Not one to shy away from trying something new we decided to go into manchester on our shiny new Metrolink to save the aggravation of trying to get through 86 sets of traffic lights on the way into the City Centre.
So that was the plan, so armed with my trusty I Phone I downloaded the app that told us how to plan our journey, how much it would cost and the frequency of the service. I must say this was very handy.
I discovered that our nearest stop was at Oldham Mumps and the tram would arrive at Victoria 16 minutes later. So what could possibly go wrong? We arrived at the station only to find that all the parking spaces were taken and the nearest parking was a quarter a mile away and would cost £4.00 for three hours.
Me being a renown tightwad thought this was a bit steep seeing as we didn’t know when we would be back I had the brilliant Idea of going to the next station which would be in Werneth somewhere near the tram tracks (how hard can it be to find a station.?). So back in the car and we made our way down to Hollinwood were the makeshift park and ride facilities were a welcome site. So far the journey had already taken us three quarters of an hour and we hadn’t even got on the tram yet!
Challenge number three using the ticket machine what is essentially an ATM which charges astronomical amounts for tickets however having my wife, grand daughter and her friend with us I was warned by Ann to behave, not to swear at the machine and calm down, so I bit the bullet and paid my £10.20 for our tickets.
The next tram according to the LED screens was due in twelve minutes so we waited patiently and to my surprise it turned up on time and looked all shiny and new, brilliant I thought until the doors opened and I realised there are only a few seats so for the journey I was hanging from the strap like an elderly chimp performing party tricks at the zoo.
So is it progress? maybe I am being a little unkind and when the car park at mumps is finished then maybe it will be fantastic. My only concern that the tram was full going to manchester but almost empty on the return journey. My theory of it being an escape pod out of oldham rather that the vehicle which will regenerate the town may prove to be correct.
John D Eccles 