Comments on: New Year, New Increases, Old Grumblers

By: mancunian1001

mancunian1001 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 08:54:14 +0000

I too agree with you on the evening returns. In fact the same could also be said with cheap day return tickets within the GMPTE boundary. When I worked in Stalybridge between 1999 and 2001, I sometimes got the train to and from Ashton, as the cost of a return equalled (or were cheaper than) a single fare on the 217/232/233/348 routes at the time.

Sometimes, the peak period fares equal that of the bus (or are cheaper, if a season ticket between any two given points is purchased). Rail users with monthly and annual season tickets also have the advantage of price reductions, if services fall below given standards for punctuality and reliability. On the bus… no such thing.

By: Dave On Fire

Dave On Fire — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:29:11 +0000

A good and timely post. The train isn’t all Middle-Englanders though; the Stalybridge-Manchester evening return is much better value than the bus.
Certainly the privatisation of public transport was a disaster. Buses and trains compete where they should cooperate, which leads to a pretty poor network overall and hasn’t even driven prices down significantly.

By: mancunian1001

mancunian1001 — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:06:30 +0000

I have read the following post on Stalybridge station within your blog. For me, the biggest travesty was the demolition of the Victorian booking hall and its replacement by the incumbent 1960 - 61 structure.

The original building could have been tastefully refurbished, but this was several years before we started preserving instead of demolishing our Victorian architecture. Preservation too should have been the case with Ashton Charlestown before 1972.

Back in 1972, Ashton only had a peak hour service, the Oldham-Rochdale loop line was under threat of closure, and the Stockport - Stalybridge service was the first in Greater Manchester to be converted to ‘Paytrain’ operation.

35 - 36 years later, demand on the old L&YR route to Stalybridge has soared with half hourly services in the daytime - and the resultant overcrowding.

I can answer your issue on the overcrowding. Northern’s franchise was based on zero growth throughout their 7 year tenure and no guarantee of funding for rolling stock. Since December 2004, demand in Greater Manchester has soared by 20%. In my opinion, I put this down to rail journey times from Greenfield and Mossley being several times faster than the bus.

Apart from one major change in 2005 - 06 (the loss of the direct Wakefield Westgate link), there has little change to rail frequencies on Manchester Victoria - Huddersfield services compared with the buses (since 2004, the 153 has been withdrawn and bus connections to Manchester from Mossley have halved, with the Staley Road Manchester bus only running in the peak hours).

In my honest opinion, an internal refurbishment of the current ticket office would be better, though one issue could be that of asbestos removal and containment. I do agree that the proposed design would look out of sync with the rest of the 1885 station building on the Yorkshire platform. It reminds me of the entrance of Manchester Piccadilly station, albeit in miniature.

That issue aside, I am happy with the cleaner toilets and improved disabled facilities with the station. Who’d have thought 15 years ago that we would have had real time visual information, when you had to ask for the key to go to the Gents?

Stuart.

By: Tameside Eye

Tameside Eye — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:58:46 +0000

Forgot to link to my post on Stalybridge Train Station

By: Tameside Eye

Tameside Eye — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:56:48 +0000

I have done a post on Stalybridge Train Station. They are refurbishing the station for “the 21st Century”. It completely forgets the Victorian styling which railfans all over the country come down for. Now we are to have some glass frontage. This money could of gone into more carriages so people can actually get a seat in the peak times!