Free off-peak travel for people over 60

Are you over 60 ? Did you know that you can use the national concessionary travel pass (often refered to as the concessionary bus pass) for free travel on off-peak trains in the Greater Manchester area.

That is to say, FREE travel on …
* trains between 9.30am and midnight (Monday-Friday), and all day on weekends & Bank Holidays
* trains to all stations in the GM area which includes Wigan, Bolton, Salford, Eccles, Manchester, Stockport, Glossop, Altrincham, Flixton, Cheadle Hulme, Marple, Rochdale, Ashton-under-Lyne, Oldham, Smithy Bridge (for Hollinwood Lake) … to name just a few !

The national concessionary travel pass also gives you half-price travel in the same area before 9.30am on Mondays to Fridays.

For more information ask for the leaflet “National Concessionary Travel Pass for Greater Manchester” from any manned station or check the details on the GMPTE website.

Give Trains a Fighting Chance

The Campaign for Better Transport have produced a short, humourous video about the highly subsidised air fares which make train travel uncompetitive by comparison.

Fares leap way ahead of inflation again

Walkden passengers have been hit by another round of higher-than-inflation price rises. This year fares to Manchester have increased in the range of 6% to 7% – streets ahead of inflation and totally out of keeping with the current bleak economic situation.

	Peak Return to Mcr	Off Peak Return to Mcr	Peak Single to Mcr	Off Peak Single to Mcr	1 Month Season Ticket
Old fare	£4.90	£2.80	£3.00	£2.70	£73.80
New fare	£5.20	£3.00	£3.20	£2.90	£78.40
increase	6.12%	7.14%	6.67%	7.41%	6.23%

This year’s rises are similar – or even bigger in some cases – than last January’s.

Passengers hit by inflation-busting fare rases

Fares increased by around 5%-6 % from January 1st, that’s two or three times higher than the current annual inflation rate of 2.1%. Some examples fare increases are: Peak Return to Manchester: up 5.38% from £4.65 to £4.90 Off-Peak Return to Manchester: up 5.66% from £2.65 to £2.80 Peak Single to Manchester: up 7.14% from £2.80 to £3.00 1 Month Season Ticket: up 4.98% from £70.30 to £73.80 Passengers could be forgiven for asking how such above-inflation increases can be justified when they are still waiting for longer trains and improved facilities.