Manchester meltdown tonight...or will pax keep away?

[Howardh]

Sat 19th Dec

ManU home game, 3pm
Xmas shoppers (last Saturday, obvs)
Xmas Parties
+ usual and extra workers going home.

Should be fun around 6pm on Piccadilly, Deansgate and Oxford Road! I assume a lot will already expect this and keep away, but the point of the thread is simply -

If you are a passenger or rail worker, any chance of your experience - good or bad, so if it's bad all of us staying at home can have a good schadenfreude!

 

[Bald Rick]

So not much busier than a normal Saturday then.

 

[cuccir]

Am I right in thinking that Deansgate is closing early evening to ensure all use larger stations?

 

[Howardh]

Am I right in thinking that Deansgate is closing early evening to ensure all use larger stations?

Yes, I think that's right and I forgot I now remember making a thread about it...yet even so if I were out tonight I would have headed to Deansgate to get me home!!
Wonder if, in the end, it helps or hinders the getaway?

Be good to read reports later on today!

 

[a22book]

Looks like atw have cancelled some Manchester to Chester services due to lack of staff. This isn't going to help!

 

[Howardh]

Looks like atw have cancelled some Manchester to Chester services due to lack of staff. This isn't going to help!

Are thy all shopping or at the match?

 

[dk1]

All that matters tonight in Manchester is that Norwich won 2-1 OTBC

 

[6Gman]

One or two tweets to VT complaining about their London trains being busy.






Of course, London residents could consider supporting a London team.

 

[Altfish]

One or two tweets to VT complaining about their London trains being busy.



Of course, London residents could consider supporting a London team.

The old ones are always the best:roll:

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Sat 19th Dec

ManU home game, 3pm
Xmas shoppers (last Saturday, obvs)
Xmas Parties
+ usual and extra workers going home.

Should be fun around 6pm on Piccadilly, Deansgate and Oxford Road! I assume a lot will already expect this and keep away, but the point of the thread is simply -

If you are a passenger or rail worker, any chance of your experience - good or bad, so if it's bad all of us staying at home can have a good schadenfreude!

At Manchester VICTORIA (clearly Manchester's fourth station), it was pretty much a normal Saturday until I left at about 2000hrs, but a supervisor told me later it got a bit busier. I can't judge by his comments how busy because he doesn't do many Saturday nights and only started his 'out-of-office' stuff at 2000hrs, though there was a boxing match on at the Arena so that could have made things look busy late on.

 

[Howardh]

At Manchester VICTORIA (clearly Manchester's fourth station), it was pretty much a normal Saturday until I left at about 2000hrs, but a supervisor told me later it got a bit busier. I can't judge by his comments how busy because he doesn't do many Saturday nights and only started his 'out-of-office' stuff at 2000hrs, though there was a boxing match on at the Arena so that could have made things look busy late on.

Victoria always seems to be the Cinderella station, and I make it fifth behind Salford Central !
Interesting that Deansgate was closed - but never a thought about closing Salford Central. Must be a heck of a lot less busy (?) but did pax from Manchester towards Bolton/Blackburn/Preston head towards Victoria/Sal C rather than join the madding crowds on the Piccadilly Line?

 

[Altfish]

Victoria always seems to be the Cinderella station, and I make it fifth behind Salford Central !
Interesting that Deansgate was closed - but never a thought about closing Salford Central. Must be a heck of a lot less busy (?) but did pax from Manchester towards Bolton/Blackburn/Preston head towards Victoria/Sal C rather than join the madding crowds on the Piccadilly Line?

Victoria is rising up the list of Manchester stations and is fast becoming number 2 again.

 

[Ianno87]

Victoria always seems to be the Cinderella station, and I make it fifth behind Salford Central !
Interesting that Deansgate was closed - but never a thought about closing Salford Central. Must be a heck of a lot less busy (?) but did pax from Manchester towards Bolton/Blackburn/Preston head towards Victoria/Sal C rather than join the madding crowds on the Piccadilly Line?

Problem is that trains heading north/west from Piccadilly pick up so many pax at Picc and Oxford Rd, it's difficult for any more pax to board at Deansgate. Not so much of a problem for trains through Salford Central, having only gained pax at Victoria.

 

[backontrack]

Victoria is rising up the list of Manchester stations and is fast becoming number 2 again.

Indeed. Because of TPE, Victoria's now number 2. I think it goes:

1. Piccadily
2. Victoria
3. Oxford Road
4. Manchester Airport
5. Deansgate

 

[175001]

I worked a tea time Ale Trail and a Southport late on, just like a normal Saturday really.

 

[Starmill]

Piccadilly was certainly manic at around 1730. Many more people than you ever see there at 0830 on a working day...

The interesting thing I noticed in comparison to where I had been earlier at Birmingham New Street was that there, all of the gates were closed even at 0730 that morning and the place was crawling with revenue staff. I bet LM and others will have taken record December revenue from West Midlands local services this year given how busy Birmingham normally seems on Saturdays and their apparent ability to cope with the crowds (OK, the staff there are actually VT). Whereas at Manchester Piccadilly the few STM jokers were essentially overwhelmed and it was a free for all. Half the normal Saturday revenue could have been easily lost because so many of the trains were too busy for guards to make their way through and there was almost no effective ticket checking going on at Piccadilly. VT had a reasonable job of it going on trying to marshall passengers for the London services, but they were all looking very stretched and harassed, especially because almost every train was 10 minutes late. At one point they had a full train they were trying to get out of 6 at the same time as people were pouring off the just-arrived train on 7 and people were trying to get onto 6 to queue up for the departure 20 minutes later - eesh!

So, at Manchester Victoria - were the gates in use?

The recent trend for 'Christmas Crowds' and the enduring and growing popularity of the Manchester Christmas Markets are a huge opportunity for the railway, because you'd be a bit crazy to try and drive and the buses are painfully slow. All of these extra passengers are even coming from places beyond the GM boundary in a lot of cases, because Manchester has a slightly better shopping appeal than where locals might normally go (e.g Crewe, Warrington, Huddersfield, Preston, Blackburn etc). If only they could be bothered to actually collect the revenue!

 

[185]

Sat 19th Dec

ManU home game, 3pm

Think ATW staff Crewe Chester Shrews are mostly City fans I see at the Etihad, not so many off to Old Trafford.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I note that you did not make much mention of the Manchester Metrolink system as the Exchange Square stop is now open for certain northern town passengers with a rather larger wooden edifice next to it that is part of the Christmas Markets 2015. Admittedly, the current lack of a Metrolink stop at St Peters Square is rather annoying.

There are the three FREE Metroshuttle buses running that all serve areas of this multi-site Christmas Market.