Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit

The Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit scheme in Greater Manchester, England provides transport connections between Leigh, Atherton, Tyldesley, Ellenbrook to Manchester city centre via Salford. The guided busway and bus rapid transit (BRT) scheme promoted by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) opened on 3 April 2016. From Leigh, a limited-stop bus service joins 7 km of guided busway to Ellenbrook, 6 km of bus lanes on the East Lancashire Road and sections of reserved bus lanes through Salford and Manchester city centres. The service will extend to the Central Manchester Hospitals on Oxford Road in 2017.

Built by Balfour Beatty to improve links from former coalfield towns into Manchester city centre, the busway encountered much opposition and a public enquiry in 2002 before construction finally started in 2013. A branch route from Atherton and an extension to Central Manchester Hospitals were added to the original scheme which cost £122 million.

Twenty purple-liveried Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LH hybrid double-decker equipped with CCTV and next stop audio and visual announcements operate the service. Stops on the guided busway section have level-boarding from platforms equipped with passenger information display screens.

Background

Leigh is one of the largest towns in Britain without a railway station since the closure of the Tyldesley Loopline in 1969 and suffers from poor connections to neighbouring towns. A guided busway scheme using a kerbed concrete track was proposed along the former railway route from Leigh to Ellenbrook to improve access to Manchester city centre from Leigh, Tyldesley and Ellenbrook and regenerate areas of the former Lancashire Coalfield. A public inquiry was held in 2002 but the decision was delayed because of great crested newts occupying a site on the route. The Department for Transport granted powers to build the busway in 2005 and it was projected to be built by 2009 but preliminary work only started in 2012.^[1] GMPTE had estimated that the busway would generate around 2 million passenger trips per annum.^[2] After the public inquiry, a branch bus route from Atherton to Tyldesley and an extension from Manchester city centre to the Central Manchester Hospitals were added to the scheme.

When proposed, the busway was controversial and encountered much local opposition.^[3] It was branded the 'Misguided Busway' by a Salford councillor.^[4] Critics contested claims by TfGM that the creation of within-carriageway bus lanes would not reduce general traffic capacity along the East Lancashire Road, a heavily congested radial route for traffic heading towards Manchester and Salford city centres; but instead increase it.^[5]

Construction

The busway under construction east of Hough Lane, Tyldesley in January 2014

A long legal process preceded the busway's construction, including a public inquiry in 2002.^[6] Powers to build it are set out in the Greater Manchester (Leigh Busway) Order 2005 in the Transport and Works Act.^[7]

Site clearance for the dedicated busway section between Leigh and Ellenbrook took place between November 2012 and March 2013.^[8] Balfour Beatty began its construction in September 2013.^[9] A short section of the busway west of Newearth Road was completed in early 2015 and in the April was used for a trial of the construction method and the bus guidance system. Following delays due to bad weather and other problems, the busway works were rescheduled to be completed before the end of 2015. The service began on 3 April 2016^[10] to coordinate with associated road and tram works in Manchester city centre.^[11][12]

TfGM spent £122 million on bus priority investment of which the guided busway track and infrastructure cost £68 million and the rest was spent upgrading associated local roads, bus lanes and junctions. The Greater Manchester Transport Fund provided most of the funding and the Department for Transport contributed £32.5 million.^[10]

Route

Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit
Legend
Leigh bus station Leigh The Loom Leigh East Bond Street – guided section begins Leigh Holden Road Leigh Higher Folds/Tyldesley West Cooling Lane Tyldesley Astley Street Tyldesley Hough Lane Tyldesley Sale Lane Ellenbrook Newearth Road – guided section ends Boothstown Newearth Road/East Lancs Road – buslane begins Worsley Walkden Road Worsley Old Clough Lane (A580) Park & Ride Swinton Moorside Road Swinton Hello Hotel Swinton Barton Road – buslane ends Pendleton Church Pendleton Frederick Road Salford Crescent station University of Salford – buslane begins Salford Cathedral Salford Central station – buslane ends Manchester Bridge Street Manchester John Dalton Street Manchester Princess Street (2017) – buslane begins Manchester Oxford Road station (2017) – buslane ends Manchester Metropolitan University(2017) – buslane begins University of Manchester(2017) Central Manchester Hospitals (2017) – buslane ends

