Metrolink to / from Etihad

paulchapo said:
Yesterday for me was the usual fiasco going to the game, a better result going home but that was because I walked into Piccadilly station.

Going I got off a packed tram from Altrincham at an already busy Cornbrook with lots of others. As we waited at least four trams arrived and disembarked loads more passengers. One of these was a tram that said it was terminating there and went off empty. I was not the only one who probably wondered why it couldn't just go to the stadium and relive the growing crush on the platform. Inevitably when the Ashton tram did finally arrive we were rammed in there like sardines. When we got to Piccadilly the usual pushing and shouting of "Move up, move up!" started as people tried to get onto an already dangerously overcrowded tram. Unless you have a seat it is a truly awful experience.

Coming back I walked from the ground into Piccadilly station and luckily an empty Altrincham tram arrived in two minutes so that was a great result.

Surely on matchdays in the two hour window post and pre match metrolink could improve the frequency of trams going to and from the stadium? It would help if they at least just ran every tram that was going into Piccadilly train station the extra few stops to the ground then turned them around. Is that too much to ask?
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They did appear to do what you suggested yesterday. I caught a Media City to Ashton tram from Cornbrook yesterday at 13:30ish & easily got a seat. There was a special to the Etihad shown on the departure board 3 mins behind that.
Coming back, I got on a special bound for Trafford Bar, and there was another one heading to the "turnround loop" as we boarded.
I know it is dire sometimes, but it seemed like they planned in extra capacity yesterday.
The ones that currently terminate at Cornbrook are from the Trafford Centre. I understand these will be extended through the city centre shortly to somewhere on the Bury line (Crumpsall?) once the turnback faculties are commissioned.
 
paulchapo said:
Yesterday for me was the usual fiasco going to the game, a better result going home but that was because I walked into Piccadilly station.

Going I got off a packed tram from Altrincham at an already busy Cornbrook with lots of others. As we waited at least four trams arrived and disembarked loads more passengers. One of these was a tram that said it was terminating there and went off empty. I was not the only one who probably wondered why it couldn't just go to the stadium and relive the growing crush on the platform. Inevitably when the Ashton tram did finally arrive we were rammed in there like sardines. When we got to Piccadilly the usual pushing and shouting of "Move up, move up!" started as people tried to get onto an already dangerously overcrowded tram. Unless you have a seat it is a truly awful experience.

Coming back I walked from the ground into Piccadilly station and luckily an empty Altrincham tram arrived in two minutes so that was a great result.

Surely on matchdays in the two hour window post and pre match metrolink could improve the frequency of trams going to and from the stadium? It would help if they at least just ran every tram that was going into Piccadilly train station the extra few stops to the ground then turned them around. Is that too much to ask?
Click to expand...

Paul, you must have been on the same platform at Cornbrook as me at the same time. Got a double from Sale to Cornbrook with 90 mins to go before KO and then waited 20-25+ minutes while trams for every other destination on the network arrived, all the while the platform got busier and busier, including the mysterious terminating here single tram.

Suddenly a double to Ashton announced with 5 mins, when it arrived it was already rammed, luckily got onto one of those standing / seat things.

No specials run to the Etihad as far as I could see yesterday. Took a total of 90 mins to travel 7-8 miles.

Coming back, I waited at the StarBar while the queues for the Met went down (no doubt helped by the 10,000 who departed at 80 mins yesterday....at full time it was a disgrace the state of the empty stadium....we are now worse than United used to be and we used to rip them to shit over it)....then got a packed double to Trafford Bar but changed at Deansgate for the relatively empty double from Bury to Altrincham, so not too bad getting back home.
 
Northerndave said:
Paul, you must have been on the same platform at Cornbrook as me at the same time. Got a double from Sale to Cornbrook with 90 mins to go before KO and then waited 20-25+ minutes while trams for every other destination on the network arrived, all the while the platform got busier and busier, including the mysterious terminating here single tram.

Suddenly a double to Ashton announced with 5 mins, when it arrived it was already rammed, luckily got onto one of those standing / seat things.

No specials run to the Etihad as far as I could see yesterday. Took a total of 90 mins to travel 7-8 miles.

