Metrolink to / from Etihad

blue b4 the moon said:
If pushed into a corner I suspect Metrolink will chuck in a design fault/bottleneck on the line in or around Piccadilly.
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In reality this is the issue. The Etihad is just 3 stops from Manchester’s main train station and has the problem of Merrill Street where cars and pedestrians are funnelled alongside the trams whereas the swamp is quite some distance away from Piccadilly/Victoria and the shared road parts are much wider. Adding more trams alone would probably make the situation worse, it needs Merrill Street addressing first.

It’s a pity they didn’t put the tram turnback facility at New Islington with a terminus platform (lose those car parks), instead of just after Piccadilly. Many fans would just walk the two stops to the game from there at about 1 mile. As it is, everyone has to change at PG or the station causing overcrowding on those platforms.

That said, the facilities that come with the new stand might resolve some of the long queues after the game. I think everyone is waiting to see how this all works out before looking at costly public infrastructure changes.
 
HardyBarlow said:
Fair enough, and this isn’t a City/United thing, but I’ve never seen metrolink Increase frequency on the Ashton line specifically for events at the Etihad Campus. Clearly this was the case from Stretford yesterday as Ive seen this before when Stretford are at home. I also use the tram to commute from Stretford and there is never 1 tram every 6 minutes, even in rush hour. Are there trams every 6 minutes to the Etihad, ever?
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As far as I’m aware, the only trams to Ashton on non match days, are the Eccles- Ashton ones.

There’s always been additional ones on match days. I noticed when I used to get on at Deansgste occasionally, that they would have specials lined up on the middle platform, terminating at the ground.

Not sure if they still run, as they regularly seem to run both to Eccles and Altrincham after the game these days, so I assume they come from Alti before the game also.
 
HardyBarlow said:
Fair enough, and this isn’t a City/United thing, but I’ve never seen metrolink Increase frequency on the Ashton line specifically for events at the Etihad Campus. Clearly this was the case from Stretford yesterday as Ive seen this before when Stretford are at home. I also use the tram to commute from Stretford and there is never 1 tram every 6 minutes, even in rush hour. Are there trams every 6 minutes to the Etihad, ever?
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Unless your commute is very early in the morning or very late at night, there is always a 6 minute frequency on the Altrinham line that goes past Stretford.
 
Stephen230 said:
As far as I’m aware, the only trams to Ashton on non match days, are the Eccles- Ashton ones.

There’s always been additional ones on match days. I noticed when I used to get on at Deansgste occasionally, that they would have specials lined up on the middle platform, terminating at the ground.

Not sure if they still run, as they regularly seem to run both to Eccles and Altrincham after the game these days, so I assume they come from Alti before the game also.
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Before 8pm - Eccles-Ashton every 12 mins and Media City to Etihad every 12 mins so a 6 minute service between the two

After 8pm - Eccles - Ashton every 12 mins and Altrincham to Ethad every 12 mins so a 6 minute service betwen the two...

Occasionally there are crowd-buster additional services as well...
 
jockblue said:
Unless your commute is very early in the morning or very late at night, there is always a 6 minute frequency on the Altrinham line that goes past Stretford.
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Yeah, on second thoughts, I looked the frequency on the metrolink website and it said every 12 minutes across the network. Deffo more frequent than that during rush hour on the Alty line.
 
jockblue said:
Before 8pm - Eccles-Ashton every 12 mins and Media City to Etihad every 12 mins so a 6 minute service between the two

After 8pm - Eccles - Ashton every 12 mins and Altrincham to Ethad every 12 mins so a 6 minute service betwen the two...

Occasionally there are crowd-buster additional services as well...
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Was wondering if this was case. Can’t say I’ve ever felt that at cornbrook or getting on at the Etihad. Certainly remember 12 minute waits post match.
 
Citizen of Legoland said:
In reality this is the issue. The Etihad is just 3 stops from Manchester’s main train station and has the problem of Merrill Street where cars and pedestrians are funnelled alongside the trams whereas the swamp is quite some distance away from Piccadilly/Victoria and the shared road parts are much wider. Adding more trams alone would probably make the situation worse, it needs Merrill Street addressing first.

It’s a pity they didn’t put the tram turnback facility at New Islington with a terminus platform (lose those car parks), instead of just after Piccadilly. Many fans would just walk the two stops to the game from there at about 1 mile. As it is, everyone has to change at PG or the station causing overcrowding on those platforms.

That said, the facilities that come with the new stand might resolve some of the long queues after the game. I think everyone is waiting to see how this all works out before looking at costly public infrastructure changes.
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Makes sense re: merrill street.
 
Currently grounded heading towards the Etihad. Three Mets queued up waiting to get into Piccadilly Stn, not moving at all. Been 10 minutes now.

