Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund
There would have been an additional £1.2 billion borrowed and paid back through a mixture of public transport revenues and weekday, peak-time only Greater Manchester congestion charge.
AGMA decided to hold a referendum in Greater Manchester so that its electorate could express their approval or rejection of the proposals.
[clarification needed] The proposed funding would have been in two parts: £1.441bn in the form of a grant from Central Government, and £1.150bn as a loan to be repaid over a period of 30 years with the profit generated by both the public transport system and the Congestion Charge, in addition £300m would have been loaned to directly set up and administer the congestion charging system.
Once the loan had been repaid, the profits from the congestion charge would be used to fund future investment in Greater Manchester's transport system.
[10] New routes were proposed, including circular routes serving various inner suburbs and connecting them with popular districts such as Trafford Park and Salford Quays; outer circular services travelling across Greater Manchester between outlying areas transport interchanges and linking transport corridors in addition to the existing radial services terminating in Manchester city centre; and a high-speed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service between Leigh, Salford, and Manchester, travelling mostly on new bus corridors.
[13] Northern Trains is responsible for running local rail services and for operating most railway stations in Greater Manchester.
[16] Security improvements would include the provision of closed-circuit television at stations, covering platforms, waiting areas and car parks.
[18] Connections between different modes of transport would be improved with interchange facilities (with buses and Metrolink services where applicable) at several locations in Manchester city centre, Salford, Altrincham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Eccles, Stockport and Wigan.
New or enlarged park and ride facilities were proposed at Cheadle Hulme, Horwich Parkway, Hazel Grove, Heald Green, Mills Hill, Rochdale, Romiley and Stalybridge railway stations.
[17] As with the proposed improvements to the bus network, customer information screens would have been provided at all stations; real-time updates would be available online and via a text message service.
On the then existing network, capacity enhancements would be primarily along the Altrincham–Bury route: all services would be operated by double units (two trams coupled together) by the end of 2012.
The planned smartcard system would cover all modes of transport in the Greater Manchester area,[18] removing the need to buy separate tickets for a multi-modal journey.
An anticipated reduction of 10–15% in the number of cars entering the charging zone was expected to both reduce congestion, and decrease journey times.
For the first two years of the scheme, people on the minimum wage would receive a discount of 20% on both public transport fares and the congestion charge.
The survey demonstrated a majority in each of the 10 boroughs including Stockport, Bury and Trafford whose councils have previously opposed the scheme.
[34] The consultation process commissioned by AGMA into the public's attitude to the £2.7bn Transport Innovation Fund package suggested that a majority of respondents contacted in every borough of Greater Manchester had negative comments.
[38] As part of AGMA's formal consultation into the proposals, it commissioned IPSOS Mori to conduct research amongst 1,002 Greater Manchester businesses in July and August 2008.
He said the proposals "offer a once in a lifetime opportunity to put Greater Manchester in the premier league for public transport - so don't score an own goal".
[41] John Wilkinson, owner of Salford Reds Rugby Club, said "I can't see Sir Alex coming to the games by the tram from Altrincham or going to training at Carrington.
[42] On 1 July 2008 the Labour Member of Parliament for Worsley, Barbara Keeley, raised a number of concerns in the House of Commons about the TIF consultation process, which she summed up by saying: "It is my firm view that the consultation proposed by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities and the passenger transport executive is not up to the task.
"[44] The Chairman of the GMPTE Roger Jones lost his seat in the 2008 local by-elections to the candidate of the Community Action Party which campaigned on a platform of opposing the congestion charge on which the TIF plans are based.
[46] On 30 November the broadcast watchdog OFCOM ruled that the TV advertising campaign by GMPTE which was funded by the Department for Transport and which was intended to be an unbiased presentation of the facts concerning the TiF proposals was biased in favour of the scheme and was in breach of guidelines on political impartiality.
[49] On 12 May 2009, the mid-sized budget was selected allowing £1.2bn to be raised for spending on both the phase 3a and 3b metrolink extension along with various road and bus improvements.
