Metrolink..

[WNRH]

One issue with the metrolink’s poor performance is there is no circle line to connect the ten boroughs.

All transport is geared towards alighting at or passing through Piccadilly then everyone is on the same line to the ground which is shared by walkers, cars, busses and taxis.

Yes they could improve things by adding a few extra trams but the system is not suitable for handling large crowds which for a supposed international city is a shambles.

It’s bemusing how they spend billions on the airport and then when they have attracted them here provide them with an awful inter city transport system.

 

[Roberto Manciti]

It is a different "they" who invested in the airport. The Terminal 2 redevelopment is fully financed by Manchester Airports Group (MAG) on commercial terms. It was all costed and planned long before Covid annihilated passenger demand ... it would never be approved today, so we're fortunate that so much got done before the crisis hit. BTW, the "Transformation Plan" at Manchester Airport was costed at £1Bn, not billions plural.

Funding for Metrolink development comes from a totally different pot. The investments are not interchangeable with inhouse development funds at the airport business.

 

[WNRH]

It is a different "they" who invested in the airport. The Terminal 2 redevelopment is fully financed by Manchester Airports Group (MAG) on commercial terms. It was all costed and planned long before Covid annihilated passenger demand ... it would never be approved today, so we're fortunate that so much got done before the crisis hit. BTW, the "Transformation Plan" at Manchester Airport was costed at £1Bn, not billions plural.

Funding for Metrolink development comes from a totally different pot. The investments are not interchangeable with inhouse development funds at the airport business.

They is a collective they rather than an individual. The ten GM borough councils own over half of MAG and whilst the funding may come from different pots and avenues for their projects, they are actively seeking billions (plural) with the £1bn Terminal 2 and close to a billion Airport City.

Im not saying they shouldn’t seek investment of this kind as both projects will be a major assets to Greater Manchester but it’s akin to building a billion pound stadium and having a league two standard team and staff operating.

Fans from Rochdale, Oldham, Tameside and Stockport could get to the stadium on a circle line if one existed leaving the Piccadilly lines free for fans from Trafford, Salford, Wigan and Bolton.

 

[manchester blue]

One issue with the metrolink’s poor performance is there is no circle line to connect the ten boroughs.

All transport is geared towards alighting at or passing through Piccadilly then everyone is on the same line to the ground which is shared by walkers, cars, busses and taxis.

Yes they could improve things by adding a few extra trams but the system is not suitable for handling large crowds which for a supposed international city is a shambles.

It’s bemusing how they spend billions on the airport and then when they have attracted them here provide them with an awful inter city transport system.

It's not designed to shift people. It's designed to look European in pictures. Look where it goes through town. It's nothing more than a vanity project. If there was a single competent person involved they could shift the queues in minutes but they could not give less of a shit.

 

[paulchapo]

It's not just the games that their incompetence shines. The ticket machines in Altrincham are hardly ever working. Last night was the same. I tried that tap in/tap out thing with my credit card and I have no idea if it worked or not. Approaching Trafford bar two East Didsbury trams went past one behind the other and the board said the next one was in seventeen minutes. I carried on to Cornbrook as Trafford bar isn't the most pleasant station to wait at. When it turned up it was a small unit that was packed solid. As I got off in Didsbury another tram was pulling in empty, so it looked like they had two running simultaneously again. The board didn't show that though so everybody piled into the already full tram. You couldn't make it up. Who is responsible for this absolute shit show???

 

[kippax_blueboy]

It's not just the games that their incompetence shines. The ticket machines in Altrincham are hardly ever working. Last night was the same. I tried that tap in/tap out thing with my credit card and I have no idea if it worked or not. Approaching Trafford bar two East Didsbury trams went past one behind the other and the board said the next one was in seventeen minutes. I carried on to Cornbrook as Trafford bar isn't the most pleasant station to wait at. When it turned up it was a small unit that was packed solid. As I got off in Didsbury another tram was pulling in empty, so it looked like they had two running simultaneously again. The board didn't show that though so everybody piled into the already full tram. You couldn't make it up. Who is responsible for this absolute shit show???

 

[Marvin]

I don't use the Metrolink. I think I have caught about 3 since they came to Manchester. I rely on buses and walking. Manchester city centre is very small but very busy. I walk from one side of the city centre, to the Etihad, which is not in the city centre in 50 minutes, and if I am pushed for time, I'll get a bus. Latterly that has become impossible as the services to the Etihad are much reduced.

I spend a lot of time in Leeds now. Leeds is quite similar in its architecture, some lovely Victorian squares but a lot steeper than Manchester. It has a train station and a river at its centre, and then to the North it rises sharply. It's hard work walking it. But it is a complete ghost-town compared to Manchester. I'll get the train from Leeds to Manchester, hardly pass anyone in Leeds, get into Manchester and the place is thronging. Leeds is just not viable as a City. It's businesses are going to close down. It's university is a 1960s eye-sore. Horrendous. Not a nice place to be and it compares very poorly with its counterpart in Manchester. I have learned to appreciate Manchester by visiting Leeds. Leeds is absolute backwater but Manchester is cosmopolitan and just full of people, I never realised this until I experienced another City.

If I were the City planners I would continue with the City centre developments. I love the skyscrapers, at least those that are built well. I live right in the City centre, and I love it. Transport to the Etihad and across Manchester isn't a problem for me, I can just walk it. It's why I moved here in the first place. I don't want to waste time travelling. But if I was living out in Stockport or Altrincham etc I can see why you would be fed up with travel. You can't walk it. Cars are no go for Manchester so you need a good transport system. I would very seriously consider e-scooters if I was living just outside Manchester. A lot of young people use them, or e-bikes. Maybe we should be trying the hire bikes that got trashed and thrown in the Irwell again. We need something. It would help if people got out of their cars and walked. Seriously we have an obesity problem in this country, a massive one. When you get to your 60s, you will sense the end of your life, and losing dead weight is the single most important thing you can do to extend your life, and the best way to shift it is to walk everywhere. That's why you were built with two legs. Use them.

 

[Blue Mist]

As a side issue. The tram stops are filthy. The stairs at Sale station don't seem to have been cleaned since it was a train line. Little or no money is spent on the stops with pigeons and the subsequent shit everywhere.

 

[Marvin]

As a side issue. The tram stops are filthy. The stairs at Sale station don't seem to have been cleaned since it was a train line. Little or no money is spent on the stops with pigeons and the subsequent shit everywhere.

That has reminded me of something. Leeds has an infestation of rabbits. Manchester seems to have an infestation of squirrels. Both City's are blighted by the rat on wings, the pigeon. I walk out of Leeds station and cross the first square and it always amuses me to see this fantastic statue of some medieval knight. It's really-life like and yet always completed covered with pigeons.

Why do pigeons make their home in cities in huge numbers but you see them much more rarely in small towns and villages? At my Mum and Dads which is in the High Peak, the birds that flock or appear in large numbers together are crows and starlings. Both seek detritus. Crows, and magpies seem to be clever, whilst pigeons with their stupid bobbing heads seem stupid. The crow, raven and magpie seem much more inquisitive to me. I like them. Don't like pigeons.

 

[Marvin]

And then there's the strange population of geese near City on the Metrolink line. They seem to have made the canal their home yet they spend their time eating grass. They are always there but nowhere else? Weird.