Manchester City Council has established a Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA) with central government with a target of reducing the proportion of trips made by private car into the City Centre in the morning peak period.

On behalf of the City Council, GMTU agreed a methodology with the Department for Transport to collect base line and future year data on the numbers of people travelling into the City by different modes. This involved organising some 250 surveyors to record:

• Traffic flows and numbers of occupants in the vehicles
• Bus flows and numbers of passengers
• People entering by Metrolink
• People entering by train
• Pedestrians walking into the City
• Cycle flows into the City

The surveys were carried out in September and November 2005 and March and May 2006 to take account of seasonal differences. With over 300 buses on the Oxford Road corridor to be observed, GMTU developed a unique multi-camera digital video system to video the top and bottom decks of buses to allow passenger numbers to be accurately counted.

The surveys will be repeated in 2008/2009 to monitor progress towards the target.

For more information, contact Paul Jackson (0161 455 2064)

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