Transport for Greater

Appendix 2: Manchester Cross City Bus Package Best and Final Funding Bid Strategic Overview

Introduction and Scheme Context

Bus services in Manchester have traditionally operated on the basis that they terminate within the Regional Centre with any passengers requiring to travel through, and beyond, the Regional Centre having to change bus services. This change often also involves a 10-15 minute walk trip between facilities.

One of the key reasons why through bus services do not currently exist within the Regional Centre is due to the poor quality and low level of bus infrastructure and priority that is in place in this location, making efficient and convenient bus journeys unreliable and unattractive to deliver from both an operational and passenger perspective. The Cross City Bus Package will provide the infrastructure to enable bus services to be run through the Regional Centre thus improving linkages across the conurbation.

In addition to facilitating greatly enhanced public transport access through the Regional Centre, the scheme will also provide bus priority infrastructure that supports the creation of the following three direct bus routes (also illustrated below):

Route 1:Salford A580 - Boothstown, to the west of Manchester to the Manchester Royal Infirmary on Oxford Road via the A580, Salford Central and the Regional Centre; Route 2: Middleton Bus Station to the North of Manchester to the Manchester Royal Infirmary on Oxford Road via Road and the Regional Centre; and Route 3: Parrs Wood in South Manchester to Pendleton on the A580 corridor, via Oxford Road and the Regional Centre.

Appendix 2 - Cross City Bus Package Strategic Overview.docx 1 A key focus of the scheme is to provide improved public transport links from areas of deprivation in the north and west of to the Oxford Road Corridor in South Manchester, which is the location of the Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) Hospital and the Higher Education Precinct (HEP), comprising the sites of the two Universities. The Oxford Road Corridor is a significant economic centre which currently includes around 4% of the city’s total business stock. In the longer term the employment potential of the Corridor is expected to grow from 55,000 jobs to over 70,000 jobs by 2020.

The redevelopment of the Chapel Street area of Salford, which is directly adjacent to the A580 corridor included within the Cross City Bus Package, also aims to deliver extensive regeneration benefits and provide improved connectivity and linkage between Salford University and Manchester City Centre. The final scheme is expected to generate some 11,000 jobs, 220,000 square metres of commercial floor space for office, retail, and leisure development, 849 homes and 390 hotel rooms, with the aim of creating a major expansion of the region’s commercial centre within the old city of Salford to meet the needs of key business sectors, including the financial and professional services. A new commercial quarter will be established next to Spinningfields and Salford Central railway station.

Appendix 2 - Cross City Bus Package Strategic Overview.Docx 2 The Cross City Bus Package scheme network will enhance the existing Greater Manchester Quality Bus Corridor (QBC) network and address the unique problems of the Oxford Road corridor, which has the highest demand for bus travel in Greater Manchester, and one of the lowest in terms of bus performance (reliability and punctuality). The Rochdale Road (A664 corridor) also contained within the Cross City Bus Package, is also in the bottom five key arterial bus corridors into Manchester City Centre in terms of reliability and punctuality.

Scheme Description and State of Readiness

Oxford Road Corridor

As a transport corridor, Oxford Road is already one of the most important arterial routes into the heart of the Regional Centre (with traffic flows of over 20,000 vehicles on a typical weekday) and one of the busiest public transport routes in Europe. It is characterised by very high bus flows and high pedestrian and cycle movements driven by the very high demand along the corridor. Through traffic in the vicinity of the HEP area accounts for approximately 60% of all trips within the HEP throughout the day, which contributes to significant levels of congestion.

The HEP area has the highest volumes of pedestrians in the City of Manchester outside the Regional Centre and yet the infrastructure available for pedestrian use is relatively poor. The corridor is also highly popular with cyclists, but for much of the route cyclists are mixed with general traffic, including large volumes of buses.

