Last week I received a copy of a Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) bus schematic for Walkden. It’s basically a spider diagram showing the destinations that will be served by buses under the TIF proposal, and the frequencies at which those buses will travel. You can download the diagram here (pdf file).
The amount of taxpayers’ money spent on persuading the public to back these proposals is staggering, so I was very eager to read about the fabled bus improvements on offer to local residents here in Walkden. Boy was I in for a shock.
The diagram says that in the morning peak and daytime, there will be 14 buses per hour from Walkden to Manchester. Not bad – until you count the number of buses currently traversing that route. There’s a 36 every ten minutes along the A6 and a 37 on the same frequency and a similar route. That’s twelve buses per hour. There’s a 12 every half hour and a 68 every twenty minutes, which is another five buses per hour. Finally, there’s the subsidised 31 service which takes in the Birch Road estate and heads straight down the East Lancs to the Height.
So that’s a current total of 18 buses per hour to Manchester – or 4 more than is proposed under the TIF bid! If the TIF bid is accepted, local residents will have nearly a quarter FEWER buses to Manchester at peak time and during the day.
I’ll try not to turn this post into a long list of bus numbers, but the cuts do indeed go on. At the moment there are three buses per hour to Worsley Village, Eccles and Salford Royal (Hope) Hospital. Under the TIF proposals that will be slashed by a third. There are fewer buses to Farnworth and evening services to Manchester are also cut. Despite the massive investment, services to Bolton, Boothstown and Leigh are likely to remain as they are.
There are one or two bright spots. The restoration of a half-hourly service to the Trafford Centre would be very welcome, and some evening and Sunday services will have an increased frequency although the majority of evening and weekend services will remain broadly similar to current levels.
On the whole, though, this is an appalling deal. Local residents will suffer both the congestion charge tax of up to £1200 per annum and the effect of a £3bn debt mountain, both created in order to service public transport “investment” that will provide little or no benefit to Walkden and the surrounding areas. We will be paying through the nose and getting nothing in return.
Residents will be horrified to learn that after all the grand promises they will end up with even fewer buses than at present. They have been deliberately misled and I am disgusted that £3 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on material that contains such deception. The TIF claims on bus improvements do not stand up even to basic scrutiny and I am sure that the situation here in Walkden will be replicated in towns across Greater Manchester.
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