Early start? not by tram to Kingsway BP

Below is a letter I sent to the Observer in the hope of some journalistic action.  Alas as far as I know it was not published, Matron and I been away in the land of the leaning tower.  Could it be my references to our dutiful councillors?

“07 September 2013
Dear Editor.

As a strong supporter of the Metrolink and its arrival into Rochdale I find myself asking 2 questions of our Councillors and indeed Transport for Greater Manchester.

When will the service to Smith Street stop begin?  All seems to be in place and trams have been photographed as seen in the Observer, at the stop.  The more cynical of us may ponder the political will of the Smith Street Stop, Rochdale ‘Town Centre’ not being allowed to open before the Oldham Town Centre route in spring 2014.

My main question, however, concerns the service times in the morning for the first tram toward Oldham.  I am sure that our councillors are aware that in modern working times that a shift pattern which means workers have to begin work at 06.00am is in the main the pattern of employment at the Kingsway Business Park.

I for one was disappointed when this stop was built at the expense of a stop at Wetrake gardens but have accepted the facts that Kingsway is now in operation.

Are our councillors therefore aware that the first tram from Rochdale Station Stop is 05.59?  the more observant of them will, I am sure, be able to calculate that any worker at Kingsway Business Park cannot  use the Metrolink to get to work for a 06.00am start.

Compare this to the good folk of Manchester, Oldham and all stops south who can not only arrive at Kingsway for their shift by tram but can access the huge employer adjacent to the Shaw and Crompton Stop.

Is it beyond the wit, or ambition, of our councillors to support our workers and demand a tram service which gives a chance to get to Kingsway by 06.00am?  add to this the plight of people living adjacent to the Kingsway Business Park Stop who cannot board a tram in the Oldham and Manchester directions until  after 06.00, to allow access to work opportunities further afield.”

Old Regulator wrote:
Below is a letter I sent to the Observer in the hope of some journalistic action.  Alas as far as I know it was not published, Matron and I been away in the land of the leaning tower.  Could it be my references to our dutiful councillors?

“07 September 2013
Dear Editor.

As a strong supporter of the Metrolink and its arrival into Rochdale I find myself asking 2 questions of our Councillors and indeed Transport for Greater Manchester.

When will the service to Smith Street stop begin?  All seems to be in place and trams have been photographed as seen in the Observer, at the stop.  The more cynical of us may ponder the political will of the Smith Street Stop, Rochdale ‘Town Centre’ not being allowed to open before the Oldham Town Centre route in spring 2014.

My main question, however, concerns the service times in the morning for the first tram toward Oldham.  I am sure that our councillors are aware that in modern working times that a shift pattern which means workers have to begin work at 06.00am is in the main the pattern of employment at the Kingsway Business Park.

I for one was disappointed when this stop was built at the expense of a stop at Wetrake gardens but have accepted the facts that Kingsway is now in operation.

Are our councillors therefore aware that the first tram from Rochdale Station Stop is 05.59?  the more observant of them will, I am sure, be able to calculate that any worker at Kingsway Business Park cannot  use the Metrolink to get to work for a 06.00am start.

Compare this to the good folk of Manchester, Oldham and all stops south who can not only arrive at Kingsway for their shift by tram but can access the huge employer adjacent to the Shaw and Crompton Stop.

Is it beyond the wit, or ambition, of our councillors to support our workers and demand a tram service which gives a chance to get to Kingsway by 06.00am?  add to this the plight of people living adjacent to the Kingsway Business Park Stop who cannot board a tram in the Oldham and Manchester directions until  after 06.00, to allow access to work opportunities further afield.”

Sorry ive been a a bit quiet on the tram front. Yes the line is all but complete down to Smith Street. But I noticed at the beginning of this week there were workmen (again) digging up a section of the concrete track bed just by where the old Halfords store used to be. Ive noticed on a few occasions there has been work being carried out here. Is this a long term issue going on? I notice too that Oldham testing is now underway from the new Mumps stop all the way to Westwood and the old Oldham Loop alignement. I think , by the way, its a massive error closing the Oldham Loop Section when the cross Oldham section opens in Spring. I think its a good sellling point to have express Trams to Manchester etc and a second more scenic route. Plus Ashton line is opening for business next week (9th I believe) a good few months ahead of schedule and just in time for the start of the Christmas Shopping period.

So why so long for Rochdale? Baring in mind the Ashton section is a lot longer than Rochdale but yet was built quicker and finshed than Rochdale?

Plus very valid points about the timing of the Trams to Kingsway. First Tram should be at least 20 minutes sooner.

That is the reason why I had to turn down a job at an hospital in Manchester a few years ago. The time of the shift I was to be on there was no tram or bus early enough. Also I would have been placed on a waiting list for a parking permit which was nearly a 2 year waiting time.

So paying for parking charges in the mean time would have been just to much, so had to turn the job down for financial reasons. I was informed I would get a permit for the car park but not informed of such a long waiting list until I applied for a permit. Also when I started to look at the time table for the trams and the bus.

Shame really I would have enjoyed the job and the staff I was introduced to were very nice and welcoming. I must admit I just could not understand in all the planning of the trams and public transport why early starters for work are not taken into consideration. This could be the people who plan all this and the politicians involved must think all workers are middle income earners and work office hours. Of course when Labour and the Tories always talk about the vote they always mention the Middle Class vote and so t could be early start workers do not count in the planning.

Also fail to understand why Old Regulator letter was not printed and a good balanced letter at that. Straight to the point.

I actually wrote quite a few weeks ago informing news media that work had stopped here due to "faulty tracks being installed " and new ones having to be put in situ but sadly NONE of them took it seriously !!!

It does seem to be some conflict with certain areas of the media,politicians and the transport bodies if they are not prepared to hear the other side of a viewpoint of users of the trams. They want to hear the good points but not the bad ones. Of course we may have to be middle class workers doing office hours to be listened to?

Jeanie. I understand that folk think that new track is being ‘ripped up’ but this is not usually the case. The old Victorian tramways, including the Rochdale one, took no account of the effect electrical ‘leakage’ had on buried pipelines, usually cast iron in those days, which is why utilities have to be resited from underneath the new tracks. The modern tramway has standards of ‘leakage’ far less, measured in Ohms, than the old days. Therefore Untill the trams actually rum over a section of track the resistance cannot be accurately measured and remedial track work looks like a mistake has occurred in the type of track rail, which is erroneous as all the actual track is the same, except on the road way where ‘salt’, not me by the way, is a corrosion factor.

The problem at Maclure Road is a land ownership one which makes the junction seem to be in permanent construction.

I hope this has cleared some things up but I still want to know why Smith Street isn’t opened yet and if, when the Tram Management System is fully functional an early tram service will be instituted, using a tram based at Queens Road depot, to get Rochdale workers into the Kingsway Business Park for a 6am start.

I asked this question on GMR on Friday, I could not phone due to time restraints, and as usual got the bluster that ‘Rochdale is getting a new stop at Smith Street, Oh please, and that ‘we’, the Metrolink operators, are speaking to firms in Shaw so their workers can have a ‘late’ service to get them home at midnight. So there you are Rochdale fobbed off once again.

Hinch what a good idea a Letters section on RO, I wonder why this hasn’t been thought of before?

Jeanie wrote:I actually wrote quite a few weeks ago informing news media that work had stopped here due to "faulty tracks being installed " and new ones having to be put in situ but sadly NONE of them took it seriously !!!