TRANSPORT | General (Non Metrolink)

[b4mmy]

Originally Posted by rolybling

I know I know, I've been there and seen them, me saying "all the rage" wasn't meant like its a new thing there, I'm glad they are introducing them more here though, like Longford said there's some on the M6 J9 or 10, it's good they have put some on the M60, about bleeding time, they should work wonders.

I'm on the Manchester Skybar rollout....

[Sir Miles Platting]

Originally Posted by rolybling

I know I know, I've been there and seen them, me saying "all the rage" wasn't meant like its a new thing there, I'm glad they are introducing them more here though, like Longford said there's some on the M6 J9 or 10, it's good they have put some on the M60, about bleeding time, they should work wonders.

Sorry roly, I shouldn't have been too jumpy.
It's time I removed this sour pickle from up me shitter....

[rolybling]

Nay problem at all Sir Miles, this interweb thingy can often cause crossed wires

[Isaac Newell]

Remember when they had these arrow signs on London Road. Will they eventually stick them on the M60 ?

[Latic]

An article in the MEN states that the direct services to Gatwick and Brighton maybe scrapped from November.

However the good news for all of you with Saddleworth connections is that the massive transport hub that is Greenfield station (complete with porta-cabin ticket office, 5 parking spaces and a bus stop) will see a Sunday service starting in December stopping at all stationsbetween Hiudersfield and Victoria.

[Metrolink]

Read and absurb - specifically the bit in bold.

http://www.gmpta.gov.uk/latest_news_....asp?newsid=41

Latest News« Back

Greater Manchester takes major step to securing more investment and control over public transport
The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) is set to start preliminary investigations into accessing money from the government's new Transport Innovation Fund (TIF), which is worth up to £1billion to the conurbation.

Local authorities can submit bids to TIF for major investment in trams, buses, road and rail, on the precondition that they look at inventive and innovative ways to tackle congestion, including congestion charging.

Greater Manchester's ten local authorities are working together to investigate the impact which congestion is having on the city region economy and where significant investment is needed in the transport system. AGMA has agreed that four robust tests (see notes to editors) need to be passed. There will be a full and detailed scrutiny, by a panel of independent business leaders and academic experts.

AGMA plans to submit a bid to the first round of TIF, which has a deadline of July 2007.

Leader of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, Lord Peter Smith, said: "We are the best performing economic region outside South East England. We want our successful economy to continue to grow and we believe that more than 200,000 extra jobs can be created over the next 10 years.

"For this to happen we need excellent transport and we need to secure significant investment in our transport systems, TIF will help us to achieve this."

Chair of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, Councillor Roger Jones, said: "It is vital we continue to enhance the economy of Greater Manchester, and for that to happen, we must secure greater influence over the way in which our public transport services are delivered.

"We have a long-established stance concerning congestion charging and road pricing, and that stance has not altered."

Leader of Manchester City Council and Deputy Leader of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, Sir Richard Leese, said: "We must ensure that inadequate public transport is not a barrier to the region's economic growth. At the same time if congestion is costing us jobs we need to tackle it. We do not oppose congestion charging in principle and if we, the public and businesses agree that it is necessary to keep Manchester moving, we will use it. However, we will not be looking at crude zoning like that in London."

A detailed report by officers concerning the TIF investigations is being considered by AGMA leaders who will meet on Friday September 29.

[The Longford]

Who is betting this was a UK North bus?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/6105390.stm

Oh what a surprise it was!

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...._to_death.html

[Metrolink]

18/12/2006 11:19


Department for Transport (North West)

Government invests £213m to improve local transport in the north west



People in the North West will benefit from £213 million to improve local transport in the region, Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander announced today.

The investment is part of the Local Transport Capital Settlement given to local authorities each year to help them deliver transport improvements in their communities.

The money will fund a range of improvements, including new road safety measures, better street lighting, road maintenance, park and ride facilities and cycle lanes.

The North West will also benefit from £13.2 million through a specific road safety grant, announced last year. The grant means more money and flexibility for local authorities to deliver safer roads.

This year's investment delivers funding for 2007/08. Some of this year's money is awarded according to the performance of local authorities in delivering better transport over the first five year Local Transport Plan period. Another part is based on the quality of their plans to improve transport over the next five years.

This investment is in addition to the indicative funding for major transport projects in the North West for 2007/08 and 2008/09, worth £236 million, which was announced earlier this year as part of the Regional Funding Allocation process.

Douglas Alexander said:

"The Government has invested more than £9 billion in local transport across the country over the last six years. The improvements made with this money have benefited passengers, motorists and local businesses across the country.

"We have seen sustained progress in reducing local road casualties. The condition of many local road networks is improving. Better infrastructure for buses, cyclists and pedestrians has been put in place so local transport is making a contribution to more sustainable development and economic growth."

The Department reviewed the delivery of the first Local Transport Plans, which local authorities produced for 2001/02 to 2005/06. One example of the success in the North West highlighted in the review is the £32 million Quality Bus Corridor Network in Greater Manchester, which has provided substantial benefits to local bus passengers through new bus lanes and other improvements.

