Face it and accept it GMPTE. They keep going on about congestion charge and how Manchester will have a better transport system than London so here our some facts. 1. London has a superb mainline railway station linking up to near enough every major City in the UK. We have crappy Manchester Victoria in which you the council are to stubborn to inject some cash to upgrade. 2. Near enough most places in London are covered by a Tube station or railway station. Manchester keeps putting off plans to open old railway stations such as Diggle due to lack of funds. 3. The Metrolink is expensive and un relibable unlike the Tube which is pretty decent. 4. London buses are cheaper than Manchester and run faster, have more serives at weekend and nights. Our are ran by First never turn up on time keep increasing the fares. This is the reason i wont be voting for the congestion charge will make no difference.
1. I can't think of any major city trains from London or Manchester don't go to. 2. I think Leigh needs a railway station 3. The Metrolink is expensive but no more so than the tube and the tube is a disgrace. 4. Prices are the same and it's pretty reasonable when I've used them in Manchester (better than London)
Are you from Leigh? I'm from near there and the transport links into manchester are pathetic. The buses take forever to get into town and they are completely unreliable - you never know what time they're going to show up, if at all. A train station would be great but it'll never happen.
Am I right in thinking the Manchester congestion charge would cover the M60? That's what I've been told by my mates from up there... Also, London has several mainline stations. It's annoying as hell trying to get to the right one (saying that, from St. Pancras you can get the underground to just about everywhere) and London buses are sloooooowww through the city
No. I'm from London and moved to Salford last year for uni. From where I live in London it's pretty easy to get to most mainline stations (tube permitting)
I don't understand the congestion charge , if we have to pay extra for a congestion charge what is the point in paying for road tax? They may aswell put the road tax up a bit. If you pay you're tax then surely you are able to use any road in the country.
Absaloutly spot on mate, the transport network in Manchester is nothing short of a disgrace, it has just taken me 1 hour to drive back from Hyde which is 5 miles away. At this moment in time everything in the eastern side of the city is at a complete standstill, trains are overcrowded, traffic is stretching about 15 miles going into the city, busses are stuck in the traffic, theres a better tram network in Sheffield than in Manchester, railways lines are not being re-opned, like the one that runs between Gorton and Trafford via Chortlon and Fallowfield The woman waiting for the bus with me on Saturday night summed it up, "If they want us to pay the congestion charge at least build a decent public transport network" At the end of the day it sums up the world we live in today where people care more about money than human life. We're slaves to the pound, what I have had to put up with today would be unacceptable not just anywhere in Western Europe, but 3rd world countries like India
Wheres that James May clip summing up the London Congestion Charge.... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir5l_G86RCY&feature=related
The 'yes' lobby would have you believe that all these issues will be solved with the introduction of the world's largest congestion charge zone. The £3 billion Tif money will be spent on bus routes, Metrolink extensions and cycle lanes. All measures that should be provided anyway since we pay tax at the same rate as everyone else. The truth is that the Tif money will be of no benefit to the vast majority of those in and around Manchester, and a huge chunk of it will be wasted on the technology needed to police the C charge. There's a referendum in December, but naturally the question won't be simply 'Do you want a C charge - yes or no', instead it will be weighted in favour of the 'yes' campaign. Anyone voting in favour either never leaves the house or is an imbecile in my humble opinion.
Er, wasn't London's congestion charge deemed a success? I know manchester is not london but it's the same basic principle. Isn't it?
By whom? No it isn't. Manchester is being blackmailed by the government; no C charge no Tif grant. If the C charge is implemented the government will hand over £1.2 billion in grants, and give the council permission to borrow a further £1.8 billion, a loan funded by the C charge. London is currently spending £10 billion on the cross London rail link, all funded by the government, or more precisely the taxpayer. The nub of this whole scam is pretty obvious, if the public transport 'improvements' were successful then nobody would pay the C charge. The fact that the repayments on a £1.8 billion loan depend on money gathered from the C charge is an admission that the public transport changes won't stop congestion . . .
Its just an excuse to get more money out of people who work there. If they want people to use public transport then make it better and more reliable. How come our tax money can pay for the 'London' Olypmics, or to fund 'Scottish' universities, or less well off countries in the EU, but its not enough to have a decent transport system without having to top it up with a congestion charge?
if you take, Oldham, Tameside, Stockport, Altrincham, Salford, Bury and Bolton out the equation you have a city the same size as Sheffield which as I stated before has a better transport system
This is a tough one to call. On the positive side for the introduction of the CC is that because Manchester is such a small city centre but employs literally thousands of people from a much wider area, buses and the metrolink are cluttering up the city centre. By introducing the charge we may then be able to free up space and give more road space to alternate transport rather than shoppers and day trippers coming in by car. That in itself would ensure people like my daughter would not be travelling the 8 miles in one and a half hours and mostly getting warned about her lateness(her bosses should run the traffic plans for Greater Manchester, they claim they are never late for work, they drive cars) But on the negative side the money collected from car users will be in part be used to improve the quality of transport terminals in the city. That means places like Bolton, Glossop, Rochdale and other towns that make up the transport network will never see an improvement in their railway stations. Bolton is as Tom(GMBEE) would probably agree the most neglected railway station in Britain. And this is a town of 300,000+ people. Also we are told that extra carriages will be laid on by Northern trains and Arriva. True. But then the trains will become less frequent. All in all I am undecided and so therefore I would leave any referendum to those who have a clear indication of what they want. But now on another note. TOM. I thought you travelled into Manchester Piccadilly station on a regular basis. I think you must wear bliknkers. Manchester Piccadilly has direct trains to every city in the UK. You can of course catch trains where you have to change but if you want direct trains then you reserve your seat(s) on those trains Also the facilities on Piccadilly station are absolutely superb. No less than superb.
the problem is if you live in Oldham or Rochdale and you want to get a train in, it goes into Victoria meaning you have to cross the city. My major gripe is the lack of links to important places, for example the Trafford Centre is only accesable by bus which uses the congested roads, Meadowhall is accesable by both tram and train from Sheffield City Centre. They built the City of Manchester Stadium with the promise that there would be a Metrolink, 5 years down the line and there are hundreds of people stranded outside Piccadilly station waiting to get back from the match
But thats not the fault of the GMPTE Tommy. Thats because as we have all discussed some 6 months ago the fault of the Government. Manchesters Commonwealth games was a fabulous success and was hailed so around the Commonwelath countries. On the back of this achievement led London to believe it could win the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games and they won that right. So then the government took back the 6 billion pounds(for the transport system in London) that it had promised GMPTE for new metro lines and better facilties for all commuters. So Manchesters own success has cost them dearly. But now a lot of the money is being poured back in becaaue of the growth in the city and the amount of money being invested. The goverment don't miss a trick. What they give us they will recouperate in taxes etc So now the blueprints are back on the table.
The main problem of moving around manchester is the horrible 1 way system. Then you can barely turn a corner without finding some building work blocking a street or some roadworks.
There really should be a Metrolink extension to the Trafford Centre and to the City of Manchester Stadium. Oh, hang on - noone ever actually goes to the City of Manchester Stadium, do they?!
