The best ways to get into Manchester from Rochdale

National World - LocalTV

With the rebuilding of a railway bridge over the M62 leading to the cancellation of all trains between Rochdale and Manchester until the end of this month, here is a quick video on the best ways to get into the city using alternative transport.

Transcript

00:00Travelling into Manchester has become a little bit of a nightmare.

00:03Now let's start by saying that it's going to be pretty tough to find someone to blame for it.

00:06Because, essentially, starting at the end of last week, work began on the Castleton Rail Bridge,

00:10which runs over the M62 and is used to carry trains from Rochdale into Manchester.

00:15The bridge was 60 years old, which is near the expiry date of the materials that were used,

00:19so it had to be taken down and replaced.

00:21But the inconvenience for commuters is still there.

00:23For people coming to the city from Rochdale, a train here, to Victoria, used to take around 10-15 minutes.

00:28Now it's significantly longer.

00:30There are still options.

00:31For instance, the tram is an excellent option.

00:33It's fairly cheap and convenient, and the pink line runs straight towards Exchange Square.

00:37The only issue with it, really, is that it takes around 50 minutes from Rochdale town centre.

00:42Northern Rail are also running rail replacement services, meaning that buses might be your next best option.

00:46These services take significantly less time than the trams, which stop only every couple of minutes.

00:50However, they are at the mercy of traffic, so rush hour buses might end up taking significantly longer

00:54than the approximately 30 minutes that's advertised.

00:57The same is true of regular buses.

00:58They can take even longer than trams, in fact.

01:00The number 17 bus from Rochdale takes over an hour to reach Shudehill interchange,

01:04and if you end up getting on 471, you'll need to change in Haywood

01:07before finally getting into Manchester an hour and a half after you set off.

01:09So with all that in mind, driving might be your best option.

01:12It's around a 40-minute drive if you're coming in on a weekday morning,

01:15and although traffic's a bit unpredictable with all the changes,

01:17you are at least master of your own destiny.

01:19The challenge here will be parking.

01:21The best that I've found are in Salford for around £6 per day.

01:24It may be a walk-in for you, but the tram's much more efficient over a short distance like this anyway.

01:28As I say, it's definitely irritating, even for me, but there are solutions,

01:31and the new motorway bridge is set to be completed by the 25th of September.

01:34Once finished, it'll apparently last significantly longer than the 60-year shift

01:37that the old bridge, rest in peace, managed.

01:39As a quick aside, if you're coming from further afield, such as Hebden Bridge,

01:42your best bet might be finding your way to Burnley and getting the X43 bus.

01:45It goes straight into Manchester, it actually finishes here behind me,

01:48and still costs only £2 per journey, and they're pretty frequent too.

01:51So, fingers crossed the work gets completed on time,

01:53and I won't have to research transport or parking as much as I have over the last week.

01:57But thank you very much for watching. Follow Manchester World for more.

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