The Campaign for Better Transport are running an on-line petition against scrapping of Cheap Evening fares in Greater Manchester and introduction of higher fares for afternoon/evening services.
If you object to the changes please take a minute to sign the petition here.
FOWS next meeting will be on Wednesday (17th September) at 7.15pm in the British Legion Club on Wilfred Street, 5 minutes walk from the station.
Our meetings are free to attend and open to all comers – you don’t need to be a member. If you have something to say about the station or would like to know more about what we’re doing to try and keep improving it, why not come along ?
Northern Rail have responded to Government pressure to increase revenue by raising fares for afternoon/evening journeys.
From September 8th passengers will need to buy more expensive “Anytime” tickets to travel in Greater Manchester between 16.01 and 18.29. The restrictions apply to all travel – not just the direction of peak flow – and also extend beyond the Greater Manchester boundary to a confusing selection of other routes.
At Walkden we are perhaps fortunate that the popular 18.30 service into Manchester leaves just one minute after the new “peak” time so still remains eligible for off-peak tickets.
However, if you make an evening trip into Manchester from Walkden on the 16.29, 16.49, 17.29 or 17.52 services you will need to buy a £6.80 Anytime Return after Sept. 8th, a 76% increase over the £3.90 Off Peak return.
For passengers returning to Walkden after a day in Manchester, the 16.14, 16.46, 17.17, 17.47, and 18.14 departures from Victoria will all be unusable unless you buy an Anytime ticket.
To add to travellers’ misery, the popular Cheap Evening Return tickets will also scrapped doubling the evening return fare from Walkden to Manchester from £1.95 to £3.90 – so much for the government wanting to encourage people off the roads !
The move is bound to be deeply unpopular with passengers who have faced above-inflation fare increases for many years, and has drawn criticism from consumer protection groups like Passenger Focus and Travel Watch NorthWest.
As well as hitting people’s wallets the changes seems sure to introduce more yet confusion and difficulty for Northern’s front-line staff who will have the unenviable job of enforcing the increases.
The question should also be asked whether the move will even achieve its objective as on many routes (Walkden to Manchester included) bus services are available that will offer a more frequent and – after these price rises – cheaper alternative .
FOWS volunteers beside the new cube planter installed today
Several hardy FOWS volunteers braved this morning’s heavy rain to install the latest additions to our on-going environmental improvements plan – a third steel trough and another steel cube planter.
Volunteers also cleaned graffiti from the shelter, weeded the flower beds and planted some summer bedding.
Once again our thanks go to Salford City Council for the In Bloom funding which makes these improvements possible, and local supplies J. Hughes Engineering and Linnyshaw Garden Centre for their excellent quality products and generous free deliveries.
The latest trough from J. Hughes sparkling in the Walkden rain
The Northern Rail franchise, currently operated as a joint venture between Serco and Abellio, will be handed to a new operator from spring 2016 and the government’s selection process has begun in earnest.
FOWS and the Friend’s groups at Atherton, Daisy Hill and Westhoughton have produced a joint response to the government’s invitation for railway stakeholders to input to the requirements of the next franchise agreement.
Our response can be downloaded here and includes the following key points:
Friends of Walkden Station\'s Weblog 