Monday, January 08, 2007
More on Metrolink, and tonight's Exec meeting
Tonight is a meeting of the Bury Liberal Democrats Executive Committee, where we’ll be talking about plans for the future, and the recent events in the Party locally. The Executive is a great way for the Council Group to connect with the “regular” members, and it’s great for me because I get to boast about our massive membership increase to a whole new bunch of people!
Today has been a busy one at work, and in between that I have been doing some research into the Metrolink issue as well. Yesterday’s letter to GMPTE is only half the story. Metrolink's Bury line will be closed completely or in large parts from May-September, and will be closed through Prestwich from June.
I’m sure my call for more information on this, made in the letter yesterday, will be answered. But there are several questions that exist beyond that. We still need GMPTE to help Prestwich by:
1) Giving a commitment to provide extra buses on existing routes to cope with the inevitable increased demand.
2) Introducing a bus service to Bury New Road that is as frequent as the 135 on Bury Old Road, to compensate for the closure of Prestwich Metrolink station, a vital link between Prestwich Village and Bury and Manchester.
3) Providing assurances that Metrolink replacement buses will be no more expensive than regular buses.
4) Promising Metrolink Season Ticket holders a pro-rata refund on the price of their tickets whilst the Metrolink is closed.
5) Mitigating the impact of large buses driving down small streets to get to Metrolink stations.
The more people I speak to about this, the more worried people I meet! We’ll keep the pressure on and let you know the outcome.
Rick
Today has been a busy one at work, and in between that I have been doing some research into the Metrolink issue as well. Yesterday’s letter to GMPTE is only half the story. Metrolink's Bury line will be closed completely or in large parts from May-September, and will be closed through Prestwich from June.
I’m sure my call for more information on this, made in the letter yesterday, will be answered. But there are several questions that exist beyond that. We still need GMPTE to help Prestwich by:
1) Giving a commitment to provide extra buses on existing routes to cope with the inevitable increased demand.
2) Introducing a bus service to Bury New Road that is as frequent as the 135 on Bury Old Road, to compensate for the closure of Prestwich Metrolink station, a vital link between Prestwich Village and Bury and Manchester.
3) Providing assurances that Metrolink replacement buses will be no more expensive than regular buses.
4) Promising Metrolink Season Ticket holders a pro-rata refund on the price of their tickets whilst the Metrolink is closed.
5) Mitigating the impact of large buses driving down small streets to get to Metrolink stations.
The more people I speak to about this, the more worried people I meet! We’ll keep the pressure on and let you know the outcome.
Rick
# posted by Richard Baum @ 17:13 
