one of its biggest champions out of local politics, the idea of a Manchester congestion charge is more uncertain than it was before.  Although a majority within the Association of Greater Manchester Councils still back the plans, they must surely be thinking more seriously about public reactions after last night's result.

The next major milestone in the congestion charge plans comes in a couple of weeks when the result of Greater Manchester's TIF bid is expected.  This will determine whether the government will be awarding a combination of a grant and a loan to the city region to pay for huge improvements to public transport and the introduction of the charge.

As for Roger?  Well, as he says in the Channel M report below, he'll be jobhunting for the first time since he left school.  He'll be alright though.  Seeing as he was named one of the most powerful people in Britain's transport industry just a few months ago, he'll no doubt get a high paid consultancy post somewhere.

Videoshow part 4: Last day on the buses

In this week's Videoshow, here's a driver's eye view of the start and end of a shift from Stagecoach's Princess Road depot.  These were filmed on the driver's last day at Stagecoach in 2006.

Stagecoach go 'Barbie' for a week

If you live in the southern reaches of Greater Manchester you may have spotted something unusual about some of Stagecoach Manchester's buses over the past couple of days.  Maybe you noticed that the front left wheelnut guards on 50 of their vehicles have been painted pink.  You might have even spotted some drivers wearing pink too.

No, they aren't trying to outdo First's 'Barbie' livery, they're actually pledging their support to a local cancer charity.  The Genesis Appeal, based at Wythenshawe Hospital, is dedicated to the prevention of Breast Cancer and this week is their 'Pink Pinkie Week'.

Mark Threapleton, managing director of Stagecoach Manchester, explained “Genesis is a local charity that we really wanted to support – with figures such as 1 in 10 women developing breast cancer at some point, this is a topic that will have some impact on many of our staff and customers in the course of their lifetime. We thought what better way to show our support and raise awareness of the campaign than to paint our buses’ wheel nut guards in pink".

The company has also donated £500 from its coffers and staff will be raising more money through the week.  You can see the pink wheel nuts on service 11 (Stockport - Altrincham) among others between now and Sunday.  We'd be interested to find out how many drivers opt to wear pink though!

Just 3 weeks from a TIF descision?

Greater Manchester's bid for £3bn of money to improve public transport and introduce peak-time congestion charging seems to have been up in the air forever.  However, it looks like we won't have to wait much longer to find out that mixture of a grant and a loan is coming our way or not.  The Manchester Evening News reports today that a decision could be announced as soon as the 15th of May.

The West Midlands recently pulled out of the running for the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) money, leaving just Cambridge and Greater Manchester as hopefuls.  Some people have seen the decision to delay the announcement of the winner of the controversial 'prize' of congestion charging as a conspiracy to keep the councilors responsible for Manchester's bid safe in next week's council elections.  Whether that's true or not, if the Department for Transport does give Greater Manchester the go-ahead in the next few weeks it still may not be a smooth ride for the plans.

Stockport, Trafford and Bury councils have rejected the current proposals, while Bolton plans to give its residents a referendum on whether to accept them.  If Bolton rejects the plans, that would leave just six of Greater Manchester's councils in favour, one less than required for the scheme to go ahead under the rules agreed by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA).

So, there's a long way to go yet but at least it looks like we'll be one step closer to an end to all this uncertainty by the middle of May.

Videoshow Part 3: Bus Jammin'

Time for the latest in our series looking at Manchester bus footage on the internet.  Now, we've heard of 'bus jams' at Piccadilly Gardens, but this brings a whole new meaning to the concept!