Lots of Fire Engines on the scene. Can’t see what’s gone on though.
 


Lots of people stuck on Mets who aren’t being allowed off to walk though. Shit show!
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
Currently grounded heading towards the Etihad. Three Mets queued up waiting to get into Piccadilly Stn, not moving at all. Been 10 minutes now.

Lots of Fire Engines on the scene. Can’t see what’s gone on though.
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I was on one at Piccadilly Gardens and the driver said a car was stuck on the tracks at Holt Town and all trams were terminating at Piccadilly station.

Dived off and headed over and caught a bus. Was pretty good actually. Hardly any traffic and dropped off right outside the ground. Ended up only missing the first couple of minutes. Thought we were looking at nearer half time than kickoff at one point.
 
Stephen230 said:
I was on one at Piccadilly Gardens and the driver said a car was stuck on the tracks at Holt Town and all trams were terminating at Piccadilly station.

Dived off and headed over and caught a bus. Was pretty good actually. Hardly any traffic and dropped off right outside the ground. Ended up only missing the first couple of minutes. Thought we were looking at nearer half time than kickoff at one point.
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These brainless pricks who drive onto tram tracks should be executed by being strapped into their own car when it gets crushed.
 
Completely useless from Etihad to Picc as usual. Quite early in the Q cos we’re EL1 but stood on the platform for 20mins with some idiotic woman from MetroLink screaming at us. Could/should have walked it quicker but we were in a rush to catch a train, which in the end was cancelled anyway. Whatever wonderful expansions and developments happen at the Etihad, it will still be served by 3rd world infrastructure
 
shnaghaicityfish said:
Completely useless from Etihad to Picc as usual. Quite early in the Q cos we’re EL1 but stood on the platform for 20mins with some idiotic woman from MetroLink screaming at us. Could/should have walked it quicker but we were in a rush to catch a train, which in the end was cancelled anyway. Whatever wonderful expansions and developments happen at the Etihad, it will still be served by 3rd world infrastructure
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That woman is an absolute nightmare, she loves it though, think she'd do it for free.
 
Bluster said:
Abysmal service home tonight. 15/20 minute wait for a tram is ridiculous after a game. If the club want fans to stay until the end they need to work with the council to invest in transport.
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And on top of that when they actually saw fit to produce an Altrincham tram the bloody thing terminated at Timperley where we all had to get off and wait for the next tram

All the trams from the Etihad were going to Media City fat lot of good that is. Got of at Piccadilly Station and waited ages for an Altrincham tram, plenty of Eccles and Media City.

As I have repeatedly stated on here Metrolink is SHIT.
 
Gray said:
And on top of that when they actually saw fit to produce an Altrincham tram the bloody thing terminated at Timperley where we all had to get off and wait for the next tram

All the trams from the Etihad were going to Media City fat lot of good that is. Got of at Piccadilly Station and waited ages for an Altrincham tram, plenty of Eccles and Media City.

As I have repeatedly stated on here Metrolink is SHIT.
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There were none for 15 minutes then two in a minute. Two people on speakers one saying beware of ice and walk slowly at the top and one shouting hurry up the tram is leaving at the bottom. The first tram left - as usual looking like an Indian train on a bad day and then they let the second go half empty. We were on that literally with empty seats as they let it go straight away rather than filling it
 
Gray said:
And on top of that when they actually saw fit to produce an Altrincham tram the bloody thing terminated at Timperley where we all had to get off and wait for the next tram

All the trams from the Etihad were going to Media City fat lot of good that is. Got of at Piccadilly Station and waited ages for an Altrincham tram, plenty of Eccles and Media City.

As I have repeatedly stated on here Metrolink is SHIT.
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At about 2.10pm, before the game today, Mets were all backed up from Piccadilly to Piccadilly Gardens. We were on about the third Met away and were told we’d have to get off at Piccadilly and make our own way to the Etihad because a car was on the tracks between New Islington and Holt Town.

But the Mets weren’t moving and the doors weren’t being opened and we were just stuck on the Met until 2.30pm.

Finally we got off at about 2.35pm and everyone was on a mad dash to the ground. We went past New Islington and saw no such car on the tracks, then when we got to Holt Town we still saw no such car.

Then an empty Met came through and everyone jumped on at Holt Town.

I genuinely think they were on a wind up. It’s an utterly terrible service.

Annoying thing is n’all though is that all the pubs that have closed over the years near the ground add to this issue of shit Mets because everyone is piling on them and going to the ground at the same time. If there were more pubs, there’d be more options to go and drink in and a more spread out time where people are getting to the areas around the stadium (and the same after the game).
 
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