Manchester C-Charge 'To Go Ahead'

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May 24, 2012, 11:16:07 PM

Recommended service - hourly, according to the GWRUS. Let's work towards that service and towards ensuring all services are used.

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The government looks set to allow congestion charging for drivers entering and leaving Manchester (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7442725.stm

Plans for a two-ring scheme, charging up to £5 at busy times from 2013, are expected to be set out later.

The charge, which would be in place from 7am to 9.30am and 4pm to 6.30pm weekdays, would be offset by £3bn of public transport improvements.

Supporters of the plans hope they will reduce congestion and pollution, but opponents are calling for a referendum.

Government backing for the charging scheme would make Manchester the first major British city outside London to introduce large-scale congestion charging.

In 2002, Durham became the first city to introduce a congestion charge. It controls access to its cathedral and castle area.

The Manchester plans involve two charging rings, one at the M60, the other close to the city centre.

Charges - triggered by a series of electronic beacons - would vary according to the starting point for the journey.

The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), which has proposed the scheme, said no congestion charge would be brought in before "significant improvements" had been made to bus, tram and rail services.

However, Stockport, Trafford and Bury councils are no longer supporting the bid for funding and councillors in Bolton, meanwhile, have promised to hold a public referendum on the issue once all the facts are available.

A public consultation process will be launched across Greater Manchester if the government approves the scheme, with the AGMA convening later in the year to vote on the proposals.

The proposed public transport improvements would include :

- Metrolink extension to Rochdale and Oldham town centres, Ashton under Lyne, East Didsbury, Manchester Airport and the Trafford centre

- Second Metrolink route across Manchester city centre

- Priority for buses on several major roads

- Extra carriages for rail services

- Stations including Bolton, Salford, Altrincham, Stockport, Ashton and Rochdale, to become "interchanges", linking into other types of transport.

The first steps to full DfT approval have been taken (link below.)
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=370004&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/tif/gmtifbid.pdf

Quote from Campaign for Better Transport (link below) :
http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/campaigns/traffic_reduction/blog

Quote from: Campaign for Better Transport

The Manchester congestion charge will improve life in the city by cutting traffic and providing for some radical public transport improvements. We've consistently told Government that congestion charging will only work if alternatives to driving are greatly improved, and it seems they've listened: in Manchester, bus, tram and rail services will all get a huge boost.

If similarly well-thought-out schemes are introduced in other places it will be good news for communities, the environment, and traveller choice.

The £1.5 billion transport fund handed to the city of Manchester could have solved all the major road problems in the whole of the South West, it was claimed last night (link below.)
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/West-losing-congestion-funding/article-187081-detail/article.html

Devon and Cornwall Business Council said the same amount of Government funding could pay to cut congestion on the holiday route past Stonehenge and create the Kingskerswell bypass to getting traffic moving in Torbay.

Road-pricing policies should be re-examined to deal with congestion, and rail reliability monitored, a transport committee report has said (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7452332.stm

It examined the Department for Transport (DfT) annual report for 2007. It said local authorities were not keen to apply for road-pricing-scheme funding and the transport department lacked interest in rail punctuality.

The DfT said the government had been early in meeting its targets on "rail reliability and road safety".

And it is said it is "already implementing innovative measures to tackle congestion".

In its report, the committee said it feared a growth in the number of motorists whose vehicles are not registered, taxed or insured.

It said the DfT should identify its "main priorities".

Louise Ellman, who chairs the committee, said there was also a need for the department to be clear in "showing how progress can be measured".

She said there should be an indication of the way in which "environmental and economic targets can be achieved".

On the issue of rail services, the committee's annual report said MPs were concerned that the DfT appeared to have lost interest in rail punctuality and reliability.

The committee warned that a loss of focus in this area could lead to a reversal of progress achieved during the past five years.

It also called for the government to take a decision on high-speed rail.

As the proposals stand the M60 Motorway, which cuts right through the centre of Denton, will form the outer charging zone for the congestion charge (link below.)
http://www.andrewgwynne.labour.co.uk/denton_c-charge_bus_back_on_the_road

The people of Greater Manchester will vote for congestion charging, according to secret polling data obtained by the M.E.N (link below.)
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1063187_53pc_support_for_ccharge

A survey of more than 5,000 people shows 53 per cent support plans to use the peak-hour charge to help fund massive investment in public transport.

A total of 40 per cent say "no", seven per cent are undecided.

Crucially, more people support the proposal than oppose it in every one of Greater Manchester's 10 boroughs. Council chiefs have agreed the charge will only be brought if it wins support in at least seven in a December referendum.

Opponents will take heart from the fact that support was "softer" than opposition.

Only 21 per cent said they would "definitely" accept it with 32 per cent saying "probably". That compares to 27 per cent saying they would "definitely" reject the deal and 14 per cent saying "probably".

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