TRANSPORT bosses in Manchester have revealed their `wishlist' should they get a cash windfall from congestion charging.
It would mean dramatic transport improvements withing five years. However, without the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) cash, they could take 30 years.
The plans include a massive expansion of bus, train and Metrolink services, with pedestrians given priority in a new `low-traffic' city centre.
The speed limit on the Mancunian Way could be reduced to 30mph, with an extra clockwise lane, and right turns banned to help keep vehicles out of the heart of Manchester.
The Regional Centre Transport Strategy also proposes:
85 extra carriages on trains running through the city;
Rebuilding Salford Crescent and White City stations;
Additional platforms on Liverpool-bound lines at Salford Central;
1,000 extra park-and-ride spaces at Metrolink and bus interchanges at Ashton, Leigh and Chorlton;
Eight new trams and the completion of the Metrolink expansion;
A new ticketing system, where one ticket would be transferable across all types of transport and different bus companies;
Tram-style buses serving Leigh-Manchester, Bolton-Manchester and Parrs Wood to Parker Street routes;
A new network of cross-city bus routes, with six buses an hour from Stockport to Pendleton, Stockport to Swinton, Parrs Wood to Eccles, Parrs Wood to Prestwich and Ashton to Stretford.
The document also makes clear the two possible routes of a new city-centre Metrolink line to cope with increased services.
One runs from Victoria to Cornbrook via Deansgate, the other - believed to be the favourite, goes via Mount Street, Cross Street and Corporation Street.
Transport chiefs believe they can make most of the improvements within five years - provided Greater Manchester's transport innovation fund bid is successful. That bid would see the government provide £1.2bn in grants, plus permission to borrow £1.8bn more, in return for a peak-hour congestion charge of up to £5 a day. A decision on the bid is due next year.
Without the TIF money, it is estimated, the `wish list' could take up to 30 years to complete.
The document also talks of the need to remove `non-essential' traffic from inside the inner ring-road. Access to side streets around the road will be limited around the Mancunian Way and, with its extra lane for clockwise traffic, the central reservation would be removed to make more space.
Two-way traffic would be reintroduced on Swan Street. As part of the changes, pedestrians would be given greater priority in Manchester city centre, with a `pedestrian-priority' area mapped out for the first time. There will be wider crossings and less traffic and buses allowed in places where high numbers of people walk. Transport bodies will also look at developing `a more sustainable approach' to residential parking in the city centre.
The proposal states: "It appears there is an over-supply of underground spaces and little demand."
Trams
Eight new trams by 2009, the `first stage in a larger order'.
New cross-city line, either down Deansgate or Cross Street.
Continued commitment to Metrolink extension, with the `little bang' complete by January 2012
Buses
A `planned and specified' bus network>
Easy to use tickets transferable across operators, and different kinds of public transport.
New fast tram-style buses on the Leigh-Manchester, Manchester-Bolton and Oxford Road routes, terminating at Parker Street.
New `cross-city' services, with six buses per hour running routes like Stockport-Pendleton and Parrs Wood to Eccles, using only a limited number of streets.
Fewer buses terminating at Piccadilly
Roads
A new `pedestrian-priority' zone in Manchester city centre.
Removal of non-essential traffic from inside the inner ring road.
Increasing capacity on the inner ring road, with an extra lane for clockwise traffic on the Mancunian Way and a reduction of the speed limit to 30mph to allow the central reservation to be removed.
Limited access to and from side streets around the inner ring road.
Review of signal timings.
Two-way traffic reintroduced on Swan Street
Trains
23 million passengers to be carried in Greater Manchester every year.
Passenger numbers will increase (without congestion charge) by 44 per cent to 2017.
85 extra train carriages to be provided.
Rebuilding Salford Crescent station.
Improvements at Piccadilly and Victoria.
New interchange at Bolton and major investment at the existing Altrincham, Stockport and Wigan interchanges.
