Questions to The Executive for 2025
Councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Clean Air, Environment and Transport, was asked a question by Stephen Parish:
What measures of traffic regulation will the Council employ to prevent the regular traffic chaos, and particularly disruption of tram services, at events at the Etihad stadium and Co-op Arena? After matches, the road junctions at Holt Town, and at Pollard Street / Carruthers Street are frequently blocked by taxis and private hire vehicles either meeting pre-booked passengers or plying for hire. Trams are often stuck, including trams going to the Etihad Campus station, delaying clearing crowds after matches or events. The inclusion of industrial areas in the residential parking zones may be another factor in increasing demand for taxis, so we have a situation in which the awful service offered by Metrolink means people seek to use taxis, which block tram lines, and make the tram service worse. An experiment in closing off Merrill Street after games to eastbound traffic, which seemed effective, does not seem to have been repeated, and likewise attempts to keep the Holt Town junction clear for trams have been haphazard.
Councillor Tracey Rawlins replied:
Transport for Greater Manchester and Manchester City Council encourage visitors attending events to travel via sustainable means, either through active travel or to use public transport. Transport for Greater Manchester run an enhanced service on Metrolink and dedicated match day shuttle buses to get fans safely to and from the game, and a resident’s parking zone is in operation around the Manchester City Stadium and Co-op Live.
After Manchester City games, there are high levels of footfall around the stadium, with up to 55,000 people leaving the stadium. To ensure the safe egress of people around the stadium surrounding roads are closed by a professional traffic management company. These measures are implemented under authority from Manchester City Council with the support of Greater Manchester Police, Transport for Greater Manchester and the event venues. No vehicles are permitted to enter the closed area until the number of people near the stadium has returned to a safe level, and enforcement takes place around the stadium by Manchester City Council parking enforcement services who can issue penalty charge notices. Any vehicles causing an obstruction or any significant delays to trams are dealt with by Greater Manchester Police.
We are aware of some congestion created by an over-saturation of private hire vehicles and are working with the Department for Transport to address wider issues with legislative reform by giving local authorities control of private hire licensing and the ability to cap the number of private hire vehicles that can be licensed. Our Licensing department make regular visits to the stadium and the arena, and we have contacted all our licence holders and reminded them about the importance of abiding by traffic regulations and picking up passengers where it is safe to do so.
We included the industrial areas as a trial, but there are no current plans to continue this moving forward. To assist with access and egress on event days, Merrill St will be made one-way from Frost Street towards Chesshyre Avenue.
16 January 2025