Manchester Buses

Rochdale's new Interchange revealed (Updated)

Here's a first look at plans for Rochdale's new transport Interchange. The new facility will be on Smith Street, next to the River Roch and is lightyears ahead of the current concrete monstrosity.

While originally intended to serve Metrolink trams as well as buses, the interchange became bus only when funds to extend the currently in-development Rochdale and Oldham line beyond Rochdale rail station could not be found.

No word on when the new Interchange will be built but the plans include a shop, a Travelshop, toilets, bus operator and supervisor facilities, as well as electronic passenger information displays.

Look wise, it's no major departure from recent GMPTE bus station designs, such as Shudehill Interchange, Middleton and Hyde. Still, we're sure the people of Rochdale will appreciate not having to enter a concrete hell-hole in order to catch a bus, as they do right now.

UPDATE: We've just heard this from GMPTE:

Subject to planning permission being granted early next year, work should start on site in autumn next year and construction should take around 15 months (so it should open early 2012).

 

The interchange will be next to the proposed town centre Metrolink stop (for which outline planning permission has been granted). Funding for the Metrolink line to Rochdale town centre has been earmarked via the Greater Manchester Transport Fund, a £1.5bn 10-year investment programme agreed by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities in May this year. The fund covers 15 major transport schemes and a delivery programme, which will outline when work could start on each scheme, is being finalised.

 

Cross-city bus route plans revealed

As GMITA tries to introduce as many of the schemes included in the failed TIF bid as possible without the funding boost congestion charging would have supplied, we've already seen a solid package of improvements announced.

One of these plans was for some of the cross-city bus routes detailed in the TIF bid to be implemented. Finally today we get to see exactly what's being suggested.

While GMITA can't force operators to run services that run through Manchester city centre and out to other parts of the city, it can make it easier for these services to exist. The current layout of the city centre discourages cross-city routes thanks to its complicated one-way systems.

So, what has GMITA come up with? A package of improvements to the following corridors:

    •    Boothstown to Manchester via the A580 East Lancashire Road and A6 Broad Street/Crescent/Chapel Street;
    •    Middleton Bus Station to Manchester via the A664 Manchester New Road and Rochdale Road; and,
    •    East Didsbury to Manchester via Wilmslow Road and Oxford Road/Street.

The TIF bid included bus routes between Chorlton and Middleton, East Didsbury/Withington and Salford Crescent and Wigan/Leigh and Manchester Central Hospitals. All these routes will be easier for operators to introduce if they choose if the plans go ahead.

Councillor Keith Whitmore, Chair of GMITA, said: “These are radical proposals that will provide a significant change in the way bus services operate through the Regional Centre.

“They will play a crucial role in improving the journey times and reliability of bus services for parts of Salford, Middleton, North Manchester and South Manchester that will, in turn, offer new and improved links to jobs, education, healthcare and leisure pursuits.

“By laying the foundations to encourage through-services to run we aim to make bus travel a more attractive, reasonable alternative to the car for these journeys.”

Here are maps of the planed improvements to bus lanes, bus gating and junction improvements, as well as pedestrian and cycle measures. Some sections of city centre roads will be made bus only. This includes parts of Lever Street and Princess Street receiving bus-only contraflow sections.

A public consultation on the schemes begins today. If approved, work will begin next year with planned completion in 2013. GMITA wants to hear your thoughts at www.gmpte.com/haveyoursay or by calling 0800 917 8808 (Mon-Fri, 9am to 5pm).

Click on each map for a closer look.

Urbis gets its own special bus shelter design - how about some more?

A new, specially designed bus shelter went into service outside Urbis yesterday. The shelter has been designed to complement the sleek, modern glass look of the city-centric museum itself. 

GMPTE sent us this photo and as you can see, Keith Whitmore - Chair of GMITA and lover of photo opportunities - is centre stage again. We really should do a Whitmore Gallery soon as our Gmail account is full of photos of him we've received from GMPTE over the past year or so.

Anyway, now Urbis has its own special bus shelter how about some more themed designs around the city? We could have:

• Garden themed shelters at Piccadilly Gardens
• Shelters in the shape of trains outside rail stations
• A really, really tall one outside the Beetham Tower. 

  Any other ideas? 

Manchester's Oyster Card gets another chance

A Greater Manchester smartcard payment system is back on the cards, the Manchester Evening News reports. The idea, similar to London's Oyster Card, was included in the failed TIF bid but was left out of a cut-down batch of improvements that was recently green-lit.

