Cross city bus services 'real benefit' to Manchester

Cross city buses will be a "benefit" to Manchester, the chairman of the city's transport executive has said.

A £54m project, which will see three new routes created across Manchester, has been given final approval by the Department for Transport.

Transport for Greater Manchester's Andrew Fender said the new corridors would improve employment opportunities for people in the city.

Work on the routes is expected to take three years to complete.

The routes will run along the East Lancashire Road through Salford, along Rochdale Road from Middleton to Manchester and from East Didsbury to Manchester city centre via Wilmslow Road.

The improvements will also see cars banned from Oxford Road between Manchester Metropolitan University and Central Manchester Hospitals.

A tree lined boulevard with wide pavements and cycle lanes will be created along the stretch, with traffic limited to buses, black cabs and bicycles.

Mr Fender said the corridors would deal with the fact that "very few bus services cross the centre of Manchester".

"What we've done is identify three corridors which we believe need to be better connected together and that will give people increased access to employment opportunities around the universities and also access to the Central Manchester Hospitals," he said.

He added that the link to the hospitals was of particular importance to "people from the west and the north" of the city.

"They used to have hospital services nearer to where they are, but the concentration of children's services at central Manchester for example does mean some people have difficulties," he said.

"Connecting services across the city centre and running them to the hospitals site, where there will be an interchange, will be a real benefit to those people wanting to make those particular journeys."

The scheme, which will cost about £54m, was originally announced in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement in November 2011.

The Department for Transport's final approval means work can now begin on the project, which is expected to be completed in 2015.