Coming back, I waited at the StarBar while the queues for the Met went down (no doubt helped by the 10,000 who departed at 80 mins yesterday....at full time it was a disgrace the state of the empty stadium....we are now worse than United used to be and we used to rip them to shit over it)....then got a packed double to Trafford Bar but changed at Deansgate for the relatively empty double from Bury to Altrincham, so not too bad getting back home.
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Dave it was a disgrace getting to the game by tram yesterday as it always seems to be. Lots of this problem could be alleviated by just running the Altrincham tram directly to the stadium on matchdays. It also eases the queues at St Peters square, the city centre and Piccadilly train station along the way. Increase the frequency from twelve minutes to six minutes in the two hour windows either side of the game. The people who run the system have to be either complete morons, United fans or non football fans. Give the city a transport system that belies its status.
 
staffsblue said:
They did appear to do what you suggested yesterday. I caught a Media City to Ashton tram from Cornbrook yesterday at 13:30ish & easily got a seat. There was a special to the Etihad shown on the departure board 3 mins behind that.
Coming back, I got on a special bound for Trafford Bar, and there was another one heading to the "turnround loop" as we boarded.
I know it is dire sometimes, but it seemed like they planned in extra capacity yesterday.
The ones that currently terminate at Cornbrook are from the Trafford Centre. I understand these will be extended through the city centre shortly to somewhere on the Bury line (Crumpsall?) once the turnback faculties are commissioned.
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You must have got lucky because this was not my experience or @Northerndave either yesterday.
 
I got a taxi from Piccadilly to the ground as the met didn't seem to be bothering with a service.
 
JGL07 said:
The tram service today was the best I can ever remember. After the match we went straight through to the platform.
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No issues there and back today. Walked straight into a special at Cornbrook outward, and had minimal queuing on the return too. Seats in both directions too.
 
staffsblue said:
No issues there and back today. Walked straight into a special at Cornbrook outward, and had minimal queuing on the return too. Seats in both directions too.
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Touched lucky yesterday. Disembarked the Altrincham tram at Cornbrook and after thinking "Oh no!" Seeing nothing on the board for the ground suddenly two direct to the stadium popped up after five minutes. The one I was on was empty so I actually got a seat.
 
Terrible pre match from Ashton yesterday. The board said a tram was coming but it never showed. Eventually everyone piled onto the bus which arrived just before kick off but pretty poor really esp considering there was no announcement
 
paulchapo said:
Touched lucky yesterday. Disembarked the Altrincham tram at Cornbrook and after thinking "Oh no!" Seeing nothing on the board for the ground suddenly two direct to the stadium popped up after five minutes. The one I was on was empty so I actually got a seat.
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As someone who's a regular visitor to Greater Manchester I find the public transport perfectly reasonable. The only thing that needs improving is linking up smart ticketing across trams, buses & trains.
Where I live, the buses stop running at 6pm, the Birmingham trams have been suspended since before Easter because of cracks on the vehicles, and train services are still running at reduced frequencies because of COVID related staff shortages.
I always find it very easy to get around Manchester & in my opinion the public transport is only 2nd to London in the UK
 
staffsblue said:
As someone who's a regular visitor to Greater Manchester I find the public transport perfectly reasonable. The only thing that needs improving is linking up smart ticketing across trams, buses & trains.
Where I live, the buses stop running at 6pm, the Birmingham trams have been suspended since before Easter because of cracks on the vehicles, and train services are still running at reduced frequencies because of COVID related staff shortages.
I always find it very easy to get around Manchester & in my opinion the public transport is only 2nd to London in the UK
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We're kind of getting there but small tweaks could make all the difference, particularly with transport to and from the game. We do have an integrated ticket system called system one. You can buy a ticket that will let you use any bus and tram for £7.50 for a day. You can add trains onto that too for an extra cost.

In other ways we have gone backwards. When I was a kid and teenager buses ran all the time 24/7. You could get a bus Christmas day, indeed one year Manchester transport ran them free of charge. I could go to a club and get a bus home after 2am. They were less frequent than the day and more expensive but it was cheaper than a taxi.
 
paulchapo said:
We're kind of getting there but small tweaks could make all the difference, particularly with transport to and from the game. We do have an integrated ticket system called system one. You can buy a ticket that will let you use any bus and tram for £7.50 for a day. You can add trains onto that too for an extra cost.

