The metro tonight

Here is the response from a Customer Service Manager at Metrolink following a complaint I made following the game on Saturday. I spoke to him on the telephone and he assured me that they are 'passionate' about the service they provide for City fans and that things will be a great deal better following St Peter's Square opening (scheduled prior to the West Ham game). My complaint was about the safety aspect of allowing 300+ passengers to try and cram onto a single tram that is designed to hold 203 maximum. He admitted they have no way of knowing how many people get on the trams at one time. He also admitted that a queuing system designed to stop overcrowding on platforms wasn't in place on Saturday - he promised to investigate. Here is the text of his email for anyone interested:

My name is Steve Mabey, Customer Network Manager at RATP Metrolink.

Having read through your comments I would like to try and answer your complaint. Whilst we do plan all Football Events in advance as Jo rightfully said this is dependant on various factors including availability of Fleet, Drivers and the vehicles required to operate on the other lines. We currently find ourselves in a situation whereby we have only one depot in which to fleet services from for the Etihad, until the re-opening of St. Peters Square. The space available on this depot is limited and we currently have just enough space in order to provide a service to Ashton, Rochdale and Bury Lines.

I can assure you that every effort is made to move passengers as quickly as possible following any special event. I am 100% certain that you will see a vast improvement following the re-opening of St. Peters Square, which is scheduled before the next premier league game at the Etihad.

I would also like to point out that we do have a turn back facility just past the Etihad Campus, this sometimes leads to passengers seeing a number of "Out Of Service" vehicles running through the platform toward Ashton, and coming to the conclusion that we only send our special services back towards Manchester. This is not the case and is merely a normal service pattern that we deliver on a daily basis. We send special service to the platforms where demand is the highest, this being monitored live from our control room via CCTV.

Please accept my apologies for the shortfall in service whilst the works in the city centre are completed. As I earlier said I am certain that once we are able to run across the city centre, this will provide a greater capacity and flexibility to our service.

I also emailed the Head of Safety and Security at the Club but haven't had any response as yet.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
Here is the response from a Customer Service Manager at Metrolink following a complaint I made following the game on Saturday. I spoke to him on the telephone and he assured me that they are 'passionate' about the service they provide for City fans and that things will be a great deal better following St Peter's Square opening (scheduled prior to the West Ham game). My complaint was about the safety aspect of allowing 300+ passengers to try and cram onto a single tram that is designed to hold 203 maximum. He admitted they have no way of knowing how many people get on the trams at one time. He also admitted that a queuing system designed to stop overcrowding on platforms wasn't in place on Saturday - he promised to investigate. Here is the text of his email for anyone interested:

My name is Steve Mabey, Customer Network Manager at RATP Metrolink.

Having read through your comments I would like to try and answer your complaint. Whilst we do plan all Football Events in advance as Jo rightfully said this is dependant on various factors including availability of Fleet, Drivers and the vehicles required to operate on the other lines. We currently find ourselves in a situation whereby we have only one depot in which to fleet services from for the Etihad, until the re-opening of St. Peters Square. The space available on this depot is limited and we currently have just enough space in order to provide a service to Ashton, Rochdale and Bury Lines.

I can assure you that every effort is made to move passengers as quickly as possible following any special event. I am 100% certain that you will see a vast improvement following the re-opening of St. Peters Square, which is scheduled before the next premier league game at the Etihad.

I would also like to point out that we do have a turn back facility just past the Etihad Campus, this sometimes leads to passengers seeing a number of "Out Of Service" vehicles running through the platform toward Ashton, and coming to the conclusion that we only send our special services back towards Manchester. This is not the case and is merely a normal service pattern that we deliver on a daily basis. We send special service to the platforms where demand is the highest, this being monitored live from our control room via CCTV.

Please accept my apologies for the shortfall in service whilst the works in the city centre are completed. As I earlier said I am certain that once we are able to run across the city centre, this will provide a greater capacity and flexibility to our service.

I also emailed the Head of Safety and Security at the Club but haven't had any response as yet.
Click to expand...
The MEN report that St Peters Sq re-opens to trams in a fortnight although this is just the original line. Still a milestone event.
 
Hello,

Apologies if this isn't the thread to do it, but what do people think is the best way to get from Middleton/Rhodes to the Etihad, as I've just moved house there. Particularly evening games which are of most importance for me as there's not as much time between work and kick off.

I'm looking at either...

A) Park up near a Metrolink station (Bowker Vale or Heaton Park probably) straight from work, and get the tram in to Etihad, Tram back from Velo to there and drive the rest of the way home?

B) Just drive there and park somewhere near the ground.

C) Basically just option A, but a bit closer/less tram.

