The Salford network is changing. It’s too complicated to explain for a non-Salfordian such as myself, so if you’d like to see a before and after map, check out the last few pages of this TfGMC report (PDF). In summary, there are two new routes 66 (Clifton Junction to Eccles) and 79 (Swinton to Stretford) which between them replace services 55, 61/62 (some), 64/65, 69 and 70 (daytime). Arriva have won the contracts for these, but lose out on other routes to First: early morning journeys on the 10 (Brookhouse to Manchester) and 19 (Clifton Junction to Trafford Park); Sunday services on the 31 (Manchester to Farnworth); evening and Sunday services on the 63 (Brookhouse to Manchester); and all day service on the 74/75 (Agecroft circulars) and 484 (Salford to Prestwich) – the latter of which is a Bu-val refugee.

First also assumes operation of services run by other operators: from Bluebird comes the 27 (Manchester to Swinton), Sunday 95 journeys (Pendleton to Whitefield), 402 (Oldham to Royton) and 406 (Middleton to Oldham); whilst from JPT comes the 335 (Ashton to Denton) and Sunday 406. One loss is the short-term 575 contract (Bolton to Horwich) which heads to Maytree, who will also run the daytime 31 timetable that was operated by Arriva.

Word on the street is that Arriva will close their Manchester depot at the end of March 2012. What would this mean for their remaining services? We’d expect that services in South Manchester can be operated from the depot in Wythenshawe, especially given the loss of contracts around Altrincham of late – though we wouldn’t be surprised if the 130 to Macclesfield sees more vehicles based from that Cheshire outstation. The services towards Salford we’re not so sure about: Wythenshawe and Bolton are the closest depots, but would require some dead-running or inter-working. We’ll keep monitoring.

Like the proverbial bus, there’ll be another blog along shortly looking at some of the other changes taking place that weekend…

• TfGM: Latest Bus Service Changes
• TfGM: Bus Times Leaflet Library
• First Manchester: Changes from Sunday 29th January 2012

[Image credit: "Arriva Manchester 667 CX57 CYW" by Ingy the Wingy on Flickr]

The 192 is Greater Manchester’s most frequent bus route and carries over 10 million passengers per year. As such, it plays a big part in the local communities it serves. A Quality Partnership Scheme is a contractual agreement between bus operators, transport authorities and local councils that will set down not only quality benchmarks and timetables that operators must adhere to, but also spells out what the public bodies will provide in the form of infrastructure and traffic management. The A6 corridor was already designated as a Quality Bus Corridor, having had investment in facilities along the route, and with Stagecoach providing investment in new vehicles, so is considered a good candidate for further improvements.

At this point, let’s take a comparative look at how Quality Partnership Schemes have been running in some of the other big northern conurbations:

• On Merseyside there’s been a big push to the effect that several major corridors already feature Quality Partnership Schemes, with routes to Crosby, Croxteth, St. Helens and Garston. Arriva is the biggest bus operator in Liverpool, with Stagecoach providing competitive services. Both operators now accept each others’ day and week tickets on common sections of QPS routes, and have synchronised their timetables to provide a more even frequency.
• Over in Sheffield, there’s been a mixed reception for Optio services on selected cross-city corridors. Although similar to the Liverpool schemes with timetable co-ordination, there’s rather less satisfaction with the multitude of tickets available. Each QPS scheme has its own colour-coded range of tickets, valid on both First and competing Stagecoach services, but it’s not as elegant as the Merseyside solution when it comes to single-operator tickets.

How does the Levenshulme scheme compare? Well, the main difference is that only one bus company is involved: Stagecoach and its two routes 191 and 192. When first announced, there were some concerns in the trade press that other services such as trentbarton’s 199 service between Manchester Airport and Buxton – a long way outside Greater Manchester – were going to be included in the scheme. This looks to have been avoided by stipulating that only services which operate over 15% of their route mileage over the QPS corridor should come under the scheme. Another exception is made for routes with less than two journeys per hour during the peak period. As such, there’s no opportunity for multi-operator ticketing beyond that already offered by System One Travelcards.

Perhaps the second proposed QPS will be of more interest on that front: the Leigh–Atherton–Bolton corridor where First and South Lancs Travel both operate regular services (or at least they do when there aren’t bridgeworks!) We await further details of how this scheme is progressing.

[Image credit: "Back End Of A 192 Bus" by Smabs Sputzer on Flickr]

It seems to have been the signalling system that has been causing the most problems to the expansion timetable. TMS is now operational between Pomona and Eccles, including the MediaCityUK spur, but technical and interface problems have delayed roll-out to the rest of the system. Indeed, the junction at Trafford Bar from the Altrincham line towards Chorlton has had to be implemented with the old-style fixed block signalling as an interim measure.

All new trams can work with TMS, along with the retrofitted-existing trams, but not all new trams can work with the old system. Priority now will be introducing the new signalling system to the city centre: Deansgate to Pomona including the new turnback siding at Cornbrook for the MediaCityUK shuttle. Cornbrook to Stretford follows, along with work at Piccadilly to allow access onto the East Manchester line. The section of line between Victoria and Queen’s Road depot will also need to be completed to allow access onto the Oldham/Rochdale line at Irk Valley junction.

Here’s a brief timeline of dates in the report:

• Latter half of July: testing on East Manchester line begins between Piccadilly and Velopark stops
• From July: driver testing on Oldham/Rochdale line as far as Central Park
• Late November: 6-minute frequency to Chorlton begins
• November/December: trams to Central Park begin
• February/March 2012: trams to Oldham Mumps begin (three months late)
• Summer 2012: trams to Rochdale railway station begin (was Spring 2012)
• Summer 2012: trams to Droylsden begin (2-3 month delay but potentially retrievable)

Whilst the East Manchester line isn’t scheduled to open as far as Droylsden until summer next year, Metrolink are looking to be able to operate an interim service as far as Velopark stop. There are only a few short sections of street running between there and Piccadilly, and with a stop at the Etihad Stadium it would be a potentially lucrative source of revenue if it could be up and running before the football season begins. Kick-off on Saturday 13th August – can it be done?

Passenger notice at Woodlands Road, station signage still very much 1991

The southbound platform is perched on top of an embankment on concrete stilts

Abraham Moss northbound platform – Woodlands Road only 250 metres away just out of sight around the corner

Subway footpath replaced by level crossing on foot

It’s not often I find myself in Bolton on a Saturday evening, but passing through last night I managed to take the above shot of the railway station ticket office. As you can see, it’s nearly ready to open as part of the £4 million renovation scheme, although work is still in progress at platform level. You can view some more photos of construction work I’ve taken over the past couple of weeks on Flickr.