Manchester 24 hour Public Transport

[Brickmill]

RE: Manchester 24 hour Public Transport

(27/01/2019 17:52)Mayneway Wrote:  I actually completely agree with you. Up until a few years ago I was out regularly in Manchester on a weekend and it's disappointing that there is a distinct lack of public transport.
Personally given the upheaval and the amount of money spent extending the Metrolink system over the last few years I think at the very least Trams should run later on a Friday/Saturday night.

This is where the modal choice gets complicated.

Because of the costings, I would think it is much easier to extend the Operating hours of Metrolink, because Rail has a massive Capital cost, and so employing extra drivers is a drop in the ocean. Buses, OTOH are very labour/fuel intensive, so proportionally it would be much more expensive to extend a large number of routes even for a few hours a night. Plus, of course, each journey needs legally t make an Operating profit if they are not subsidised. Its worth remembering that a lot of subsidised Night buses - especially in Wigan and Bolton - were put on to appease GMP, but of course the money came from the Transport budget, not the Police budget!

The other side of the equation is the more obvious one that, as with any time of day, improving any form of Rail is only going to benefit a tiny proportion of tax-paying travellers, and ironically its likely to be the same catchment areas that haven't sustained Night buses in the past. eg 82 & 216.

Bearing in mind the relatively comprehensive NightBus network in the 1990s, it sounds like the usual case - of let's ruin something, then wait a quarter of a century to admit it was the wrong thing to do.