Regional Centre
The Regional Centre lies at the heart of the
Our grounds for continued optimism are well founded as the city’s growth path to becoming a global force in the knowledge economy is now clear, with our Manchester Knowledge Capital initiative expected to generate up to 100,000 new jobs in high value added sectors across Greater Manchester over the next ten years.
Accessibility is the key to the continued success of the Regional Centre. This LTP therefore puts considerable emphasis on ensuring that
the transport system will be able to continue to deliver people to the centre in an efficient and effective way without significant
growth in
It is also vital to ensure that the Regional Centre remains an attractive place to visit and that its environment continues
to improve. Managing the transport network effectively to ensure that
We recognise that there are still problems to be dealt with in all the shared priority areas referred to in the previous two paragraphs. The main problems themselves are:
- vehicle/pedestrian conflicts because of the high levels of activity
- poor air quality because of the large numbers of motor vehicles
Our long term strategy has been to reduce the amount of vehicular traffic which is merely passing through the centre. We have
been dealing with this incrementally for at least twenty years with much success. From the eighties and early nineties we
have the pedestrianisation of most of Market Street, Albert Square and St Ann’s Square, and the
Subsequently following the IRA bomb explosion in 1996, we drew up a masterplan for the renewal and further development of the city centre. This included the creation of new public open spaces including Exchange Square and New Cathedral Street with accompanying major and specialist retailers.
During all this time, we were gradually completing the
More recently, in January 2006, we have closed sections of Cross Street and Corporation Street to all vehicles except for Metroshuttle buses between 11.00 am and 7.00 pm. We have also been installing ‘all red’ phases at key junctions to provide more priority for pedestrians.
Much has been done, but some problems remain, albeit at a lower level than in the past. As the M&SIRR and the pedestrianisation measures have been completed, so the through routeing has reduced substantially. But we recognise that the safety record in the centre remains unsatisfactory, and there is still scope to improve the the total environment for visitors. During the LTP2 period we intend to deal further with these issues. The key is continued improvement in the level of public transport provision to the Regional Centre .We need to ensure that even more through traffic is discouraged from passing through the centre, and that almost all traffic is accessing the centre to take advantage of its wide-ranging first class facilities in all aspects of business and entertainment. We intend to extend our priorities for pedestrians, so that the centre is a safer, less noisy, healthier and altogether more attractive place for its large number of diverse visitors. Details of our proposals are provided in Section 5.3.
Policy
Desired Changes in Modal Split for the Regional CentreTargets
There are three mutually compatible targets concerning trips into the Regional Centre: LTP6 am peak traffic into the regional centre, LTP12a modal split of am peak trips into the regional centre, and Manchester City Council's PSA target for 2008/09. The LTP indicators continue to use the methodology we used in LTP1 period, because it is cost-effective and provides continuity in the data both over time and between regional and other key centres. The PSA indicator methodology differs from the LTP indicators as there have been a greater frequency of surveys, slightly more survey stations have been used, and a more accurate method of establishing bus patronage employed. This PSA method is the basis of the figures given below.
Baseline Position
The baseline setting out how people currently travel across the city centre cordon is being established through comprehensive
surveys carried out under the direction of the Greater Manchester Transportation Unit in September and November 2005, and
due for completion in May 2006. The surveys were conducted on representative days (ie not in school or university holidays)
at a cordon on the inside of the
| Mode |
Number of Person Trips |
% |
| Car |
31,200 |
35 |
| Bus |
25,100 |
28 |
|
|
18,000 |
20 |
| Metrolink |
6,300 |
7 |
| Walking |
7,600 |
8 |
| Cycling |
800 |
1 |
| All non–car |
58,000 |
65 |
| TOTAL |
89,000 |
100 |
2011 Projection
Our estimate is that by 2011 there will have been an increase in 12% in the number of people employed in the city centre.
This represents a net gain of 17000 jobs on the current base figure of 134 000. Based on our baseline survey every three city
centre jobs generate two daily peak period trips across the cordon. We therefore project that given
| Mode |
Number of Person Trips |
% |
| Car |
31,300 |
31 |
| Bus |
28,400 |
28 |
|
|
21,600 |
22 |
| Metrolink |
8,500 |
9 |
| Walking |
9,000 |
9 |
| Cycling |
1,200 |
1 |
| All non–car |
68,700 |
69 |
| TOTAL |
100,000 |
100 |
Notes
-
Figures rounded to nearest 100 and percentage point.
-
Bus patronage in the peak hour to the city centre is projected to rise by around 13%, significantly higher than the average for greater Manchester as a whole, but this difference is consistent with past trends.
-
Rail patronage is forecast to grow at the same rate as in the last 3.5 years an increase of around 600 daily peak period trips each year. -
The rise in Metrolink patronage is consistent with the capacity increases on phases 1 and 2 which are due to be delivered towards the end of the LTP 2 period.
-
Growth of 50% in the number of cycling trips and 18% in the number of walking trips is assumed, reflecting higher levels of development on the edge of the city centre and the impact of measures to encourage greater use of these modes for shorter journeys.
-
The number of car trips is expected to remain roughly constant due the continued capacity constraints on long stay
car parking in the heart of the city centre and greater utilisation of the inner relief road and other alternative routes for through trips. -
The employment projection has been provided by the Oxford Economic Forecasting model and is consistent with the level of
economic growth assumed in the Greater Manchester Economic Development Plan, the City Region Development Programme and the Greater Manchester Implementation Plan.
Note that targets LTP6 (am peak traffic into the regional centre) and LTP12a (am peak modal split into the regional centre) use a different survey method from the PSA method described above, particularly regarding the collection of bus patronage data. This is to maintain consistency with previous surveys undertaken since 1997, in order to maintain a continuous dataset. In consequence, the two survey methods give slightly different, but compatible, results.