Manchester’s Transport Update

From the new payment system to disruption on the Metrolink, here is all you need to know about transport in Greater Manchester this week.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to Manchester World. My name is Theo Hewson-Betts and this is your

00:03transport update for this week in Greater Manchester. So let's dive straight into it.

00:06Firstly, there are tram improvement works on the lines between Market Street and the

00:10High Street and Church Street stations that are going on from March 25th right the way

00:13through to April 24th. This means there'll be no trams operating via Market Street or

00:18Shude Hill. Most routes will be going via Exchange Square instead. The traffic centre

00:22services will be running right through to the Etihad campus as well. On the topic of

00:26trams, this week has seen the implementation of a new payment system on the Metrolink trams

00:30and the B network buses and it's tap and go basically which means that on both you can

00:35just tap a card and it'll give you combined fare for the overall day which is very similar

00:40to the system that we've seen used in London before. It should mean that you pay as little

00:43as possible if you're using multiple services over the course of a day or week. You'll never

00:47pay more than £9.50 for a day or £41 for the week and obviously that does depend on

00:52the areas that you're travelling through. The cheapest for bus payments and a single

00:56tram zone journey comes to around £6 for a day so not bad value at all. If you've

01:01used the new payment system, get in contact and let us know how you're finding it.

01:05And sticking on trams for just a little bit longer, the Metrolink had its busiest ever

01:09month in November but with that success came complaints of crowded and infrequent trams

01:14and the greater the capacity the more those complaints have been coming in really.

01:18Mayor Andy Burnham did acknowledge it earlier this week stating that the B network isn't

01:21quite where they want it to be yet and the demand for more capacity is particularly based

01:25around match days at the Etihad and Old Trafford so interesting to see what's done there.

01:30It looks as though trains will be the next phase of B network growth with suggestions

01:33around the place that the following phase after that could be to create the capacity

01:37for an underground network for rail. That's all that we've got for you this week though,

01:41give us a follow at Manchester World and we'll see you again soon.