Manchester Buses

How to persuade Mancunains to embrace congestion charging?

With the TIF bid submitted Manchester City Council is well on the way to introducing congestion charging in a few years' time.  However, there's still the uphill battle of persuading the general public that it's a good idea.  A new Ipsos MORI poll indicates that there's a long way to go on that front.  The poll, which surveyed people across the nation, indicated that only 30% of people are in favour of congestion charging.  Almost half are opposed and 29% described themselves as strongly opposed the the idea.

However, it's not all bad news for the council.  59% of those polled said they would support congestion charging if it was tied to improvements in public transport.  Of course, that is the plan here in  Manchester but of the (totally unscientific) sample of Mancunians I've spoken to I found that there's still a strong resistance to a C-Charge.  This stems from drivers' resentment that they get charged ridiculous amounts in road and fuel tax, not to mention insurance, so why should the pay again?

It seems to me that the way forward is a PR campaign that centres around collective responsibility.  Traffic jams aren't going to go away on their own - they only exist because so many people feel the need to drive everywhere due to unreliable, slow public transport.  As any bus operator will tell you; the main reason for unreliability of bus services is traffic jams!  The operators are doing their best in Manchester but they can't work miracles.  Stagecoach's improvement of the reliability of service 41 (Altrincham - Manchester), for example, meant it had to reduce the frequency from every 20 minutes to every 30 to allow for a longer running time.  This means the buses are more reliable but you have to wait longer for them!  The TIF bid will allow for improvements to infrastructure that won't have side effects like that - they'll simply allow for a much better public transport system.

Drivers will probably eventually embrace congestion charging but it may well be that many won't fully understand its necessity until it's been forced upon them and they see the result.

New Hospital Link for Salford

From the 19th of November a new service will link Clifton with Salford Royal Hospital (AKA Hope Hospital).  New service 66 will be operated by Vale of Manchester and from looking at the GMPTE service changes page appears to be a commercially run route with no subsidy.  The timetable isn't online yet but I'm guessing at an hourly frequency (as these services tend to be).  The route takes the service from Clifton via Pendlebury, Irlams o' th' Height and Pendleton to the hospital.

This news means there will now be two direct links between Clifton and the hospital.  Subsidised service 70, operated by Arriva, already runs between the two locations (via Swinton and Monton).  It then extends into Manchester during evenings and Sundays.

First's Huge New Investment in Manchester

First's new Managing Director for Manchester, Andy Scholey, has this week announced an investment of £35million in new vehicles for the Manchester fleet.  It was only a couple of years ago that the average age of First's fleet was shockingly high for a major operator in an important market like Manchester.  Things have already started to change, with plenty of new low-floor single-deck stock on the roads and plush new double deckers starting to appear too (the first new double deckers in a long time for the company).

This new investment will see 200 74-seat Volvo Wrightbus double deckers arrive at depots starting next year, with the last of them arriving in 2010.  This follows Stagecoach's recent announcement of 100 new Enviro400 double deckers arriving in the next 6 months.

New Metrolink Works Underway

Okay, this isn't strictly bus-related but it's exciting nevertheless!  The new Metrolink lines have been a long time coming.  Work to clear land in Wythenshawe took part years ago and a swanky new interchange at Miles Platting has been sitting dormant for some time now.

Now, although that Wythenshawe work won't see any further development unless we get that £3bn everyone's talking about, the lines to Droylsden and Chorlton, plus the conversion of the Oldham loop to Rochdale from rail to tram, are about begin taking shape!  Over the next few months demolition work will be taking place in Clayton and Ancoats to make way for the Droylsden line.

Read the press release here.

Arriva fine-tunes its Altrincham network

Details are sketchy at present but it looks like Arriva passengers in Altrincham, Wythenshawe and surrounding areas have more changes on the way from 11th November.  The GMPTE Service Changes Page lists changing times for services 18, 18A and 19.  In addition, service 20 (Bowdon Vale - Manchester Airport) is curtailed to run between Bowdon Vale and Well Green only while being diverted to serve Broomwood during Monday to Saturday daytimes.  Arriva are also returning to the 281 (Altrincham - Timperley Grange circular) which in recent months has been solely operated by small independent LA Coaches.

This area of Greater Manchester has seen lots of changes over the past couple of years.  Arriva have simplified their network in the past 18 months.  For a long time there was a confusing circular service numbered 19/19A/19B/19C that covered a vast area.  That was simplified to service 19 between Altrincham and the Airport, which initially ran every 10 minutes before being cut back to every 15.  Arriva have struggled with punctuality on their incredibly long 18/18A service between Altrincham and the Trafford Centre via the Airport, Wythenshawe and Sale.  The fact they tend to use ancient vehicles on the route doesn't help.  Their lack of sufficient low-floor vehicles has been noted as a problem at at least one GMPTA meeting.

