Manchester Needs an Oyster Card

Manchester does actually also need a congestion charge – or something to keep cars out to the centre of the city.

We’ve just voted against such a concept – and the government, God bless ‘em, have said they”ll give us the money anyway.

But I wonder why we didn’t’ approve it?

Well, I’m guessing:

• Public transport is appalling. On the day we were voting a commuter train from Bolton to Manchester was cancelled. There are normally quite a few in the morning and quite a few in the rush hour, but if you don’t catch the 18.22 there isn’t another own until 23.18. The little antiquated 8.22 two carriage train is always full. Today, a woman fell asleep standing up, propped up by the other commuters, many of whom had been waiting for the 7.55. It stinks. Literally. I’m sure everyone washes, but by the time you’ve been herded up there…. .Still, the journey is only ten minutes, and I have to say the connection between Salford Crescent and Oxford Road – and therefore the connection between Salford University and the other Greater Manchester Universities is superb – 15 minutes end to end and only £1.30 return.
• Public transport is otherwise expensive. £3.70 return on a Saturday into town, six miles away. I’m already paying £240 a year to park my car at my place of work. And then there’s the insurance on my car and the other fixed costs. And even when I pay the petrol as well, it’s still cheaper by car.
• Public transport can be dangerous. Just read the local press. And the last but one time I came home on the tram, the local drunk decided to sit by me.
• The congestion charge did not go far enough. It was only offered in the rush hour. I was just going to opt to use my flexi-time to start my day and end my day later. I’m sure I wouldn’t have been alone. But Manchester is congested and something must be done.
• On a personal level, there was nothing proposed which would make my journey to work sensible. More park and rides, more trams, trains and buses and a way of getting cheaper or at least sensible fares need to come into the equation.

And there’s the rub. Manchester’s transport system is not integrated. I need to be able to choose to take my car sometimes and sometimes the train. If I leave my car at home because I want to go into town in the evening and perhaps have a drink – I end up paying about £6.00. A return on either the tram or the train would have been cheaper. If I then decide to take a bus into town because it’s raining – as it often is in the “rainy city” … I’m paying over £10.00. Taxis are almost cheaper – certainly if there are two of you or more. What encouragement is there there for being greener?

We want an Oyster card. London has got it right. That fabulous card, which you check in and out of all forms of public transport, charges you for the optimum type of journeys you’ve made on any week or day and then takes a percentage off. You can have it tied to a credit or debit card and it will top up automatically. No queues. No not being able to get home because you haven’t got the change. It used only to be available to people with a London address. Now anyone can have one. There’s a pearl of wisdom in there somewhere.

But then, Manchester isn’t London. It is a real place. Where exactly is London? We’ve all heard of London Bridge and the Tower of London. But the place, London? The Square Mile? Because, other than that there’s Westminster, Knightsbridge, Hampstead, Camden, Islington …. And London Transport. London is united by a transport system. Manchester does not need to assert itself that way. It is a real place, with a proper centre and plenty of character. It does not need to identify itself through a transport system, though it’s choking through lack of a good one.

Can’t it learn from its shallower big brother? Wouldn’t it be even better with an Oyster card?