News Roundup 3rd October 2010

Commuters west of Manchester could be travelling by guided bus at some point! This article from the Manchester Evening News, dated 30th September, announces that the Leigh-Salford Busway project is "back on track" (ha ha!). I must confess, I hadn't a clue about the Leigh-Salford Busway; in fact, I have trawled the recesses of my mind and cannot recall ever having heard of any new guided busway systems...I know about trolley buses but that's about it. (I'm certainly learning a lot about different types of public transport as The Traincard Project takes off, which is very useful; to any rail/bus experts who may be reading, please bear with me...and I hope my naivete gives you a few chuckles!) Take a look at this presentation delivered by GMPTE at the BRT UK Symposium last December for more information about it. I'll have a read of it myself soon.

Perhaps this Busway scheme will be a good alternative for those who find the platforms at Salford Central Station a little too low. This article in the MEN reports that passengers "must stretch nearly two feet" to board the trains at this station. Let's hope a remedy is effected soon. I wonder whether the platform will be raised before the Busway is implemented?

On to light rail now: have a look at this entry by Martin Bryant, posted on Manchester Transport, a blog that I have just happened upon. It shows an Art Deco poster that Sam Luk designed for the Metrolink. As a fan of Art Deco, I can't help but agree with Martin's view that it is "rather amazing" - it certainly wouldn't look out of place in an episode of Poirot. 

We've had buses, trains and the Metrolink; now let's go out of GMPTE territory altogether and look at bicycles in Leeds. TransportXtra reports that there is a rather snazzy new bike shed at Leeds station, "Cycle Point", which enables commuters to continue their journey by bike. Take a look at this Northern Rail brochure. It was also reported by the BBC on Monday 27th September, the day it opened -- and a day on which I was in Leeds on business. I walked straight past Cycle Point on my way from the station to the taxi rank, not paying any attention to it at all. In my defence, it was early on a Monday morning and only superheroes are fully functioning at that time.

Wishing you all a lovely Sunday evening and a good week ahead!