The BRT route begins at Leigh bus station, and joins the guided section at East Bond Street. It proceeds through Leigh and along the converted rail alignment via Tyldesley to Newearth Road in Ellenbrook. An improved bus route from Atherton joins the route at Astley Street, Tyldesley. From Ellenbrook the route continues via bus lanes alongside the A580 East Lancashire Road, serving Worsley and Swinton before joining the A6 at Irlams o' th' Height. All stops along the A580 bus lanes are bus bays so that conventional stopping services can be overtaken by limited-stop expresses. It passes Salford University/Salford Crescent railway station before continuing through Manchester city centre and will pass along bus-only lanes on Oxford Road to Manchester University and Central Manchester Hospitals.^[13][14]

The guided section has stops at East Bond Street, Holden Road in Leigh and Cooling Lane between Higher Folds and Squires Lane in Tyldesley, Astley Street, Hough Lane and Sale Lane in Tyldesley and Newearth Road in Ellenbrook. The multi-user path for walkers, horse riders and cyclists alongside the guided section provides access for emergency vehicles and maintenance.^[15] For cyclists the path from Tyldesley to Ellenbrook is part of the National Cycle Network Route 55.^[16]

The route from Leigh to Central Manchester Hospitals will have 29 stops and the connecting route from Tyldesley to Atherton has five. On Monday to Saturday at least eight buses per hour operate in each direction on the guided section, four on the Leigh to Tyldesley section and four from Atherton joining the Tyldesley to Ellenbrook section.^[17] Park and ride facilities are provided at East Bond Street, Astley Street and where the A580 road passes under the M60 motorway carriageway.^[18]

Service

First Greater Manchester runs the service, branded Vantage.^[19] Service V1 operates from Leigh and V2 from Atherton.^[20] Timetabled journey times are 50 to 65 minutes from Leigh and Atherton to Manchester city centre.^[21] Services run through Manchester city centre to a temporary terminus at Stevenson Square until works are completed in 2017, when they will terminate at Central Manchester Hospitals. The earliest weekday departures from Leigh/Atherton are at 04:00/04:30 respectively; and last trips from Manchester are at 24:00/23:45.^[22]

The Vantage services, new service 35 and re-routed X39 peak period service replaced First's 12, 25, X34, 39 Night Bus and 26 journeys.^[23] Three buses per hour, services X34 and 34, operated by Stagecoach Manchester between Leigh and Manchester via Astley, join the A580 east of Boothstown.^[24]

In the first six months of operation, more than 900,000 passenger journeys were made; and, to meet high levels of patronage at peak periods, three duplicate services have been introduced. Five more Vantage vehicles will enter service in January 2017.^[25] Services between Leigh and Manchester city centre consistently achieve the timetabled 50 minutes at peak times. A survey of users published in October 2016 revealed that 20% of passengers had switched from travelling by car for the same journey, and nearly all respondents would recommend the service.^[26][27]

After light-controlled junctions along the East Lancashire Road were upgraded with SCOOT adaptive signalling in July 2016, TfGM reported in the October that traffic journey times on this section had returned to pre-construction levels in the morning peak while accommodating significant additional traffic.^[28]

Buses

Vantage bus in Manchester city centre

Services are operated by 20 Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LH hybrid double-decker buses. They are equipped with CCTV and next stop audio and visual announcements, USB charging points and free Wi-Fi. The purple-liveried buses have aubergine and grey e-leather seating.^[10]

Stops, signalling and ticketing

Stops along the guided busway section provide level-boarding from platforms and are equipped with passenger information display screens. The guided busway crosses local roads on level, light-controlled junctions at which busway services have priority.^[29] Tickets are sold by the bus drivers and all First Group ticket products apply to Vantage services,^[30] including multi-buy phone tickets and TfGM cross-user System One tickets^[31] and travelcards.

Awards

The scheme won the Transport Policy, Planning and Implementation award at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport North West Awards^[28] and the award for sustainability at the 10th annual North West Construction Awards in 2016.^[32] It has been shortlisted in the National and the North of England Transport Awards.^[33]

References

External links

• Bus Priority Transport For Greater Manchester
• Vantage First Greater Manchester