Salford council has slammed the government after cash to create a bus service to MediaCityUK was withdrawn.
Labour had announced before the General Election that £1.7m would be spent on boosting bus services in Greater Manchester.
But the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition has withdrawn funding for the so-called Kickstart project in spending cuts.
It included £382,000 for a bus service from the MediaCityUK complex to Salford Shopping City and Salford Crescent train station.
Salford council leader John Merry said: "This represents a major setback for the concept of local involvement in MediaCityUK and obviously we are disappointed that the coalition government appears not to take this issue as seriously as they should.
"The council will need to consider how best, with limited resources, we can respond."
The Kickstart scheme paid for trial bus services to see if they would prove popular enough with passengers to be taken over by a commercial operator.
The Department for Transport gave the go-ahead for seven schemes including the MediaCityUK link in March.
A number of services in Manchester, Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside and Wigan were also set to be improved.
Coun Ian Macdonald, the chairman of the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority, which sets the region’s transport policy, said: "GMPTE is actively working with Salford City Council to review the MediaCityUK bus service, which would have been supported in its early stages through the Kickstart programme."
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Another typical example of how councils waste tax payers hard earned money. Why on earth do they want to spend £382,000 to prove that a bus route is commercially viable, for a commercial operator to take it over. Let Stagecoach / First Bus do it themselves and keep the £382,000 for the people of Salford who really need it.
Typical....if this had been in London-i bet it would't of been scrapped!!!
So how does anyone from Salford actually get there then without having to go into Manchester first and then get a tram out (as we have to now to go to the Lowry!)?
Who cares? Buy a car.
if this had been in the city of manchester never mind london tmanchester would have got it blinkers only see the city of manchester in the region
Can't they just ride the BBC gravy train to get to MediaCity.
Moving the BBC to Salford hasn't changed much then regarding the London-centric crowd in the government!
The people who will work in media city will either live in the apartments on the site, get the tram from town to stay at the holiday inn or park their car in the multi car park. Bus's are not required.
salford v london? london wins , its a no brainer
i'd love to meet half the commenters on here, only to punch them square in the face. they're typical of the self centred individualistic mentality that's ruined this once great society.
Yeah because all these obscenely overpaid BBC executives, celebrities and assorted luvvies are really going to want to take a bus ride to Salford aren't they?
well if i read it right less buses. then greater need for alternative transport i wonder when i come out of work from my taxi driver job if i can get some help from the bank and maybe open a push bike shop ?
The major issues here is not that the grant has been taken away but rather that Salford Council seem to think that the only way to solve the problem is by getting money directly from government.
Rather than getting the bus companies round a table to discuss who would be running what service past Media City and the routes they take and making sure that the service went live as soon as possible, the Council have run to get a grant so they don't have to do any work.
The recurring symptoms of people not will to do a hard days work (even if that is just having meeting with the right people at the right time) and expecting the government to bail them out has been fostered by all hues of government.
What should be happing is that people (and councils) should be out there getting on with it whilst there is the certain knowledge of a safety net should they fall, but it should be a safety net rather than cotton wool padding, saftey harness, knee pads, safety goggles etc just to change a light bulb...
If we don't teach people to take risks then they'll never be successful.
The Green Party does not advocate violence and I consider this "vote green Salford" name to be an attempt to imply otherwise, whoever it is, they are not members of the Green Party,
Reg Howard, Chairman, Salford Green Party.
To James Blessing; It is illegal under the 1985 Transport Act and/or Competition law for Bus companies to "get round a table", with or without local authority involvement.
The real surprise with this story is why it took so long to air, given the decision was announced in June! What is NO surprise is that there is no interest in planned services for existing local tax-paying bus users also being dropped - just those for London media-types who wouldn't be seen dead on a bus that isn't painted Red anyway!.