Bus Franchising in Greater Manchester

[djb]

RE: Bus Franchising in Greater Manchester

(19/01/2018 21:35)Brickmill Wrote:  True! But its a more moderate fall and expected to be a temporary blip due to the opening of numerous rail lines in recent years and major roadworks across TfL which are mostly due to be completed soon. Just as importantly, it has identified the biggest longer term drops in patronage are on routes where speeds are declining, and they have the powers to try and find answers to that.
All the signs are that without Reform, GM's decline in patronage will further accelerate, as stability gets worse and fare rises continue to outstrip inflation by at least 3:1 - unless you live in Swinton, of course!

I’ve mentioned this before on here that as you say reform is needed in the bus routes of gm, but it can’t be done without proper ticket integration (and ideally re-regulation/franchising). Different modes of transport need to complement each other rather than duplicating, and there needs to be the capacity on railed transport to allow bus passengers to feed in.

Sadly April’s changes see a fundamental change to one of the few innovative routes to appear in recent years - the x5. I’m a regular user, often to connect with the train in stockport southbound. Originally the x5 just abstracted passéngers from sections of the 41/370/371, but now it carries many unique passengers Persuaded by its motorway use. Rerouting it along the A roads in gatley& Cheadle adds nearly 20 minutes to the journey off peak alone, and I suspect patronage will take a hit. A backwards step sadly.