tl;dr: Salford tram service is rumoured to be made worse to support the Trafford line. I wrote to my councillors to ask them to prevent this.
Hello Councillors,
I’m writing about a rumoured change to tram service into Salford that will be introduced as a temporary measure; however, the last temporary tram service change to Salford lasted over four years.
I have heard that TfGM is planning to do the following to services into Salford:
- Closing the Etihad to MediaCity line
- Reducing the Ashton–Eccles service from five an hour (12 minutes) to four an hour (15 minutes)
- Changing all trams on the remaining Ashton–Eccles line to double
This is to support a service change on the Trafford line to run to Oldham.
I am aware that the current electric network within the city centre for trams doesn’t permit additional capacity; however, these two changes needlessly punish Salford. TfGM has frequently defended poor service to Salford with the argument that all services run at a 12-minute frequency while ignoring that the vast majority of destinations across the network have service by more than one line, with the richest terminus stations on the network served by several.
Additionally, afternoon and rush-hour service from the stops at Salford Quays and Exchange Quay will get intolerably busy, as people are frequently passed up by two services every 12 minutes with a single tram; a 15-minute service with a double tram would make the situation even worse.
I do not want to see this network change. The walk from where I live near Mariners Canal will have a substantially degraded tram service, and the walk to the nearest Trafford line station is a horrible zigzag diversion due to the Peel Buildings’ selfish fortifications.
The current state of the tram network and lack of investment in reducing service bottlenecks in the centre zone should not be compensated for by an intentional deterioration of Salford’s already poor service provision.
I would like to see Salford as a whole come out strongly against these changes to the tram network services and ideally block them.
Warm regards,
Andrew