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Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
Ms D, Manchester (03/12/2007 at 09:04)
polkyb (03/12/2007 at 09:31)
I live in Middleton and very rarely go into Manchester so why should I have to pay for it over the next 30 years with the new CON charge?
They say it will take 30 years to do this without the TiF money, I say we SAVE money and DON'T get the TiF LOAN, which would take 30 years to pay back and cost us MORE (installation and running of charge zones, not to mention the interest on the £1.8Bn loan).
AGMA need to leave the fantasy world they are in, get a grip on reality and realise that they are selling out the people of Manchester for a quick fix £3bn which will cost us more to pay back than we will gain.
gulliblenotme, bury (03/12/2007 at 09:38)
Rob (Manchester Against Road Tolls) www.manchestertolltax.com, Denton (03/12/2007 at 09:49)
If they are going to reduce traffic so much, where will the revenue come from to repay the £1.8bn loan? London gets billions for almost anything, so why should Manchester be forced into borrowing the money?
www.tamesidemart.co.uk
Chris, Irlam (03/12/2007 at 10:03)
Are there any guarantees that the C-charge will not expand massively both in size & cost shortly after implementation?
Of course there is not, it will be a licence to print money for local & national government which is why they are so desparate to steamroller it in before the public get wise to it.
And why does the MEN only seem to report on one side of the coin in the Toll Tax debate?
Chris Paul, Manchester (03/12/2007 at 10:17)
Oldham. Middleton and Rochdale stand to gain from this process so I am mystified at the comments from that direction.
John M, Whitefield (03/12/2007 at 10:32)
I dont mind paying for public transport, but with the amount of moey they are getting from the road tax and the vat and excise duty on petrol they should have enough to be able to do all of te things they are without the C-charge.
ajr010670, Altrincham (03/12/2007 at 10:49)
However, I am terribly concerned about the impementation of such a scheme in Manchester for a number of reasons. Firstly, the original idea for the 'congestion' charge says that motorcycles will have to pay. This seems totally at odds with all major studies about congestion, as a motorcycle takes up about 20% of the road space of a small family sized car and is therefore one of the solutions to congestion.
My second concern is with the idea of 'park and ride' for the metro link. As anyone that travels the route knows. the A56 is a huge congestion issue. The metrolink from Altrincham would seem an answer to this. However, if one were to look at the Metro stations on this southern line, on;y Navigation Road has a free car park that might actually encourage park and ride. This carpark is also totally inadequate, as the recent parking restrictions in the area have highlighted that more pepole wish to park and ride but do not have anywhere to perform the first part of the equation.
My final issue is one of funding, particularly the issue of a loan to set up ther system. I feel that this system would be tailormade to PFI, such as the M6 Tool in the midlands and the second Severn River crossing. There is no need at all for any money to be diverted from Council coffers for this system. I have no doubt that it will raise revenue, as has the London charge, and therefore it will be self financing. The issue is about re-investment rather than taxation.
Timberman, MANCHESTER (03/12/2007 at 11:04)
Nice of them to let us have a 'tram style bus' a bus is a bus. Why increase the width of the Mancunian Way when they are trying to get cars of the road? Better to pay for these 'improvements' as we go, even if it takes 30 years, think of the interest we will have saved. Look at the money being spent in London and not a mention of a 'loan'. Remember the old saying. 'If it sounds to good to be true then it most likely is'.
TTFN
Cenwulf (03/12/2007 at 11:15)
"Passenger numbers will increase (without congestion charge) by 44 per cent to 2017."
Was this figure plucked from thin air? On what basis will train passenger numbers increase by this huge figure? If this is without congestion charging, then presumably most of the increase will come from ex-car drivers. In which case, what use is the congestion charge if these drivers will voluntarily be taking the train? Also, how will Manchester tax payers repay the £1.8bn loan when the number of car journeys will be much less than forecast? We need a proper debate on the realities of this proposal, not uncritical echoing of council propaganda.
Speaking Bull, East Tepee (03/12/2007 at 11:25)
In the season of the pantomime - May the bosses be granted their wish!
