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LIFT STILL NOT WORKING AGAIN SATURDAY 13th DECEMBER 2008
Are you elderly, have difficulty walking, are disabled or will be travelling with heavy luggage?  Then click here before risking a journey by tram to Piccadilly Rail Station.  We thought the lift had been fixed during the period of track renewal between Piccadilly Gardens and London Road.  Not so.  A member tested it Monday 8 December and found it working and new control panels both inside the lift and at platform level.  Hurrah!  It was short lived however.  Another member found it not working the following Saturday morning.  On reporting the matter to Metrolink Control he was told it was out of service.  Could you imagine this situation being allowed to continue in a Tesco store?

ARE YOU AWARE OF THE PROPOSALS BY MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL AND THE PASSENGER TRANSPORT AUTHORITY FOR MASSIVE CHANGES TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN THE CENTRE OF MANCHESTER?  They will affect everyone using public transport into the city centre, especially by bus.  Despite the NO vote over the TIF Bid/Congestion Charge these proposals may still go ahead in an amended form.  Consultation document here.  We at Greater Manchester Transport Campaign submitted a response before 31st January 2008.  Click here to see what we said.
NORTHENDEN CIVIC SOCIETY also responded.  Their submission here.

OVERCROWDING ON LOCAL TRAINS
Transport Authority/Executive’s report to the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) 25th January 2008.  Includes details of local journeys with loadings over 135% and some particularly bad ones with over 170%.  Calder Valley morning peak-time journeys came out worst.

    After a visit by PTA Chairman Roger Jones to the House of Commons, this statement was given to a local MP in an e-mail:

Following our meeting in the House of Commons I enclose:

1.) the report to AGMA dated 25/1/08.    (Click here to view)
2.) letter from Heidi Mottram,Managing Director of Northern dated 17/1/08.  (Click here to view)

I can also inform you that a DfT civil servant did promise to provide funding if Northern were able to secure additional rolling stock.  I have written to Northern today to say we will support any bid they make for additional rolling stock if DfT honour this agreement.

The DfT official said he was also committed to retain within Greater Manchester the units released by the closure of the Oldham/Rochdale loop line when we convert it to Metrolink.
ROGER.

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT:  Indicative Number of Additional Vehicles required by English Train Operating Companies by 2014 here, also reply from DfT on behalf of Ruth Kelly (then Sec of State for Transport) in response to letter sent by GMTC Chairman, Tony Fawthrop, re overcrowding on Northern trains/lack of rolling stock,  here.

GMTC MEMBERS AT BLACKPOOL, Saturday 2nd Feb 2008.  Photos of tramtrack renewal and beached ferry here

GMTC MEMBERS SUPPORTING FRIENDS OF REDDISH SOUTH STATION FOLK TRAIN EVENT here

ABOLITION OF LOCAL TRANSPORT PUBLIC FORUMS:  Report to PTA meeting of 23rd November 2007 recommending that members abolish the forums here.    GMTC’s response to Chairman of PTA here.   Reply from PTA Chairman here.  Further letter to PTA Chairman 12 March here.

How much did this bus shelter at Eccles
(left) cost? £5,000? £10,000? £25,000?

Click here to find the answer.
There are another two at Atherton (right)
Have you seen any others? Let us know, include a photograph if possible.
 

It isn’t just motorists who get caught by the bollards . . . . yes, bollards.

FULL MARKS TO STOCKPORT COUNCIL

Putting Buses First.

The introduction of a bus lane through Portwood roundabout at Stockport has really given buses priority over all other traffic.  Buses which were previously severely delayed there are now able to use the bus lane helping them keep to time and be more reliable.  Their drivers are ‘over the moon’ with it; passengers like it too.  One of our members who lives at Bredbury and has no car says he’s often tempted to make a rude gesture at waiting motorists held at the lights whilst the bus is given priority to enter its own special lane!

THE INTELLIGENT INFOTILLS

Follow the sequence from left to right.  If the Infotill at Moor Lane Bus Station, Bolton, can’t find the so-called state-of-the-art Shudehill Interchange, then Heaven help anyone who wants to find Bird i’ th’ Hand, Hindley.
    Have you been let down by an Infotill?  Tell us about it, but preferably photograph the sequence of your question and the answer  you received.  

Altrincham-bound platform at St Peter’s Square, Thursday, 6th December at  9.30 pm, packed end-to-end with about 80 waiting passengers and raining heavily.  Many had no umbrellas; some would be soaked.  

The Passenger Transport Authority’s latest  glossy publication Interchange has a bold heading on page 4:

Putting Passengers First:  Improving Public Transport

If this is the way they put you first can you expect  them to provide any better protection from the weather in the future?  They’ve been content to let you endure 15 years of misery, rain, sleet and wind at this stop since the trams started running in 1992; Piccadilly Gardens and Market Street platforms are no better either.

So what can you do to change this appalling state of affairs?  Complain to your local councillor and/or your MP.  You can find their details by clicking on this link:

http://www.writetothem.com/

Look at the shelter provided over the platform at Meadowhall on Sheffield’s tram system (right).  If the PTA can throw away money on a bus shelter at Eccles (below), then they can afford proper cover for you.

We welcome items from readers for inclusion in this section, both text and photographs.  If you’ve material to send, please click here.