These factors contribute towards the need for enhanced safety along the corridor. A scheme that included a bus only section of highway was developed as part of the 2006 Oxford Road Corridor Study commissioned jointly by Manchester City Council and the former GMPTE (now Transport for Greater Manchester). The scheme sought to address the specific congestion and safety issues near the HEP by introducing a traffic management scheme that would divert general traffic from this section. The scheme now proposed for this corridor builds on this earlier scheme.

A key component of the package is a bus, hackney carriage (taxi) and cycle only section on Oxford Road between Hathersage Road and Grosvenor Street. The scheme proposals would be within the existing carriageway and include widening the footways and introducing segregation on carriageway cycle lanes.

Appendix 2 - Cross City Bus Package Strategic Overview.Docx 3 Complementary traffic management/capacity measures would aid traffic displacement onto adjacent routes and also assist in the provision of servicing and access.

Complementary schemes to the Oxford Road Corridor will include traffic management enhancements along parallel corridors, where general traffic is forecast to divert, and a new bus stopping and terminus facility within the MRI site at the southern end of the corridor.

An overview of the proposals is illustrated below.

Parrs Wood Corridor

This part of the package extends the ‘Oxford Road Corridor’ southwards through Rusholme, Fallowfield, Withington, and Didsbury to Parrs Wood. Although this corridor already has some significant lengths of bus priority, a number of additional enhancements have been identified, including improved access/egress to the bus interchange facility at Parrs Wood, signal modifications along the route, changes to parking and loading activity, displacement of obstructive

Appendix 2 - Cross City Bus Package Strategic Overview.Docx 4 turning traffic, an additional inbound bus lane between Christie’s Hospital and the junction with Palatine Road, bus priority measures through Withington and Fallowfield and new infrastructure to enhance journey reliability at Parrs Wood.

Salford / A580 Corridor

The Manchester Childrens’ Hospital, formerly located at Pendlebury close to the A580 Corridor has now been relocated to the MRI site on Oxford Road.

Improvements on this corridor will also assist in supporting the Chapel Street re-development and ever expanding University of Salford, both adjacent to the A580 Corridor in Salford.

The proposal is to run services from this corridor through to Oxford Road, thereby creating an important transport link from the west of Greater Manchester. This includes the introduction of new bus lanes on the A580 along with enhancements to bus priority at a number of key traffic signalled junctions, waiting / loading restrictions and bus stop upgrades. These improvements will also form an important element of the Leigh-Salford-Manchester Guided Busway scheme which is intended to be delivered in parallel with the Cross City Bus Package scheme. This scheme is to be funded separately.

Appendix 2 - Cross City Bus Package Strategic Overview.Docx 5 Middleton Corridor

The Booth Hall Childrens’ Hospital, formerly located near the Rochdale Road bus corridor, has now been relocated to the MRI site on Oxford Road. This was identified as a key opportunity for further bus enhancements and a major driver for its inclusion as a Cross City route in the proposals. The scheme, extending along Rochdale Road from Middleton Bus Station to the Regional Centre, comprises several kilometres of new bus lanes in both directions, largely within the existing carriageway, together with junction capacity enhancements, localised parking and loading improvements to reduce obstructive kerbside activity and upgraded pedestrian facilities. The proposed inbound bus lanes extend between Middleton Bus Station and the start of Green Village and from M60 J20 to Middleton Old Road with some smaller additional sections towards the Regional Centre, including through the Queen’s Road junction. Outbound bus lanes run from Collyhurst past Queen’s Park and from Middleton Old Road to the M60 junction, with smaller sections on the approach to Middleton Bus Station.

Regional Centre

Within the Regional Centre, bus priority measures along the east-west Portland Street and north-south Princess Street corridors are proposed to provide cross- city linkages from Oxford Road in the South with the Middleton Corridor in the north and the A580 to the west. These proposals have been developed in consultation with Manchester City Council and align with the wider Transport Strategy for Manchester City Centre.

