Manchester QPS consultation

An eight week consultation on a planned Quality Partnership Scheme in Manchester is being held. Bus operators, passengers and other stakeholders are being asked for their views on the proposal, which is intended to ensure passengers are guaranteed the highest quality of service. It comes on the back of the £122m bus priority package being delivered by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), designed to improve bus service quality on key corridors linking Leigh, Atherton, Salford, Middleton and East Didsbury with Manchester. Spanning four local authorities, the QPS is aimed at protecting the value of this investment. If the consultation is successful, the scheme is set to be introduced once the majority of the bus priority infrastructure has been delivered. The bus priority package, including the changes to Oxford Road, is due to be completed in 2016, subject to confirmation of final approvals.
Approximately 50 bus routes will be covered by the QPS, including:

• A580 East Lancashire Road/A6 Chapel Street (Ellenbrook to Manchester city centre), including A577 Tyldesley Road (Atherton to Tyldesley) and A572 Spinning Jenny Way (Leigh Bus Station to guided busway);
• A664 Rochdale Road/Manchester New Road (Middleton to Manchester city centre); and
• Oxford Road/Wilmslow Road (East Didsbury to Manchester city centre).

Chair of the TfGM Committee, Cllr Andrew Fender, said, ‘The Quality Partnership Scheme complements the bus priority package and in doing so guarantees a high quality of service for passengers. The partnership will lock in quality standards on the main routes operating along the QPS corridors. It will mean high standards of service delivery and commits bus operators to high quality vehicle standards. We have committed to passengers by investing public money in the infrastructure and we are pledging to maintain the quality of that in future in return for a similar promise from operators about the quality and standard of service they will provide.’
A response to the QPS consultation can be made at www.tfgm.com/Buses/Bus-Priority-QPS/Pages/default.aspx