Is Saddleworth the worst connected part of Oldham for public transport?

Is Saddleworth is the worst-connected part of the borough – a report by Charlotte Hall, Local Democracy Reporter

MAISY, 24, can’t put a figure on how much she spends on Ubers. All she knows is that it’s far too much.

But the mum, beautician and shop assistant feels she doesn’t have much choice but to fork out for expensive taxi fares to get herself and her daughter around Oldham borough. She lives in what some have called a ‘transport wasteland’.

“It gets really expensive,” she said. “I’ve used [Uber] twice already today. We tried to use the bus the other day but there’s not many of them. It’s a bit rubbish.”

Oldham has a population of more than 240,000 but has just one train station. Trafford and Tameside, both with slightly similar populations, have eight and 13 respectively.

While there is a tram running through Oldham town centre (currently with a reduced service due to a landslip between Derker and Shaw) which connects the borough with Manchester and Rochdale, residents feel transport across the borough itself is limited.

Saddleworth is the worst-connected part of the borough. Even in Uppermill, which is right next to Oldham’s only train station in Greenfield, residents told the MEN they felt ‘left behind’.

Trains currently go between Manchester and Greenfield every half hour – but the station doesn’t connect to Oldham town centre or anywhere else in the borough. Yet it wasn’t always like that.

Oldham used to have 22 train stations, with the ‘Delph Donkey’ line connecting all of the Saddleworth villages – from Delph and Dobcross to Lydgate to Grasscroft – with Lees, Grotton and Oldham town centre until the late fifties, with competition from road transport hastening its demise in the post-war era.

More recently, Oldham’s remaining train stations were converted into today’s Metrolink, leaving Greenfield – and Mills Hill station – which is in Middleton but on the Chadderton border – as the only train stations in and around the borough.

Maisy, who spoke to LDRS in a park outside Uppermill library, thinks the lack of connectivity is worse in the more rural parts of the borough.

“I feel like Oldham’s not that bad when you actually get into the town centre because there’s buses going everywhere. I just think there needs to be more bus routes in Saddleworth,” she said, before dashing off to stop her three-year-old causing mayhem in a nearby flowerbed.

And Maisy isn’t alone. A number of young people in Saddleworth that the MEN spoke to said they felt ‘left out’ and ‘forced into car ownership’ because of the poor public transport offer.

“I never wanted to drive but it was so limiting because the transport round here,” Kirby, 28, told the MEN. She was on a break from her job as a manager at the local supermarket on Uppermill high street. “If you miss the bus then you’re left waiting in the rain for an hour.”

Kirby said she was in the process of learning to drive because she felt she had no other choice. Meanwhile, her colleague Kyle, 33, doesn’t drive and said he felt the public transport was “very limiting job-wise”.

Kyle said: “It’s fine where we live in Stalybridge and Leigh if we’re trying to get into Manchester. But there’s no good way to get between Ashton and Oldham [borough], really. It would be good to have another tram or trainline.”

But that could take a while. A new ‘masterplan’ unveiled by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham a few weeks ago promised a ‘transport revolution’ across the region, with new train stations and tram expansions in Stockport, Salford and Rochdale.

Oldham has been promised one new tram stop at Cop Road on the existing line between Derker and Shaw – but no new train stations and no extension of the tram network.

That leaves residents reliant on the bus service.

Simon Wright, 52, said: “I had to learn to drive quite young because I was born in Chadderton and my first job was in Lees – which is only a few miles away but there was no direct bus. So it took me about an hour and a half.”

The route still takes two buses, although according to Google Maps the journey now takes just over half an hour. Simon and his partner Joanne, 55, both feel it’s ‘not fair’ that the borough hasn’t received more infrastructure – and thinks there needs to be more of a focus on linking up rural areas.

He went on: “Everything goes through Oldham [town centre] even if it’s right next to each other on the map. We need to find a way to connect it all up.

“It’s also the non-profitable routes that get discarded but they’re the most important, especially for elderly people.”

The borough did see the roll-out of the Bee Network bus service earlier this year and many have noted the ‘significant improvements’ to punctuality across the service. Around 80 percent of buses in Oldham now run on time, compared with 65 pc before the service was taken over.

“I think we’ve got good transport,” said Uppermill resident Marilynn, 87, who was sitting at the village centre bus stop. “They’re very punctual now and so quiet because they’re all electrified.”

And Alasdair Higgs, 58, visiting his mother-in-law from North Yorkshire also praised the ‘local stopper bus’ which runs between the villages in Saddleworth. But he also feels the area is ‘quite congested with traffic’, and says unless there are more routes and more regular services, public transport is ‘not encouraging people to leave their cars behind’.

Meanwhile, one Diggle resident who didn’t wish to be named said that while the bus services now run on time – the timetables were a ‘nightmare’.

She said: “There’s one bus an hour. If it doesn’t match the time of the church service on a Sunday morning – it can wind up being a three hour job if you have to wait before the service and then wait afterwards. It’s not viable really.

“It’s the same with getting to the train station – the buses aren’t matched up to the train times, so you have really long waits. And getting a taxi there is eight pounds a pop. That’s a lot there and back.”

Buses to and from Diggle and Denshaw only run once an hour, while most other services in the area only run every 30 minutes. And there are some stark examples of the lack of connectivity across the area.

A drive from Moorside to Dobcross will take you ten minutes by car but almost an hour by public transport, requiring a tight change that could leave you waiting an extra hour in between. Similarly, a visit to Royal Oldham Hospital from Denshaw will cost you over an hour, with up to three changes.

Saddleworth has the most stark examples of transport issues but there are other blindspots in the more densely populated parts of the borough too. There are no direct routes to Stoneleigh Park from the town centre, despite the several schools in the area. And no buses run between Hathershaw, Glodwick and Lees despite being located next to each other.

Talks are ongoing about how to improve connectivity across Greater Manchester’s bus services.

But OMBC councillor Sam Al-Hamdani believes the borough has been left a ‘public transport wasteland’ and blasted the recent GMCA plans.

The Saddleworth West and Lees councillor said: “Oldham remains a public transport wasteland, and these plans will not change that.

“Again, we’re getting the crumbs of Manchester’s table. [Oldham] Council is investing millions into the town centre, and if it doesn’t have plans to make it easier for residents to come to Oldham rather than other towns, then it risks throwing away millions we can’t afford to lose.”

Al-Hamdani suggested a new train-tram line between the south of the borough and the town centre would encourage more people to visit Oldham – instead of going elsewhere.

Responding to the concerns that Oldham isn’t getting a ‘fair deal’, TfGM’s Chief Network Officer, Danny Vaughan, said: “Oldham is currently seeing significant investment in public transport and active travel, with buses now under local control and a fleet of new, modern vehicles serving local communities. New active travel routes are being delivered and people and businesses in the town already benefit from being connected to the Metrolink network.

“We are working with the council and other partners on plans that would further improve journeys and connectivity in and out of the town centre, which could also benefit from new tram-train routes and services in the future. As the Bee Network develops, we are also coordinating a rolling series of formal network reviews and continue to look at ways of improving transport in the area.”