Greater Manchester’s Railway Stations: Less Accessible Than Those in the Scottish Highlands

Twice as many potential passengers lacking step free access at local stations

Greater Manchester seems to have had a rough deal with its railways over the last five years. Over the last five decades, it has more than its fair share of broken promises, from the cancellation of The Picc-Vic Project to today’s meddling with the HS2 project. In the 1990s, we were promised Regional Eurostar trains but we thought the market wasn’t there in the late 1990s thanks to easyJet, Ryanair and Friends. In more recent times, sleepers and international services are having a bit of a revival in mainland Europe.

Today, a simple train trip from Ashton-under-Lyne to Mossley can be an ordeal. Since 2018, you have had to change at Stalybridge (and the connections are pretty tight). Even Stalybridge to Mossley can be an ordeal if you have restricted mobility or a wheelchair. You have to change at Huddersfield due to stepped access on the Yorkshire platform!

In Defence of ENCTS: Why Concessionary Travel is a Social Good

How reduced rate travel connects people with places, and does so very well

YJ51 RAU a Volvo B7TL seen on the 389 service at Ashton-under-Lyne bus station to Hyde via Ridge Hill and Yew Tree estates.

 

This week saw mixed messages for passengers on the national concessionary travel scheme. To start with, a 36 year old disabled man won £5,500 damages after it was stated his local bus operator breached the 2010 Equality Act. He was denied access to a Leeds bound bus as a woman with a pushchair refused to budge.

Cuts Scene Investigation: Greater Manchester’s Bus Network

East of the M60 on a possible gloomy outlook for Greater Manchester’s subsidised routes

Under Threat: Socially necessary services such as the 343 from Oldham to Hyde.

The last two years have been pretty good for Greater Manchester’s bus users. First Greater Manchester and Stagecoach Manchester have introduced new vehicles, either with electric-hybrid engines or free WiFi. Elsewhere, System One Travelcards have held the prices of their season tickets till April of this year. Patronage has increased; given the profit motive in today’s operations, it is most obviously trunk routes like the 330, 409 or 192 which have prospered.

‘Stop For Me, Speak To Me’ Challenge: Mission Accomplished

Bus drivers swap places with blind and partially sighted passengers

Stagecoach Manchester drivers and Christopher Bowles. (Photograph: © 2013 Tangerine PR).

Last week on East of the M60, a number of employees from Stagecoach Manchester, its managing director Christopher Bowles and the MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East, Paul Goggins, were about to participate in a series of simulation exercises for the RNIB. The purpose of which was to highlight the barriers faced by people with sight loss travelling on our region’s buses.

‘Stop For Me, Speak To Me’: RNIB Set Role Reversal Challenge

Bus drivers to swap places with blind and partially sighted passengers

A group of bus drivers and a local MP are set to face an unusual challenge this Friday, when they swap places with blind and partially sighted people from Greater Manchester. This is in support of a new campaign from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).

Hidden Impairments and (Stubbornly Refusing to Claim) DLA

International Day of People With Disability, 03 December 2012: Why I Refused to Claim Disability Living Allowance

On account of having an Autism Spectrum Condition, I had had been told by friends and family that I should consider applying for Disability Living Allowance and Employment Support Allowance. Instead, I had opted for Jobseekers’ Allowance whilst unemployed, a decision which could have cost me an extra £20 – 30 per week on top of the present full JSA rate 0f £71.00. Being an in-work benefit as well as an out-of-work one, DLA and ESA would have tided me over if working a week or month in hand. It would have ensured eligibility for concessionary fares and free off-peak bus travel anywhere in England (good, though I would have lost out considering the number of peak hour journeys I make).