Introducing Northern’s new network map
Find out how Transport Designed redesigned Northern’s network map with clarity, consistency and connections in mind
New electric buzzes for Manchester’s Bee Network
New electric buses are coming to Greater Manchester. Buzzin’. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has ordered 50 Enviro400City EV buses from manufacturer Alexander Dennis for its new franchised bus system, part of the city’s impending ‘Bee Network’. They’ll be built across the Pennines in Scarborough, and will be the first to feature TfGM’s new Bee […]
Go-Ahead buys First Manchester bus depot; soon to rebrand as Go North West
The Go-Ahead Group has announced that it has agreed terms with FirstGroup to buy Manchester’s Queen’s Road bus depot. The sale, which is worth a reported £12m, is due to complete in the next few months, and will take Go-Ahead into Manchester, Britain’s second-largest urban area, for the first time. The deal includes the Queen’s Road […]
50 shades of orange
Manchester’s annual Big Orange event took place this weekend, celebrating all things SELNEC and GM. We took a shameless nostalgia trip to the event, which took place at the Manchester Museum of Transport in Cheetham Hill. The annual gathering brings together all things SELNEC and GM. It celebrates the vehicles, the design and the heritage […]
Major rail improvements for Manchester
Network Rail has announced a series of major improvements for two of Manchester’s biggest stations, Piccadilly and Oxford Road. Under plans released as part of the Northern Hub development project, Piccadilly will get two additional through platforms, whilst Oxford Road will be widened and lengthened to accommodate longer trains. This work will allow four extra trains […]
Metrolink returns to Manchester Victoria
Metrolink trams will return to a radically rebuilt Manchester Victoria station from February. The announcement from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) means that Manchester’s two main railway stations, Piccadilly and Victoria, will once again be directly connected via a light rail link. Trams will start and finish at Victoria for a short period during February whilst […]
Manchester gets MMCs
Stagecoach Manchester has taken delivery of 29 new ADL Enviro400 MMCs. Numbered 10401-29, the vehicles are the first Enviro400 MMCs for the group, and are all allocated to Manchester’s Sharston depot. The Enviro400 MMC (short for Major Model Change) is the second generation of the popular Alexander Dennis double decker. Available in integral form as […]
Little Red launches with big campaign
Virgin Atlantic recently launched its ‘Little Red’ brand, flying between Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Manchester and London. Little Red aims to take market share not just from BA on short-haul and domestic flights, but on connecting long-haul flights to destinations across the globe. The service launched using Airbus A320 aircraft operating 26 flights daily from Heathrow – […]
In pictures: Margaret Thatcher’s transport legacy
The Right Honourable Baroness Thatcher passed away today, aged 87. We take a second to remember her transport legacy. Many in the transport (and related) industries will recount that there are two words almost synonymous with Thatcher’s time in office: privatisation and deregulation. It’s fair to say that Thatcher irreversibly changed the face of the transport industry […]
Meet Vincent Kompany, Metrolink’s latest substitution
“This is your captain speaking, Vincent Kompany…the next stop is Piccadilly!” Residents of east Manchester are slowly getting used to the sound of various Manchester City players making their ‘next stop’ announcements on match days. When City are playing at home, the regular recorded announcements are substituted for the likes of Joe Hart, James Milner and […]