We’re well on our way

Photo: Picture: Anthony Miller

THERE’S no comparison: 94-year-old Clifford Collier.

“WHERE is Oldham town centre?” was the question from puzzled Metrolink passengers when trams arrived at Mumps yesterday. But it wasn’t all moans, as reporter Karen Doherty discovered...

The service from Oldham to St Werburgh’s Road in Chorlton got off to a steady start yesterday — with many of the passengers transport enthusiasts from across the region and further afield.

Most praised the service, but there were complaints that the route between Mumps Station and Oldham town centre wasn’t well signposted. Others were dismayed at the lack of buses from Mumps station to the town centre.

Ronald Dawson (74) from Wigan said: “There’s no directions. We need to get into the town centre and I am certainly not walking. To not have transport into town is farcical.”

At 11am around 30 people were waiting for the tram at Mumps. Some stations along the route were empty, with Metrolink staff outnumbering passengers.

But the tram that arrived in Oldham shortly after noon was packed. Passengers included Tony Young, from Shaw, a transport consultant and vice-chairman of STORM, the rail-passenger group for Oldham and Rochdale.

He said: “The worst thing is Oldham Mumps. The buses do not stop there; they pass the Metrolink station but they don’t stop — which is mad.”

But overall he was glad the service had started. “We have been without the train now for two and a half years, a very long time,” he added.

Jean Hodgkins, from Moorside, was going shopping with friend Margaret Leech in Manchester and said: “It’s brilliant. It used to be an hour on the bus and now it is 20 minutes.”

And Clifford Collier (94) enjoyed a return trip from Oldham to Manchester with daughter Anne (64) — a journey they regularly make by bus.

He remembers the trams which ran in Oldham until 1946 and said: “There’s no comparison! It is quite a pleasant change because getting to town on the bus you are shaken up and down with the bumps and there’s all the traffic. I think the trams are a credit and it’s brightened the place up too.”




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