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http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ution.html

Charge is key to £3bn transport revolution

Alan Salter
26/ 5/2007

THE flipside of Greater Manchester's congestion charge coin has been revealed - a £3bn revolution in the city's transport network.

If the public and the government agrees, not only will the area become the first outside London to charge motorists for using the roads, it will also see the biggest ever improvement of public transport in the country, increasing rush-hour capacity by a huge 40 per cent.

The planned congestion charge will cost up to £5 a day.

But the bonus will be extra tramlines, including adding the Trafford Centre and Stockport to new Metrolink lines planned to Ashton, East Didsbury, Wythenshawe, the airport, and Oldham and Rochdale.

There will also be a second city centre line because the network will be too big for the current single line to handle.

A new nine-mile separate bus lane between Manchester and Bolton would also be built.

And the long-awaited Leigh guided busway will introduce a new bus lane on part of the East Lancs Road more than 10 years after the idea was first hatched.

Overcrowded

Hundreds of new trains will be brought in to ease overcrowding and there will also be improvements to railway stations and interchanges at Altrincham, Bolton, Manchester, Rochdale and Wigan. The number of park-and-ride spaces will be doubled. The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) revealed the details of the public transport improvements - and congestion charge - which it plans to put forward as the basis of a £1bn bid to the government's transport innovation fund.

The AGMA also wants to borrow £2bn more from the government against the projected 30 years' income from the charge which will probably start in 2012. It will cost almost £470m to set up but is expected to bring in £118m a year to spend on public transport.

Congestion charges - enforced via electronic tags on drivers' windscreens - would only apply on weekdays inbound from 7am to 9.30am and outbound between 4pm and 6.30pm. Inbound charges in the morning would be £2 for crossing the outer boundary and another £1 for entering the inner core. There would be charges of £1 for crossing each charging point on the way home.

Lord Peter Smith, leader of AGMA, said: "If we fail to address road congestion, Greater Manchester could miss out on 30,000 jobs over the next 15 years. We believe that doing nothing would be the most dangerous decision of all."

Chris Fletcher, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce policy director, said: "What we need to ensure is that any scheme deals with congestion without harming future economic growth." But campaign group Safe Speed said drivers would be 'taxed to the eyeballs'.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

How is this going to work? Will every registered car in Manchester be forced to have one of these tags fitted - I'd like to seem them try!? What about those who only make one-off visits to the city from way outside? Every car in the country tagged?

As someone who lives just inside the M60 boundary, I find the prospect of being charged for the privilege of leaving home quite a disturbing one. And it's all well and good talking about extending the Metrolink but at the current ridiculously high prices charged, it's hardly a more economical alternative.

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Why can't we just use Common Sense?

I find this "We'll improve your public transport if you accept congestion charging" tactic disgusting. It's our money and yet they're attaching conditions to spending it on what we want. I realise that regions have to compete for cash to an extent, but they've obviously allocated the £3bn to Manchester already, so they should already be improving the public transport. Instead they're acting like parents: "If you behave and cooperate then you'll get your pocket money."

It's just a way to try to make people accept something that they never otherwise would. I have no idea why the Conservatives aren't vigorously anti-road pricing; it would be such an easy win for them. We can but hope that they'll wake up to that before the next election, and promise to ditch it.

Just remember what Red Ken Livingstone promised: -

"I can't see the charge increasing for many,many, years"

Fact: It went from £5 to £8 within 2 years,and larger vehicles face charges of £25 next year.

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Good manners maketh a good motorist

As Ken found out when you take the administration/network costs into account there is nothing left to put back into "public" transport. Thats why he had to crank up the charges.

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Speed camera policy Kills

Exactly. and the latest humungous harebraned scheme will have disproportionately greater charges (and profit) to the tecghnology suppliers.

Cloud cuckoo land.

There's a petition against the proposed Manchester Congestion Charge here;

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Manccongestion/

(although it must be said the explanation could have been better worded)

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed