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Transport Innovation Fund
 

Press Releases

18 September 2008

Bus boost for Wigan Borough - details released

New details have been released about how Wigan Borough’s bus services would improve if Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) proposals go ahead.

The proposals include investment of up to £3 billion in Greater Manchester’s transport network and part of this would go on enhancing bus services to, from and around the town.

This would mean buses that start earlier in the morning and run later in the evening, as well as travelling more frequently to areas that currently do not get the bus services they need.

Bus priority will be enhanced throughout Greater Manchester, providing faster and more reliable journeys.

Improvements would be funded in part by a weekday, peak time-only congestion charge to be introduced in 2013 at the earliest. At least 80 per cent of the public transport solutions will be in place before a charge is introduced.

Examples of proposed changes to buses in Wigan borough include:

  • More frequent circular services between Belle Green and Bottling Wood via Wigan town centre and the Infirmary with new evening and Sunday journeys introduced
  • The 352 service between Wigan and St Helens to run every 10 minutes in the daytime. This would combine with the 375 service to Skelmersdale/Ormskirk to provide a service between Wigan and Orrell Post every five minutes.
  • The 540 service between Wigan and Bolton via Hindley and Westhoughton, and the 652 between Wigan and Leigh via Hindley will run every seven to eight minutes in the daytime (every 30 minutes in the evening and every 20 minutes on Sundays).

For comprehensive information about a wide range of services see Notes to Editors section below.

Train users would also benefit from improvements. These include extra carriages on peak time commuter trains and refurbishment of Wigan Wallgate, Atherton, Hindley, Ince, Pemberton, Bryn, Gathurst and Appley Bridge  station by 2013. Wigan North West and Wigan Wallgate stations will be linked to each other and the improved bus network.

Proposed improvements across Greater Manchester are almost all funded by a Government grant of £1.5 billion and borrowings of £1.2 billion which both depend on congestion charging being introduced. Other contributions will bring in a further £0.1 billion, plus investment in rail from the Department for Transport.

Lord Peter Smith, Leader of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, said: “The TIF proposals promise considerable public transport benefits for Wigan Borough, including new and upgraded bus services. I’d encourage everyone in the area to look at the details of what the proposals would mean for them.”

Anyone who has not yet given their views on the proposals is encouraged to do so before October 10 – the end of the consultation. To find out how to take part in the consultation visit www.gmfuturetransport.com.

A postal referendum on the final proposals, with residents of all 10 districts in Greater Manchester voting, will be held in December.

 

-End-

Notes to Editors

Examples of how bus services could change are:

  • The existing 664/674 circular services will be rerouted between Wigan Town Centre and Lower Ince, to operate via the Westwood Park development site and a proposed new bus-only route. This service will run every half hour in the day and every hour in the evenings and on Sundays. The existing 630 service between Wigan and Platt Bridge will be rerouted through the Westwood Park bus-only route, running every half hour. The services will offer a combined 15-minute frequency between Wigan Bus Station and Westwood Park.
  • Robin Park will be served by four buses an hour. Along with the rerouted and increased 664/674 service, it will also be served by the revised 639/641 service, which will also run every half hour and offer direct links from the town centre to Worsley Hall, Kitt Green, Shevington, Standish and Appley Bridge.
  • A simplified network will run in Aspull, with a common route serving Holly Road and St David’s Crescent. Three services will run every half hour, but will offer a combined 10-minute service between Wigan and Aspull. Route 615 will continue via Haigh Village, Blackrod and Horwich to Middlebrook, Westhoughton, Atherton and Leigh. Route 576 will run via Scot Lane End, Blackrod and Horwich to Bolton and route 715 will run via Gerrard Arms, Wingates and Westhoughton to Bolton. In addition, a new service will be introduced to run between Standish, Haigh, Aspull and Hindley.
  • A simplified route pattern will run within the Hag Fold estate in Atherton. The 592 route will be the core bus service to Atherton, Shakerley, Tyldesley (for interchange with Leigh – Salford – Manchester bus transit services), Astley, Leigh Infirmary and Leigh, running every 15 minutes. Alternate journeys will extend beyond Hag Fold to Bolton, maintaining the current service of a bus every 30 minutes on this section of route. A new service between Hag Fold and Leigh will run every hour in the evening and on Sundays.  In addition a circular service will run every 15 minutes to link Hag Fold estate with the local LIFT centre, the railway stations, supermarkets and Atherton Town Centre, where it will provide connections with bus services to other areas.
  • The proposals for the Leigh – Salford – Manchester busway include a new high quality service into the regional centre via Tyldesley, the East Lancashire Road and Salford, running every 15 minutes. It will run cross-city to the Higher Education Precinct, Manchester Royal Infirmary and the new Greater Manchester Children’s Hospital.  This will be supplemented by an improved Wigan – Hindley – Atherton – Tyldesley – Salford – Manchester service, running every 15 minutes and also operating cross-city to the Children’s Hospital and MRI.  Both services will use new high quality vehicles and benefit from extensive bus priority measures.
  • The existing X34 service will be diverted to include Boothstown. It will run every 30 minutes during the peak hours and every hour in the off peak.
  • The 362 service between Wigan and Chorley will run every half hour in the evenings and on Sundays.
  • A new evening and Sunday service between Leigh and St Helens, via Lowton Lane Head, Newton le Willows and Earlestown, will run every hour, as will a new evening and Sunday service between Leigh and Lowton St Marys, via Plank Lane and Slag Lane.
  • The 352 service between Wigan and St Helens will run every 10 minutes in the daytime. This will combine with the 375 service to Skelmersdale/Ormskirk to provide a service between Wigan and Orrell Post every five minutes.
  • The 540 service between Wigan and Bolton, via Hindley and Westhoughton, and the 652 between Wigan and Leigh, via Hindley, will run every 7/8 minutes in the daytime, every 30 minutes in the evening and every 20 minutes on Sundays.