Good morning forum readers
I have recently been elected to the working group of TfGM and will be attending future meetings. I attended an initial briefing yesterday and the following areas (amongst others) are being looked into:
Air quality plan, identifying high count areas and looking into how these areas can be dealt with. This will be part of a Manchester 2020 plan and will be signed off in this coming year. There are a variety of avenues being researched at present into how this is managed. Personally I think this is a great idea, the environment is something I feel needs given the correct respect and assistance.
Tram connection strategy, prioritising routes such as Marple to Stockport (I am a firm believer this is essential), Marple to Manchester, Stockport to the airport and extending the East Didsbury line into Stockport and Hazel Grove.
Bus reform, changing operations of buses through Mayoral reform and looking into how services can be improved and become more user friendly, identifying new routes and protecting what is already running.
Cycling and walking schemes, there is a £160 million challenge across Greater Manchester for local Councils to secure funding for improvements to cycling and walking routes. I am hoping to get more details of this in June.
TfGM are also looking into taking over some smaller stations (to start with) to create a uniform approach to standards and quality. They are also looking at larger hub stations such as Stockport becoming more user friendly with more shops and cafes, perhaps more akin to York (this is my example, not one given to me).
I will update accordingly when I attend my 1st official meeting in June. Constructive comments as always are welcome but please bear with me if I cannot answer until I have been to my 1st full meeting. I will take any questions with me and do my best to respond as soon as I can.
Thanks for reading this
Kind regards
Steve Gribbon