In other ways we have gone backwards. When I was a kid and teenager buses ran all the time 24/7. You could get a bus Christmas day, indeed one year Manchester transport ran them free of charge. I could go to a club and get a bus home after 2am. They were less frequent than the day and more expensive but it was cheaper than a taxi.
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In terms of integrated ticketing I was on about being able to tap in and tap out with contactless debit cards or smart phones on all modes of transport & having the daily rate capped as in London, but I understand that's coming to GM next year.
As well as travelling to and from matches, I travel to various leisure centres around GM while I'm up for swims, and find it really easy to navigate my way round, even though I'm not always familiar with the area.
I know GM's public transport may seem sub standard to those that live there, for a visitor it is really user friendly compared to the majority of cities in the UK.
 
paulchapo said:
We're kind of getting there but small tweaks could make all the difference, particularly with transport to and from the game. We do have an integrated ticket system called system one. You can buy a ticket that will let you use any bus and tram for £7.50 for a day. You can add trains onto that too for an extra cost.

In other ways we have gone backwards. When I was a kid and teenager buses ran all the time 24/7. You could get a bus Christmas day, indeed one year Manchester transport ran them free of charge. I could go to a club and get a bus home after 2am. They were less frequent than the day and more expensive but it was cheaper than a taxi.
Click to expand...
The all night bus that I used to get was the 60 that went up Rochdale Road and then down Victoria Avenue. I would get off on the corner and then walk to Alkrington.
The 02.45 hrs bus was best suited for me,as I would come out of Pips/Rotters/Fagin's etc at 02.00/15 hrs and that gave me 30 minutes to get to Piccadilly bus station .
It wasn't far to walk,but me and my pals were all usually pissed up,and our inebriated meandering often meant we just about got the bus before it departed from the city centre.
 
staffsblue said:
In terms of integrated ticketing I was on about being able to tap in and tap out with contactless debit cards or smart phones on all modes of transport & having the daily rate capped as in London, but I understand that's coming to GM next year.
As well as travelling to and from matches, I travel to various leisure centres around GM while I'm up for swims, and find it really easy to navigate my way round, even though I'm not always familiar with the area.
I know GM's public transport may seem sub standard to those that live there, for a visitor it is really user friendly compared to the majority of cities in the UK.
Click to expand...

You can tap in and out on the tram and all buses you can buy a ticket with contactless. No use if you are using them all day though as it's cheaper to buy the day ticket. London transport is unreal cheaper fares and all bus stops display which bus is coming next and how long you have to wait.

If you're using them in the day and especially on the more popular busy routes, especially student areas, they can be okay. At night not so good. My last bus leaves Altrincham at 22:52 rendering it useless if you go for a night out, a show or a night football game as no way can you make it back in time.
 
paulchapo said:
You can tap in and out on the tram and all buses you can buy a ticket with contactless. No use if you are using them all day though as it's cheaper to buy the day ticket. London transport is unreal cheaper fares and all bus stops display which bus is coming next and how long you have to wait.

If you're using them in the day and especially on the more popular busy routes, especially student areas, they can be okay. At night not so good. My last bus leaves Altrincham at 22:52 rendering it useless if you go for a night out, a show or a night football game as no way can you make it back in time.
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Yeah, I regularly tap in and out on the trams, and buy day tickets for the buses, but apparently from next year there's going to be seamless TfL style contactless capped fares across all travel modes in GM allowing passengers to mix & match. Will be a bit of a game changer.
 
blue b4 the moon said:
Noticed when I finally got out of SS3 that when walking to the car there was a bigger queue for Ashton than Manchester...don't think I've ever seen that before.
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They got it right yesterday. All I can say is wow! It's only taken 7 years since the extended South Stand opened...
 
Rather than getting of at Cornbrook I’ve started getting off at Deansgate from the Altrincham line where there is an empty double tram straight to the ground either waiting or arriving within minutes.
 
Been for a few beers in Alty this afternoon and decided to get the tram back to Timperley. Guess what... the tram I'm on is direct to the Etihad for the Ed Sheeran gig.. They can do it when they want to.
 
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