The card is back as part of a plan to develop a stronger "City Region identity" for Greater Manchester. As well as paying for public transport, the card could also be used to pay for a range of goods and services across the region.

Is this a great idea? Definitely, a smart card system would be a real boon for the region's public transport system. It would be easier and quicker to travel around the region and payment would be easier. No need to buy a new System One ticket from an authorised reseller every month, you could top up online or easily at an on-street machine.

Stagecoach Manchester already has smartcard-enabled ticket machines although there are no immediate plans to begin using the feature. A system-wide card, that works on any bus, tram or train would be fantastic but it's not without its problems.

London has a distinct advantage when it comes to running a smartcard system. All London bus services are operated under contract from Transport for London. In Manchester, where most bus journeys are commercially run by individual operators, the problem would be getting all operators to sign up to accept smart cards. Smaller operators may not be too keen to spend money on upgrades to ticket machines and there could be some real friction ahead, especially as councilors are reportedly keen to push the plan forward.

If it can work, the benefits will be huge. We just hope the hurdles along the way don't end up consigning this great idea to history. Again.

'Transport geek' councilor gets dream job, pledges to improve bus network

Regular readers of Manchester Buses will recognise Councilor Keith Whitmore. He's been a Councilor for 30 years and has popped up at pretty much every press photocall for GMPTE in recent memory. No matter where it is, Keith will be there grinning for the camera.

There's more to Keith though. He's a Director of Manchester Museum of Transport and Greater Manchester Accessible Transport and is Chair of Heaton Park Tramway Committee too. It's probably fair to say, in the nicest possible way, that Keith is a transport geek.

What's the dream job for a transport geek? Why, Chair of GMITA of course! This is the top job in Greater Manchester transport and today Keith stepped into the role. He replaces Trafford councilor Matt Colledge.

It's an exciting time to take the top post at GMITA. With Metrolink expansion currently underway and big plans for improving the region's transport network on the table, there's a lot to think about. Right now, Keith says, he's going to concentrate on dealing with overcrowding on the region's trains and, more importantly for us here at Manchester Buses, developing "a new way of working with bus operators – based on binding partnerships and a quality charter". 

These type of agreements have a rocky history. Similar agreements between First and SYPTE in South Yorkshire fell apart due to the transport equivalent of the 'musical differences' that break up rock bands. Keith is, however, upbeat. "We hope (this) will deliver significantly improved services across the county".

The future of Manchester's buses - the operators' view

We often hear about what the local authorities want for the future of the region's public transport but what about the bus operators? Gradyn Thompson, General Manager of the Greater Manchester Bus Operators Association (GMBOA) has been speaking to Bus & Coach about their ideas for improving our bus network.

Among the nuggets he imparted were:

• GMBOA is keen to improve the bus service for passengers but is realistic about the plans currently on the table. "Politicians want to see improvements... They want tangible evidence that things are moving forward on routes and frequencies. If these improvements focus on delivering tangible and affordable passenger benefits then the bus operators will be very supportive, but there isn’t a blank cheque from either the government or the operators to fund unrealistic political aspirations.”

• An Oyster-style single all-operator smartcard isn't likely in the near future due the number of differnet companies collecting revenue in deregulated bus market - a problem that doesn't affect London. Thompson does, however, predict that at least one operator will have their own smartcard system within the next three years. Seeing as First's Bradford operation has been using smartcards for payment for a decade there's no reason why this couldn't be realistic.

• GMBOA welcomes the idea of cross-city bus routes but Thompson points out that work may have to be done to ensure buses can get through the city centre quickly and easily.

• Despite the TIF bid failing, it improved relations between operators and policy makers. "“There's now a better spirit of partnership than there has ever been", he says.

You can read the full interview here.

[Thanks to James McCollom]

Bus punctuality down to 69%

Okay, we admit it - we used to look at things like bus punctuality figures in search of a story but they always stayed roughly the same so we gave up. Good job someone else has kept looking. The Manchester Evening News' David Ottewell has perused GMITA documents and found that in the first three months of this year bus punctuality fell by 15% to just 69%.

What's gone wrong? Nothing springs to mind from the start of the year that would have led to such a drop. The current water mains works that are causing big diversions in Manchester city centre must be affecting the current Quarter's punctuality but there was nothing of that scale earlier in the year.

