Greater Manchester Franchising

[SF07]

RE: Greater Manchester Franchising
The recent proposals from Manchester City Council for Piccadilly Gardens would see a reduced "bus station" area on the Parker Street stops (I think it would take out stands G, H, J and K and cut off the entry into the station from Mosley Street), which would mean some services pushed out (perhaps sending the Salford services to Shudehill).

Meanwhile, the Oldham Street loop would be pedestrianised. With that and a separate plan to permanently pedestrianise the Stevenson Square area, this would probably mean buses are re-routed down Newton Street and either become a cross-city service down Portland Street or having to terminate at a different location, such as Piccadilly station or Chorlton Street.

Back in 2007, when the Transport Innovation Fund/Congestion Charge proposals were around, Manchester City Council talked about changes to buses and coaches in the city centre. The idea was moving coaches to a new station around Mayfield and buses moving into a new station at Chorlton Street, along with another new interchange at Salford Central (probably not possible now with the amount of building work that has gone on in recent years) in addition to Shudehill Interchange.

In terms of terminating services, they suggested:

• Chorlton Street: Services from Hyde Road (200s), Stockport Road (192), Ashton Old Road (219-221), Princess Road (101/103) and Oxford Road (42/43 etc).
• Salford Central: Services from Chapel Street (34/36/37/38/67/100), Blackfriars Road (10/93/97/98), Regent Road (33) and Chester Road (255/256/X50).
• Shudehill Interchange: Services from Chapel Street (34/36/37/38/67/100), Great Ducie Street (59/96/X41/X43), Cheetham Hill Road (135), Rochdale Road (17/18/81/112/118/163 etc) and Pollard Street (216/230/231 - running via Church Street/Dale Street).
  

Oldham Road services (74/76/76A/83/84/181/182/X84) were suggested to stay at Oldham Street/Piccadilly/Lever Street but with the intention of moving into Shudehill or Chorlton Street. An enhanced Metroshuttle (now Free Bus) network would probably have been put in place, although there wasn't any details back then.

A smaller Parker Street/Piccadilly Gardens station was recommended to be used by the 8 to Bolton, along with some services from East Didsbury. Additional services would run from Christie Hospital to Salford Crescent via the city centre and also mentioned what has become Vantage (albeit to Atherton instead of Wigan).

There was also suggestions of some other cross-city centre routes:

• Stockport to Pendleton or Swinton (192 route into Manchester then down Portland Street and out of Manchester like 36/37/38 route).
• Parrs Wood to Eccles or Prestwich (Eccles route is essentially what the 50 route has become, but to MediaCityUK instead. Prestwich route possibly the 42 route and proposed to run along Deansgate, which probably wouldn't be possible now).
• Middleton to Chorlton (possibly 18 and then a re-routed 85 route via MRI)
• Ashton-under-Lyne to Stretford (219 to Piccadilly then down Portland Street and out of Manchester as the 263 route - probably would then feed into Metrolink at Stretford for connections to Altrincham)
  

The map is a little confusing as the Swinton terminus might actually be the Vantage park & ride site on the East Lancs Road and is applied to the Parrs Wood route not the Stockport route.

https://web.archive.org/web/200805111832...ion_v3.pdf