Appendix 2 - Cross City Bus Package Strategic Overview.Docx 6 Portland Street is the major bus route into the Regional Centre and therefore the provision of bus priority along this corridor will result in significant benefits to buses serving the Regional Centre. Bus lanes are proposed in both directions on Portland Street and a northbound contra flow bus lane will be introduced on Princess Street between Portland Street and Cross Street. Complementary measures have been included in the package to cater for displaced traffic.

Other Improvements

Given that the infrastructure provision will improve both bus journey times and reliability through the Regional Centre, which is a known ‘hotspot’ for bus operators, this corridor investment will, for the first time, make the operation of cross city services practicable. As a result it will provide the opportunity for existing bus services from Middleton (20 buses per hour) and Leigh/Bolton (26 buses per hour) to run through the city centre to terminate at the MRI. In addition there are interchange opportunities available at Salford Central, Salford Crescent, and Oxford Road Rail stations, and for a wide range of bus services to connect with those that will be providing direct cross city links to the HEP. Interchange opportunities with Metrolink services will be

Appendix 2 - Cross City Bus Package Strategic Overview.Docx 7 created at St Peter’s Square, Piccadilly Gardens and Shudehill within Manchester City Centre.

The overall cost of the Cross City Bus Package, as presented in the Programme Entry Business case submission, is forecast to be approximately £54 million.

Providing Programme Entry is reactivated in December 2011 it is expected that construction will be completed by early 2015 following a Full Approval process. This type of scheme package lends itself to parallel working and staged delivery, enabling sections of the package to be fast-tracked so that they are implemented and generating benefits quickly; whilst more complex sections of the package are being finalised.

This anticipated delivery date, is of course, dependent on securing the necessary Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO’s) required for the scheme. To date, and following Programme Entry award, approximately 40% of the TRO’s required have been secured although a number of these will have to be re-advertised in the context of moving the scheme forward under the new arrangements and timescales. The remaining TRO’s will be processed following funding approval.

Summary of Benefits

The proposed Cross City Bus Package is currently forecast to have a benefit to cost ratio of 3.9, indicating that the scheme provides high value for money. The overall strategic benefits are summarised as:

 The package will enable bus services to run through the Regional Centre improving linkages across the conurbation and improving reliability and efficiency of service;  Links between areas of deprivation to the North and West of Manchester and new and existing job opportunities, education and health services on the Oxford Road corridor will be enhanced;  Removal of general traffic on the Oxford Road corridor will facilitate public realm enhancements; and  Bus journey times and bus reliability will be improved throughout.

Appendix 2 - Cross City Bus Package Strategic Overview.Docx 8 The key benefits on each of the corridors are summarised below:

Corridor Approximate AM Peak Other Benefits Bus Journey Time Savings (Secs)

Inbound Outbound

Oxford Road 200 90 Enhanced pedestrian environment created by a reduction in general traffic and extension of public realm. This is a key objective in the vicinity of the MRI and the heart of the HEP.

Enhanced public transport access to the HEP and MRI.

A580 225 80 Improved reliability for buses on the corridor.

Improved environment and crossing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.

Middleton 285 190 Improved reliability for buses on the corridor.

Improved environment and crossing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.

Parrs Wood 60 40 Improved reliability for buses on the corridor.

Improved environment and crossing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.

In addition to the above, the Regional Centre proposals will deliver increased levels of bus priority on key routes through the city centre. This will ensure improved journey times and increased reliability for bus passengers, encouraging modal shift. The proposed improvements will also result in significant additional journey time savings for public transport users due to direct services reducing the

Appendix 2 - Cross City Bus Package Strategic Overview.Docx 9 existing need to walk or interchange between services in the Regional Centre. The optimum level of traffic management will be introduced to ensure that public transport receives the priority it requires, thereby providing operators with the certainty that they can operate to a defined schedule.

Appendix 2 - Cross City Bus Package Strategic Overview.Docx 10