Hopefully, these latest changes will help Arriva stabilise in the Altrincham area.  More details when I get them!

Improvements in Tameside as First Flex Their Muscles

Tameside looks set to have an interesting few months ahead, bus service wise.  We'll have to see how the reported Mayne/Stagecoach deal affects the local bus market although one early effect appears to be an increase in First's activity in the area.  When a raft of service changes were announced a couple of weeks back I didn't make much of First's Tameside changes, although they really are quite significant.

The 348 (Ashton-under-Lyne - Carrbrook) service is increased in frequency to every 10 minutes Monday to Saturday daytimes and every 30 minutes evenings and Sundays.  All journeys will also now serve the Copley estate.  While the 349 service is withdrawn this is more than made  up for by the 348 enhancements along with the extension of service 419 (Middleton - Ashton-under-Lyne) to Stalybridge via Dukinfield.  This creates new journey possibilities for passengers as well as showing First are up for expanding in the area.  First's Tameside presence is further enhanced by their taking on of former Mayne Monday to Saturday evening journeys on the 231 (Manchester - Droylsden).

Of course First's increase in visibility in the area could be a coincidence but it certainly will make for an interesting situation if Stagecoach are about to increase their own presence there.

Look Out For Mr Red!

System One, the providers of non-operator specific travelcards in Greater Manchester, have launched a promotion based on Myspace to encourage local young people to get in the habit of buying travel cards and using the bus more often.

The Mr Red On Tour profile reveals that the System One red dot logo not only gets around quite a bit, he also confesses to quite a cool taste in music.  His blog lists artists such as The Sunshine Underground and Kings of Convenience among the things he listens to as he tours Manchester's public transport network.  Rumours that Mr Red is in fact a red spacehopper cannot be verified at the moment.  However, if you do go to his profile you'll find a competition to win an iPod Shuffle or one year's free bus travel in Greater Manchester!  Get to it!

Meanwhile, Manchester Confidential also have a (very easy) competition to win one month's free bus and train travel in Greater Manchester (plus city centre trams).  Head over here to enter.

New Inter-urban Bus Service For Bolton

Reason for Bolton bus users to celebrate for a change; Nelson-based Tyrer Bus are launching a new service between Bolton and Burnley via Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall and Crawshawbooth.  This service (numbered T73) is a new direct link between the two towns.  Previously passengers had to either use the train or take two buses (changing at Edenfield).  The service will run Monday to Saturday daytimes from 29th October.

Tyrer are a new operator to Greater Manchester but currently run services in Colne and Barnoldswick, plus a service between Preston and Skipton.

Forget a 50p Flat Fare, How About Free?

I mentioned on Friday the plan for a 50p flat fare for under-18s on Greater Manchester's buses.  However, Labour MPs in the area want to go further and follow London's lead in free travel for children.  They are going to table a motion in Parliament to that effect following GMPTA's Roger Jones' calls to ministers to consider the idea, the Manchester Evening News reported yesterday.

Transport chiefs in local government here in Manchester seem desperate to follow London's model for public transport.  Aside from free travel for under 18s, they want to take control for routes and fares back from individual bus companies.  Of course Stagecoach et al argue that public transport works best in the private sector, and there is something to be said for competition in certain situations.  However, if you look at the situation in Bolton (which I covered yesterday) you can see that one group (funded well through ticket sales) ensuring public transport is fully integrated and working for everyone can only be a good thing.

Discontent in Bolton

The residents of Bolton are distinctly unhappy with the bus services they receive.  That's become massively clear this week.  This Is Lancashire reported yesterday on one of GMPTE's community meetings there it appears there was a lot of discontent at the state of the bus network in the town.  I dismissed this at first.  The kind of people to attend these meetings (happening when most people are at work) are likely to be the kind of people who like to complain about things anyway, or so I thought.
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However, today GMPTE have admitted to there being severe problems in Bolton.  Michael Renshaw, interim Service Delivery Director, says (again in This Is Lancashire) that huge gaps in service are (surprise, surprise) down to lack of cash to subsidise every service that is needed.  For years the government has told us that public transport use needs to increase and yet schemes like the Metrolink 'Big Bang' and the Leeds Supertram have been knocked back.  Meanwhile, socially necessary services in places like Bolton can't provided due to lack of funds.  It's time we had a bit more 'joined up thinking' at government level to allow public transport provision to grow in this country.  I personally support the Congestion Charge for Manchester, but only because of the extra funding for public transport it will bring.  Some (like Rob Adlard) might call that blackmail, but realistically I can't see any other way there'll be enough money in the public purse to get where we want to be!