Journey times move up a gear

Journey times across Greater Manchester have got quicker triggering a payout from the Government of £2.5million in extra funding to slash them further.

A 30 minute road journey — which includes trips made by car, bus or motorbike — made in 2006 now takes 1.44 minutes less at 28.16 minutes, according to the latest Department for Transport analysis.

That reduction has sparked a payment to Greater Manchester from the urban congestion performance fund, taking the total it has received to pay for ways of speeding up travel to £4.99 million.

Transport Minister Sadiq Khan said: “Congestion is bad for people, bad for business and bad for the environment.

“I am delighted to announce Greater Manchester is being rewarded for outperforming local congestion targets — giving road users in these areas faster, safer and more reliable journeys, benefiting the local economy.”

A £60 million national fund set up to help England’s 10 largest urban areas to tackle problems on major routes runs until next year.

Across Greater Manchester, the average journey time fell by 5.8 per cent, while the average level of travel fell by 10.4 per cent.

The research was calculated by measuring travel times between set points on key roads using number plate recognition cameras.