This announcement confirms the last four years of a ten year investment programme in public transport in Bolton and Wigan.

Integrated transport allocations totalling £1,769 million across the country for 2008/09 to 2010/11, subject only to next year's spending review, are included in today's announcement.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Today's investment is part of £1.25 billion nationally, which includes £683 million for highways capital maintenance and £571 million for smaller transport improvement schemes.

The central road safety grant of £110 million was announced in December 2005. It meant that cameras would be looked at as part of overall road safety plans, and replaced the previous system of funding safety cameras with fines. The original press notice can be found here.

Of the funding for highways capital maintenance, £634 million is being distributed formulaically. The remaining £49 million is being allocated in response to specific bids. These include bids for major maintenance and bridge strengthening on the primary route network and, for smaller authorities, bids for exceptional maintenance schemes.

The first Local Transport Plans (LTPs) were submitted in 2000 by all English local transport authorities outside London, containing an integrated transport strategy for their area and a costed programme of measures to improve local transport over the period 2001/02 to 2005/06. The Department has assessed the delivery of these plans against local and national objectives. In the North West, Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority and Halton Borough Council were assessed as delivering excellent performance. More detailed results of the review can be found here.

The second LTPs were submitted in March 2006, and have also been assessed by the Department. The attached table shows the 2007/08 allocations announced today for each of the local transport authorities in the North West and the assessment of their plans:





North West Funding Quality
Local Authority Allocations of 2nd
(£000s) Local
Transport
Plan
Integrated Maintenance Overall
Transport
Improvements
Blackburn with 1,830 1,960 3,790 Good
Darwen
Blackpool 2,225 868 3,093 Good
Cheshire 8,301 14,636 22,937 Fair
Cumbria 5,256 18,879 24,135 Fair
Greater 46,385 28,921 75,306 Good
Manchester
(Joint Plan)
Halton 1,958 2,192 4,150 Excellent
Lancashire 11,961 15,681 27,642 Good
Merseyside 36,504 10,028 46,532 Excellent
(Joint Plan)
Warrington 2,064 3,493 5,557 Good





Full details of individual local authority LTP allocations and performance throughout England are available on the Department's website.

Some examples of imrpovements paid for with money provided over the first LTP period include:

* Workwise and Joblink in Merseyside and Salford Local Link in Greater Manchester - projects which have supported the areas' regeneration by creating essential transport links (such as flexible minibuses) to employment.

* Chester Home Zone - £650,000 project (£140,000 of which is LTP money) to regenerate a residential neighbourhood through traffic calming, parking bays, lower speed limits and other measures.

* Rural Wheels demand responsive service in Cumbria, improving rural bus accessibility using commercial and voluntary transport, combined with smartcard technology.

* Liverpool City Council has used LTP money to fund the development of award winning work on pedestrian routes in the city centre.

* Bolton 4u - a Mobility and Access project investing £500,000 in providing access for the disabled to key local services and facilities, including the Royal Bolton Hospital.

* Silver Jubilee Bridge - an £8.5m major maintenance project in Halton to upgrade a Grade 2 listed structure to meet modern standards, using innovative and groundbreaking techniques. This work will continue into the second LTP period.

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT BY GNN NORTH WEST

Press releases from DfT can be viewed on http://www.gnn.gov.uk

Department for Transport Great Minster House 76 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DR

Client ref DFT/NW/071/2006

GNN ref 142152P

[jrb]

£75m earmarked for city transport work

GREATER Manchester will get more than £75m from the government for transport improvements next year.

The cash is part of the annual local transport capital settlement which this year has given £213m to the north west and £1.25bn nationally.

It will be used for improvements including road safety measures, street lighting, road maintenance, park-and-ride facilities and cycle lanes.

The north west will also get £13.2m through a road safety grant, announced last year to replace the system of funding speed cameras through income from fines. In Greater Manchester, £46.3m will go on transport measures and another £28.9m on road maintenance.

The county has been awarded an extra £4.5m because its local transport plan - produced for all 10 districts - has been judged "good" by Department for Transport experts.

But the decision includes criticism of the councils' approach to tackling traffic problems. It says: "The congestion elements of the plan remain disappointing both in quality of analysis and related targets.

Congestion

"Given that congestion is a key issue across the conurbation and for the local transport plan, it is not given the weight in the plan it deserves."

The Department for Transport has praise for the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority's £32m Quality Bus Corridor network, which it says "has provided substantial benefits to local bus passengers".

Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "The government has invested more than £9bn in local transport across the country over the last six years. The improvements made with this money have benefited passengers, motorists and local businesses across the country. We have seen sustained progress in reducing local road casualties.

"The condition of many local road networks is improving. Better infrastructure for buses, cyclists and pedestrians has been put in place so local transport is making a contribution to more sustainable development and economic growth."

Stockport gets the lion's share of the maintenance budget (more than £6m), and Trafford gets the least (just under £1.5m).

