Take part in mediacity consultation

Of course the trams will only go to Cornbrook! Rail links aren't important at all. :/

GMPTE consulation on Cornbrook to Mediacity tram plans

Manchester Confidential takes on Metrolink's ticket machines.

I am so tempted to print this out and leave it everywhere for everyone to see. What angers me even more about all this is the presence of the Greater Manchester police when they are checking tickets. For the most part they just collar commuters who, for whatever reason, didn't manage to grab a ticket.

And they have the time to be rent-a-cops because Manchester is so crime free right?

Folks will recognize this story and the comments. If they don't know the guy, they know the situation.

Paul Clegg was recently at Old Trafford Metrolink station with a handful of change. He fed into the ticket machine a variety of £1, 50p and 5p coins for his £3 peak return to town. The machine wouldn’t have anything to do with the 5ps and spat them out. Clegg tried a £5 note, it went into the note dispenser, paused tantalisingly and then rumbled out again.

A tram was coming, there were no shops nearby for change, and Clegg (name changed) had a business appointment. Sod it, he thought, what more can I do? He got on the tram without a ticket. At G-Mex he was collared by an inspector. No excuse was admissable, you can’t travel without a valid ticket, he was told.

“I suggested that I pay the £3 that I’d tried to pay," Clegg told Confidential. "The inspector could then check with CCTV to make sure I was being honest. He refused and I had to pay £10 there and then, or £20 later via cheque or credit card if I couldn’t do that. As I only had £8 that’s what I had to do.

Metrolink ticket inspectors are either on some pretty good or pretty bad commission. Don't you think? Bunch of shark-eyed greedy bastards that they are. It seriously takes a special breed of person to do something like the above.

What's even better about the below link is how Stagecoach doesn't think there's anything wrong with the machines.

Lots more angry commuters in the comments!

Manchester Confidential: Making crooks of us

Confusion about Rochdale's Metrolink

Oh man, if ever there was a laugh out loud situation involving the mess that is Greater Manchester public transport, it's this.

When I moved here 7 years ago there were notices at Salford Crescent letting commuters know that Soon! There! Would! Be! Trams! In! Rochdale! or something equally effusive and excessively punctuated.

Those notices are long gone in exchange for ones telling us doors close 30 seconds early (hahahahaha) and be careful when the platform is wet.

Where or where did Rochdale and Oldham's trams go?

METROLINK remains the vital missing link in Oldham’s regeneration jigsaw – with no end in sight to the delays that have dogged the project since inception.

The Oldham Beyond report of 2004 hailed the light-rail network as having the potential to turn the town "into a 21st century success story".

But although today’s ‘1000 Days’ report cites progress in submissions for funding, there is still no firm timetable for even the first piece of track to be laid.

There we go then.

Oldham Advertiser: So where are those trams?

Richard Baum goes to meeting, doesn't like what he sees.

Let's hear it for honesty in politics! Richard Baum is a Lib Dem MP in Bury. His blog is pretty decent, unlike what we've gotten used to by every other politician (save Boris Johnson.)

What I found most unsurprisng and depressing was his account of councillors squabbling and generally being childish.

Last night’s full Council meeting was, in large parts, the usual depressing slanging match between Councillors who really should know better. Watching grown men (and women) making snide remarks and childish comments across a room, when there are people with real problems in the Borough, is not pleasant.

Nice.

And more evidence of how confused public transport issues are in Greater Manchester:

A couple of people raised the issue of the toilets at Bury interchange last night. I raised it again this morning at the meeting of the Transport Network Committee of Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority. The toilets are, it turns out, the responsibility of the Council, and they really do need sorting out because they’re in quite a state. Not the right welcome to the Borough for people arriving by bus or Metrolink.

So, the Bury interchange toilets are the responsibility of the council, not the partnership of councils that run public transport? I'm so confused.

It [Metrolink] is still, in my opinion, far too expensive, dirty, unsafe and unreliable. On Friday I stood waiting for a very long time at Bowker Vale, a station so decrepit that it looks nigh-on abandoned, and was genuinely scared by some of the anti-social behaviour by some people who treat the network like their own uncontrolled playground. I have raised the issue many times, and in other parts of the network there are efforts to improve both the condition and the safety of stations. The Prestwich section seems not to benefit, and although improved ticket machines and CCTV are in the pipeline, they aren’t coming quickly enough.

He's just lucky he wasn't robbed.

Richard Baum: Council and Transport Network Committee

It's been a good few months!

I've been pretty busy since January, including a two week trip back to the US, where I rode some light rail and it showed up! Consistently! On time! And clean! With police! And accurate announcements! And accurate displays! Suffice to say that transport isn't getting any better in Manchester.

I discovered that my last chance train, the 17:55 from Deansgate to Barrow was removed. How lovely is that? The staff at Deansgate told me that it was due to platform work, but I'm somewhat hesitant to believe that. Sure enough, it no longer shows up in the time tables. That means that if (when) the trams are delayed I have even less chance of getting home at a reasonable time.

Thanks GMPTE/GMPTA! Thanks Worst group! Not only did you screw over my morning commute a few years ago by removing the 8:55 from Salford Crescent to Hazel Grove, you've now messed up my evening one. It wasn't for passenger numbers either, there was a good contingent of people that caught the 17:55 from Deansgate. It was a fairly popular connection.

I can't wait to move somewhere where this nonsense doesn't happen.