Just how much of a windfall are they expecting? Ninety percent of the charge will be taken up with admin costs. Just how many vehicle do they expect to pay. - We are going to have a "World Class City" with a fantastic public transport system to match - so there is no need to travel by car.
polkyb (03/12/2007 at 11:34)
We already have a new bus station and Metrolink will come nowhere near us. The only thing we stand to gain is to be the gate keepers of the charge zones.
I say again, if they believe that we can do it over 30 years WITHOUT CONing the people of Greater Manchester OR taking out a £1.8bn loan, then THAT is what I would vote for.
bluetony (03/12/2007 at 11:38)
Second. How many people out there belief that much of the above will actually materialise, and what proportion that does will come in 'on budget'.
I don't.
Laura Norder, Didsbury (03/12/2007 at 11:46)
Rob (Manchester Against Road Tolls)
A propaganda rag - you're having your say, aren't you?
Why not use the MEN for your anti-campaign in diverse ways... as opposed to through the letters' page or this website message board.
It's not difficult, draft a pertinent news release and 'sell it' in to the newsdesk. If it raises valid objections to the council claims - as opposed to the usual retoric spouted ad infinitum, ad nauseum from some of your cohorts - I'm sure the MEN would welcome a bit of verbal sparring.
Or maybe your arguments against the C-charge don't stand up.
Black Flag (03/12/2007 at 12:08)
Mr X (03/12/2007 at 12:09)
Surely no one can tell me that they enjoy walking round our city centre breathing in the crap that spews from the back of dirty old buses, white vans and private cars all day, having to stop, and stop, and stop again at every damn junction to wait for selfish car drivers to go by before continuing their shopping? I'm no eco-hippy, I couldn't live without my car. But I'm sensible with it; if I'm visiting town, I park outside the city centre and get a tram in. The moaners need to find something better to do!
Pete (03/12/2007 at 12:22)
Simon B, www.manchestertolltax.com (03/12/2007 at 12:27)
The zone is planned to start at the M60 orbital motorway, way way way outside the city centre.
bluetony (03/12/2007 at 12:33)
I travel by train when going in to central Manchester but this isn’t always practical for everyone. Ask our respective Council leaders who fetched up at Bury Town Hall for one of the earlier congestion charge chinwags by car, most of them chauffer driven if memory serves.
Al Capone, Atherton (03/12/2007 at 12:36)
We left the car a couple of Saturdays ago and went by train into Manchester from Atherton to shop. Two crappy dirty carriages jampacked with passengers crushed against one another.
Very dangerous. Had there been a derailment there would have been major fatalities. We had to stand all the way. Never again. It's a joke.
The Thunderer (03/12/2007 at 12:40)
I look forward to the revolution being planned for the Greater Manchester area and know that without it much of the good work of the last few years will be lost, especially new jobs.
As a lifetime resident of the area, I am appalled at the self-centred whingeing individuals who only seem to see to the end of their driveways.
I want a modern public transport system -now and all the benefits it will bring.
Bring it on!
Pippa, Manchester (03/12/2007 at 12:44)
Speaking Bull, East Tepee (03/12/2007 at 12:59)
Surely no one can tell me that they enjoy walking round our city centre breathing in what spews from the back of dirty old buses, white vans and private cars all day.
You could have added the dodging of trams, the parked buses - the dim dismal Market street, the mess they have made of Piccadlly Gardens, the getto that is Oldham Street etc - people used to travel into Manchester to shop - there is little need now - if they have to find money up front before they are ripped off for parkng, how goes the centre for shopping? There has to be a reason to come to Manchester, work, shopping, entertainment. Work can be outsource to India etc. shopping to the suburbs, entertainment is outside the charging times. Oops Ghost city!
Black Sabbath (03/12/2007 at 13:00)
Would you be happy with that Mr X? I for one would not, hence I am against the charge.
Black Sabbath (03/12/2007 at 13:02)