[Isaac Newell]

I can just imagine what it will be wasted on.

[Norb]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/6204717.stm

RESULT

[The Longford]

Originally Posted by Norb

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/6204717.stm

RESULT

Good!

[jrb]

One hundred of 130 of the drivers at UK North are Polish the hearing was told many had a poor understanding of English.

That's a disgrace. I nearly choked on my kielbasa when I heard that.

[Gavin]

This means about half of the buses running the very important wilmslow road services over christmas are being removed. In turn this is likely to lead to more poeple fighting over taxis or risking driving when drunk.
Although i accept that UK North buses are old and some of the drivers have not the best english, the timing of the ban defies logic to me.
It would not surprise me if this indirectly leads to an increase in injuries, fights and possibly deaths through people choosing to drive instead, walk home alone or battle for a taxi.

[The Longford]

Originally Posted by Gavin

This means about half of the buses running the very important wilmslow road services over christmas are being removed. In turn this is likely to lead to more poeple fighting over taxis or risking driving when drunk.
Although i accept that UK North buses are old and some of the drivers have not the best english, the timing of the ban defies logic to me.
It would not surprise me if this indirectly leads to an increase in injuries, fights and possibly deaths through people choosing to drive instead, walk home alone or battle for a taxi.

At this time of the year all the students have gone home to mummsies and daddykins house. The Wilmslow Road corridor is more than covered in buses and when the students go home it is bliss.
They wont be missed i assure you. Besides they dont run at the times you worry about - they are GMPTE subsidised night services.
I would go so far as saying that Wilmslow Road services will run better without UK North clogging up the routes. If they are not killing people they are usually sat at Owens Park for ages waiting to nab as many bodies as possible.
Good riddance to bad rubbish IMO.

[jrb]

No UK North buses outside COMS tonight after the game.

BTW. If anyones still looking for a turkey don't worry. We've got eleven at Citeh.

[jrb]

The mind f***ing boggles.



Vandals hack at bridge

THE M60 was closed for three hours last night after vandals tried to hack down a suspension bridge.

A member of the public alerted police that one of the 20 steel cables which suspend a footbridge over the motorway had been severely damaged.

A number of strands of the cable had been severed, although the cable remained intact.

Police closed the motorway between junctions seven and eight at 8pm. It was re-opened at 11pm after engineers decided the bridge remained safe.

However, the Mersey Valley footbridge will remains closed until the damage is repaired.

It was one of two suspension bridge erected over the M60 in Sale as part of a £102m motorway widening scheme completed in 2005.

The second footbridge, which leads to Sale Water Park, has not been damaged and remains open.

Precautionary

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said: "The motorway was closed as a precautionary measure by the police after damage was found to the steel cables supporting the footbridge.

"The Highways Agency sent a bridge inspector along to check what the position was and it is a clear act of vandalism.

"The footbridge will remain closed for some time while it is repaired. It is too early to say how long that will take but it's likely to be an expensive exercise.

"It was built as part of the recent improvements to the M60 between junctions five and eight.

"It is supported by 20 steel cables which are made up of smaller strands which are woven together like rope.

"The vandals have cut through some of the strands but fortunately not enough to affect the integrity of the bridge and make it unsafe for traffic to drive under it. They are built to withstand any damage that might come their way. They are very strong."

Police are investigating the incident.

[The Longford]

Oh come on! Didnt we all hack away at cables on suspension bridges when we were kids? Just youthful high jinx!

[The Longford]

GOOD!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/6279405.stm


Bus companies banned from roads

The bus companies have been permanently taken off the road
Two Manchester bus firms banned from the roads over safety issues have been ordered to stop operating permanently.
UK North and GM Buses, which share the same owner, were initially banned on 22 December over serious concerns about the safety of their drivers.

Both firms had their licences revoked for financial reasons and UK North has gone into administration.

Investigations by the Traffic Commissioner into the safety of buses and driver training are ongoing.

The investigation followed an inquiry into the death of a man in a bus accident in November.

Sign writer Martin Pilling, of East Moor Road, Worsley, Salford, was in the basket of a cherry picker when it was hit by a UK North bus on Wilmslow Road in Rusholme on 1 November.


Martin Pilling died after he was struck by a bus in November

The 27-year-old fell in front of the double decker bus and died at the scene.

The UK North depot was examined three days later and concerns were raised over the safety of the vehicles and the amount of training the drivers had received.

This led to a public hearing in December where North West traffic commissioner Beverley Bell expressed concern over the safety of the firm's Polish drivers.

The hearing was told that 100 of the 130 drivers at UK North were Polish and that many had a poor understanding of English.

During the hearing Ms Bell, who works as an independent regulator for the passenger transport industry, claimed she was not convinced the drivers had been properly trained.

She made the ruling on Friday, after spending time weighing up the evidence.

The bus companies will be allowed to appeal her decision.

[Manchester Planner]

Excellent - Oxford Road will be safer! Actually I've noticed the difference already with no red UK North buses hurtling down the road.