...Would probably be getting the tram about 6pm at the earliest. B would be the preference, but I recall plenty of horror stories about the roads being awful of an evening trying to get remotely close to the Etihad.

Cheers,
 
Saddleworth2 said:
Here is the response from a Customer Service Manager at Metrolink following a complaint I made following the game on Saturday. I spoke to him on the telephone and he assured me that they are 'passionate' about the service they provide for City fans and that things will be a great deal better following St Peter's Square opening (scheduled prior to the West Ham game). My complaint was about the safety aspect of allowing 300+ passengers to try and cram onto a single tram that is designed to hold 203 maximum. He admitted they have no way of knowing how many people get on the trams at one time. He also admitted that a queuing system designed to stop overcrowding on platforms wasn't in place on Saturday - he promised to investigate. Here is the text of his email for anyone interested:

My name is Steve Mabey, Customer Network Manager at RATP Metrolink.

Having read through your comments I would like to try and answer your complaint. Whilst we do plan all Football Events in advance as Jo rightfully said this is dependant on various factors including availability of Fleet, Drivers and the vehicles required to operate on the other lines. We currently find ourselves in a situation whereby we have only one depot in which to fleet services from for the Etihad, until the re-opening of St. Peters Square. The space available on this depot is limited and we currently have just enough space in order to provide a service to Ashton, Rochdale and Bury Lines.

I can assure you that every effort is made to move passengers as quickly as possible following any special event. I am 100% certain that you will see a vast improvement following the re-opening of St. Peters Square, which is scheduled before the next premier league game at the Etihad.

I would also like to point out that we do have a turn back facility just past the Etihad Campus, this sometimes leads to passengers seeing a number of "Out Of Service" vehicles running through the platform toward Ashton, and coming to the conclusion that we only send our special services back towards Manchester. This is not the case and is merely a normal service pattern that we deliver on a daily basis. We send special service to the platforms where demand is the highest, this being monitored live from our control room via CCTV.

Please accept my apologies for the shortfall in service whilst the works in the city centre are completed. As I earlier said I am certain that once we are able to run across the city centre, this will provide a greater capacity and flexibility to our service.

I also emailed the Head of Safety and Security at the Club but haven't had any response as yet.
Click to expand...
I work for a sister company of the owners of Metrolink. Swap the names of places on there and that's a standard template reply for other businesses they run.
 
The strange thing is club and the fans go mental for people leaving early. We have no choice, if you have kids with you and need to get to south Manchester if you wait till full time you may as well book a hotel room in Manchester it's less stressful.

The roads cannot cope. Coppers don't control and help the traffic flow. At Maine road they used to do this....

There is simply no priority given to 55,000 people trying to get away from the ground. It's like it's a fuckin surprise to gmp, city, metrolink, busses and the council every week.

Tried bus, tram even more stressful. I have tried waiting half hour for traffic to clear.its even fucking worse then.
 
Fowlers Penalty Miss said:
I sympathise with you, as I had to endure that pathetic excuse of a mass transport system last season.

I only used it because the Mancunian Way was down to one lane, but now it's up and running again, I drove to the game. There and back in half an hour or so from Bowdon.

2 missed games, countless kick-offs missed, numerous post midnight hometimes after midweek games for a journey of 10 miles (16 Km ).

Jeez, it couldn't even get us to the ground on time to see Bruce Springsteen!

I could have walked home on some nights faster than that pile of shit managed.

I will never, ever, use it again.
Click to expand...
There must have been a thousand people waiting for the tram in Piccadilly on the Springsteen concert evening. I told anyone that would listen to walk it.
 
I drive to the games now, would only use the tram if I'm going on a bender and happy to arrive at the ground a couple of hours before kick off, and to leave at least 2 hours after it's finished!
 
ANewBlue said:
Hello,

Apologies if this isn't the thread to do it, but what do people think is the best way to get from Middleton/Rhodes to the Etihad, as I've just moved house there. Particularly evening games which are of most importance for me as there's not as much time between work and kick off.

I'm looking at either...

A) Park up near a Metrolink station (Bowker Vale or Heaton Park probably) straight from work, and get the tram in to Etihad, Tram back from Velo to there and drive the rest of the way home?

B) Just drive there and park somewhere near the ground.

C) Basically just option A, but a bit closer/less tram.

...Would probably be getting the tram about 6pm at the earliest. B would be the preference, but I recall plenty of horror stories about the roads being awful of an evening trying to get remotely close to the Etihad.

Cheers,
Click to expand...
There's a coach run from The Lancashire Fold. See if you can get on that. Think there's one from The Albion as well. Both might already be full but worth asking.
 
Thanks Pablo. I'll have an ask.

Looking at this, now leaning towards just driving somewhere near!
 
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