Altrincham Interchange

[northwichcat]

Thank you for your comments of support. You did mention the Stagecoach bus..was this the one from Manchester Shudehill bus station. If so, that too no longer stops at Talbot Road bus station but at the new National Express coach station that is some walking distance away. There has been a slight renumbering of this service. It is now the X60 from Manchester to Chorley, becoming the X61 from Chorley onwards. I have TfGM to thank for this updated inormation.

They've changed it since last October. It's also been removed as a route shown on the Megabus site. They also seem to have revised the route - it no longer mentions Blackpool Airport in the stopping pattern and they seem to have listed extra stops between Preston and Manchester.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Altrincham is an interchange for Manchester Metrolink. buses and heavy rail which is what good transport interchanges should hope to achieve.

Plans for the next stage of the refurbishment of this interchange have now been submitted to Trafford Council.

Trafford Council have this week approved the plans for the exterior part of the Altrincham interchange and from the artists drawings, it appears there will only be one line of bus shelters (albeit a very light and modern construction) rather than the two rows as at present.

Work is said to commence next summer on the total project and last for 18 months

 

[WestCoast]

They've changed it since last October. It's also been removed as a route shown on the Megabus site. They also seem to have revised the route - it no longer mentions Blackpool Airport in the stopping pattern and they seem to have listed extra stops between Preston and Manchester.

The X61 changed its route between Preston and Blackpool early this year, it now has stops in Kirkham (but not in suburban Blackpool) and then runs non-stop to the new "coach station", which is really just a collection of shelters, in Blackpool Central Car Park (the site of the old Blackpool Central railway station).

 

[gnolife]

Trafford Council have this week approved the plans for the exterior part of the Altrincham interchange and from the artists drawings, it appears there will only be one line of bus shelters (albeit a very light and modern construction) rather than the two rows as at present.

Work is said to commence next summer on the total project and last for 18 months

So where in Altrincham will buses be terminating during these works? Will they be doing a loop around Stamford New Road, Moss Lane, Manor Road and Lloyd Street (going round Tesco) or going around to the swimming pool, Woodlands Road, and back onto Stamford New Road (turning off the loop where appropriate for the particular service)
And 1 row of stands isn't going to be good, unless they go for like Manchester Airport or Warrington (bus reverses out and carries on going the same way around a loop)

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

So where in Altrincham will buses be terminating during these works? Will they be doing a loop around Stamford New Road, Moss Lane, Manor Road and Lloyd Street (going round Tesco) or going around to the swimming pool, Woodlands Road, and back onto Stamford New Road (turning off the loop where appropriate for the particular service)
And 1 row of stands isn't going to be good, unless they go for like Manchester Airport or Warrington (bus reverses out and carries on going the same way around a loop)

Since I made my posting, TfGM have put an entry on their media centre board of their website, with quite an amount of information. I certainly agree with you over the proposed reduction in the number of individual bus stand sections. It looks like they are to install a centralised booking office and there is also (from what I hear from yet another site) to be cycle-friendly sections for commuters.

There is much still to be decided and a contractor still has to be appointed. There will be much more actual infrastructural information coming over the forthcoming months from TfGM, with exhibitions in the area, nearer the time.

I do hope that the artists impression is wrong in relation to the two rows of bus stands at present being reduced to one stand.

 

[northwichcat]

The new cafe which opened at Altrincham Interchange last November has closed.

 

[WatcherZero]

http://www.tfgm.com/upload/library/110629-Altrincham-Interchange-Summary-v4.pdf

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

http://www.tfgm.com/upload/library/110629-Altrincham-Interchange-Summary-v4.pdf

Thank you for taking the trouble to put this link on the thread which should answer all current questions. At 56 pages long, it is very comprehensive in all aspects. It was interesting to note the high percentage of the bus users in the various analyses of the sectionalised questions, as bus users are always a high percentage of those using Altrincham Interchange.

The question of present and future bus stand provision was addressed in the conclusions and recommendations section. It states that the existing provision of the number of stands is too high and points out the number of infrequent bus services that eminate from the interchange. It gives a proposed figure of 72 bus movements per hour which will meet the current number of bus services departing from the interchange.

 

[WatcherZero]

Yes, for those who dont want to dig through the document the current peak number of departures per hour is 52 and they allowed for a 30% increase of services to 64 per hour in the design stage whose final design ultimately offered capacity for upto 72 per hour.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Yes, for those who dont want to dig through the document the current peak number of departures per hour is 52 and they allowed for a 30% increase of services to 64 per hour in the design stage whose final design ultimately offered capacity for upto 72 per hour.

Sorry about that...I only saw the final projection as being 72 per hour, not the figure as at present, which they hope to increase eventually to 72. It would make matters better if the buses were to have the type of bay provision as that at Chorley bus station and Manchester Airport bus station, which now could be envisaged, as the second stand provision near the clock tower will not exist, which will allow easier traffic movements, rather than the sideways-on bus stop provision as currently exists.

 

[WatcherZero]

Theres actually a national trend away from the design of car park like bays like that and towards the diagonal 'pull in' bays.

Two main reasons, firstly in the vertical bays the bus must reverse out which is dangerous to pedestrians with the bus drivers restricted vision. Secondly its much faster to enter and exit the diagonal bays speeding up movements. Though the downside is that the pull in bays are less compact reducing the ultimate capacity and people have further to walk when interchanging.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

At both Chorley bus station and at Manchester Airport bus station, are not passengers confined behind closed doors until the bus arrives at the selected bay? There is no reason why any passengers should be on the busway, behind these buses on both these two bus stations. There is official supervisiory monitoring at both of these bus stations.

Preston bus station and to a lesser extent Burnley bus station do not seem to be so safety concious as regards passenger safety, as they have the same type of bus movements as described above, but with open access to passengers (unofficially) to the busway that is ignored by bus station management. Preston in particular seems to have developed a new group of unofficial public footpaths from the stands that are nearest to the Guild Hall.