Have you noticed buses being less punctual this year? In our experience punctuality feels to be better this year than last. It will be interesting to see how Q2's figures are affected by the water mains works.

It seems dreams come true, transport improvements get green light

It was only a few days ago that a 'Plan B' for the future of Manchester's public transport was devised and already it seems that the dreams of bus, train and tram users around Greater Manchester are coming true. Forget the need for a congestion charge, we're getting a huge package of projects anyway. There will be a price of course, much of the £1.4bn will be based on loans.

We're busy covering the Futuresonic Festival over the next few days so we'll publish more analysis of the news after that. In short though:

Yay! Cross-city buses and Metrolink extensions.
Boo! Public borrowing, new roads being built and no smartcard system being introduced.

In the meantime, have a read of the Manchester Evening News' coverage and take in the great news.

Does GMITA really want our feedback? Really?

Do you want to talk to transport bosses Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority's plans for the region's transport? Well you can't - you're too late, your chance was this morning. Even if you'd have known about it, chances are you wouldn't have been able to make it - it was at 10.30am on a Monday and you were probably busy.

GMITA's seminar at the Town Hall was billed by Chairman Matt Colledge as "A great opportunity for members of the public to discuss public transport with the very people who are in charge of it.

"These are exciting times. We're in the middle of a £700 million investment in Metrolink, real headway is being made on the Manchester rail hub study, and we are continuing to explore the new powers to improve bus services afforded by the Local Transport Act.

"So I'd urge anyone with an interest in our buses, trains and trams to come along to this event and find out more."

That's brilliant Matt! We'd love to come! The problems?

1. Publicity: A search of Google News reveals that aside from a news item on GMPTE's website, posted on Friday, and a brief mention on Manchester Confidential published just an hour before the event there was no publicity for this event (online at least). We're on GMPTE's press release list and we didn't receive anything about it. We only heard about event on Twitter today when local people began complaining about not having had more notice about it.
2. Timing: 10.30am is probably great for the transport bosses but it's not so great for the legions of people who crammed themselves onto the region's buses, trains and trams only two hours before. They were in work. An evening event would be much more accessible to the people who actually use public transport the most.

Cynical voices would say that GMITA doesn't want our opinions at all. They'd suggest that Colledge and chums hold consultations with little notice at inconvenient times in order to reduce the amount of feedback they have to deal with. After all, a public consultation took place this morning even if many people who would have wanted to be there didn't know about it. GMITA tick 'Public Consultation' off the list and move on.

With big improvements to transport in Manchester on the cards again we think GMITA can and should do better. Engage with us! Hold evening meetings, give a couple of weeks' notice and give people a place to peruse and discuss the plans online in advance. GMITA committee meeting minutes hold lots of information but who has the time, patience and stamina to read them all regularly?

So GMITA, let's see you step up your game and engage us!

Greater Manchester's transport 'Plan B' is revealed

Did you really think our Councillors would let us down and leave us high and dry once the TIF bid was rejected? Okay, you probably did, but they have actually been busying themselves behind the scenes to formulate a 'Plan B' for the future of Greater Manchester's public transport.

The Manchester Evening News' David Ottewell has got hold of the document that outlines their plans. The document lists the projects that the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) believe might actually see the light of day. An innovative new 'Greater Manchester Transport Fund' has been devised that would pool a wide range of funding, including Department for Transport Money and loans against future revenues from new Metrolink extensions, to ensure that a number of the TIF projects are realised. AGMA believe this fund could boost the region's growth rate by 20%.

Projects considered top priority include Metrolink extensions from Chorlton to East Didsbury, Rochdale Station to Rochdale town centre and Droylsden to Ashton-under-Lyne, the Leigh-Salford-Manchester guided busway and "elements" of the cross-city bus package which would see new routes introduced linking Wilmslow Road with Salford Crescent and Chorlton with Middleton among other new links. Controversially, the other top-priority projects all involve new roads being built, including bypasses in Mottram and Ashton-under-Lyne.

Projects deemed less-essential include the Metrolink extensions to the Airport, new interchanges for Bolton and Altrincham. Depending on funding these projects could still go ahead but improvements to rail stations, a new interchange for Stockport and a Metrolink extension to Trafford Park all look unlikely.

It's all very promising but there's a long road ahead. As David Ottewell says, the meeting on Friday where this was all discussed was "Very polite" and "Very little was decided".

[Image credit: Frankie Roberto on Flickr]