Two more reasons not to use public transport:
Had to laugh at this Google Ad that popped up, presumably picking up on the word ‘congestion’
Obviously never tried the buses round here.
I saw this letter in the Bolton News from none other than Lord Peter Smith, Leader of AGMA, once again reeling off the usual false statements:
While we believe the strengths of the TIF package speak for themselves…
It still amazes me how they make it sound as if they actually believe their own bull.
In Bolton, … Extra seats would be added to peak time trains
Already getting them mate – nothing to do with the TIF.
and an earlier morning train could operate from Clitheroe to Manchester via Bolton in the mornings to further ease overcrowding.
Wow! A Whole Train! I can hardly contain my excitement. Also note the word ‘could’.
Bolton station could undergo extensive improvements, with new platforms built on the Wigan line at Lostock station. Passenger facilities at Hall i’th’ Wood, Bromley Cross, Lostock, Blackrod and Westhoughton stations could be improved.
There’s that word ‘could’ again, twice this time. I’m not particularly interested in improved facilities at Blackrod. I just want to turn up and get on a train.
cyclists will see the creation of a high quality route along the former Bolton-Bury rail line.
How about a rail line along a rail line (there’s a novelty) and reverse some of the damage caused by Dr Beeching?
Across Greater Manchester, the package will deliver thousands of extra seats on trains and trams, new Metrolink lines
Extra seats we’re already getting and Metrolink lines we won’t.
and a travel smart card system.
Perfectly achievable without congestion charges by politicians with the balls to make the bus/train companies comply – ah wait, I see the problem with that last statement.
To help fund this, a limited congestion charge would be introduced, affecting vehicles heading towards the city centre between 7am and 9.30am and away from the city centre between 4pm and 6.30pm, for five hours out of every 24.
Please, please, everyone quoting this last remark, get it through your thick skulls: There is nothing limited about a congestion charge which is in force for FIVE HOURS during the working day, and 100% of the time that most workers will be travelling.
Stop claiming it is limited.
The following is my response to the TIF proposal consultation document.
The concept of the TIF bid is fundamentally flawed, as the proposals do not provide a viable alternative to car transport, particularly to residents of Bolton and Wigan.
Rather than just rejecting the idea, I have actually taken time to research and consider alternatives to using the car. Let’s take a look at those alternatives. I will be referring to the table on the right which compares relative journey times and other factors.
Click the table for a large readable version.
I live in Horwich, only ten minutes walk from Blackrod railway station, and work one mile inside the M60 (the proposed outer charging zone), right next door to Clifton railway station on the same Preston-Manchester line as Blackrod. It would seem an obvious choice of transport, yet it is not actually possible for me to get the train to work, as there is no service at Clifton*. I have taken this up previously with the GMPTE and have written replies from them stating that they have no intention in rectifying this situation and nothing in the TIF proposals will either.
I believe I am in a very small minority of commuters who live and work adjacent to railway stations on the same line; if GMPTE can’t handle that very simple public transport journey, what hope is there for the rest of Greater Manchester?
* One train a day that is too early to actually connect with does not constitute a service.
If there was a service, it still loses out to the car on anything but a bad day time wise, and on all other factors (see table) every time. Even the best option, a direct (non-existent) service would take 48 minutes compared with an average car journey of 37 minutes, or 24 minutes on a good day.
In reality, if the train did stop at Clifton, it would not be the Preston-Manchester service, but the Blackburn-Manchester service. This would therefore involve changing trains at Bolton increasing both the journey time to 59 minutes and the risk of being affected by cancellations and delays.
The one alternative that is actually possible, a situation that will remain so under TIF proposals, is to travel to Swinton Railway station, changing at Salford Crescent (after farcically passing through Clifton station). As is clear, this would take over twice the journey time by car; clearly not a viable alternative. Read more…
MART (Manchester Against Road Tolls) have finally got around to updating their website, include a new forum, so get over there and make your views known about the flawed Manchester Congestion Tax*.
Yes it is a tax – a charge is avoidable, a tax isn’t. Most people driving into Manchester have no alternative.
I’ve received an email stating that the eFax Free service is to cease as of 1st October 2008:
Due to pending changes imposed by OFCOM, the UK regulator for the telecommunications industry, we will no longer be able to offer eFax Free service for your number as of October 1, 2008.
Presumably this is because they receive a kickback from the 0870 numbers used and that is what funds the free service. It goes on to say that in order to keep my number I must convert to the paid-for service ‘eFax plus’. Err… no thanks.
Interestingly, eFax are still offering free numbers with no mention of the short life they will have. No matter, I haven’t used my free eFax number for several years; I now use a proper local number provided by my excellent ISP.
The toothless government regulator OFCOM has today suggested that the UK’s mobile users should follow the ludicrous US model of being charged to receive a call. Yes you read that correctly: pay to receive a call.
Hello, OFCOM, you are supposed to be protecting the telecoms consumer, not giving a blank cheque to the operators and free reign to cold callers.
Bolton Council make recycling collections on a fortnightly basis. Addresses are assigned to a Blue or a Yellow week. You can check which week you are on at their Sort-it website, but it fails to tell you one very important piece of information: which weeks are blue and which are yellow. They do include a calendar hidden inside the free council propaganda newspaper ‘Bolton Scene’, but many people will have binned this as soon as it dropped through the door and therefore lost the calendar.
When we moved in last year, I emailed the council to ask which weeks were which and they very helpfully emailed back a well formatted excel spreadsheet showing blue days. This begs the question why this spreadsheet is not available for download on the Sort-It website.
Here, therefore, is a calendar for 2008 showing blue and yellow weeks.
I have since found links to poor quality scanned PDFs on Bolton Council’s own blue and yellow calendars on the normal council website. Why these are missing from the Sort-It site is still a mystery.
