Stop, Collaborate and listen to MediaCityUK’s latest addition

Retro bicycle themed café Love Conquers All has launched its summer pop-up ‘Behind the Bike Sheds’ next door to the soon to open Cycle Hub.

Dedicated to all things 90s, it will serve a range of themed refreshments to take you down memory lane including retro pop, frozen jubblies and mix ups  from a kiosk in the heart of MediaCityUK.

Carla Tomlinson, owner of Love Conquers All said; “Many of our cycling community rave about this era and in a nod to  our regular cycling crowd and the fact it’s based right next door to the Cycle Hub it made sense to call it ‘Behind the Bike Sheds’. For people on the move, it’s the perfect place to grab a quick drink and chill out.”

Behind the Bike Sheds is open from 12 noon until late and will be open throughout the Summer until October this year.   

Manchester and Salford grow major free wifi network, bringing superfast surfing to millions

Greater Manchester’s ambition to become a top 20 worldwide digital city region has taken a major step forward with the rollout from today of free, superfast wifi to Metrolink trams, more than 200 public buildings and greatly improved on-street coverage.

The innovative £7.25m scheme is being run by Manchester City Council, Salford City Council and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) – with funding from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Thanks to the scheme, Manchester and Salford are providing superfast free wifi in public buildings right across the cities, while free wifi will also be available on Metrolink trams.

Free superfast wifi is to be made available in more than 120 prominent Manchester City Council buildings including all libraries, the Town Hall as well as other civic buildings from community centres, sports centres and park buildings to galleries and museums.

In Salford, unlimited free wifi will be extended to 91 buildings under the banner of _FreebeeSalford, including libraries, leisure centres, The Lowry and Salford Museum and Art Gallery – giving instant access for residents and visitors.

Free wifi has already been switched on at Central Library and at the Town Hall Extension, with a further 119 sites set to be up and running by the end of March. The wifi is under the name _BusyBeeMcr and users can surf with no time limit throughout the week, when these venues are open. Capital funding for the _BusybeeMcr network has been provided by BDUK. 

As part of the scheme, £1.7 million has also been invested so that Metrolink customers can surf the web for free, with the roll out of free wifi on every tram.  All 96 trams have been kitted out with the new technology, joining the 20 buses running the free city centre Metroshuttle service.

Manchester’s popular free on-street wifi service _FreeBeeMcr, has also been extended to many more city centre streets and locations, creating the biggest on-street network in the UK. Visitors, residents and commuters will be able to log on across more of the city centre, plus selected district centres and the Oxford Road area around the main universities.  Selected websites, such as www.manchester.gov.uk and www.visitmanchester.com, are available for free on an unlimited basis via _FreeBeeMcr.

Councillor Andrew Fender, Chair of the TfGM Committee, said: “Metrolink is not only the largest light rail network in the UK, but now also the first light railway in England to become fully wifi capable, symbolising the region’s digital ambitions.  

“With over 30 million passenger trips made on Metrolink every year, this will help hundreds of thousands of people make the best use of their travel time with quick and simple access to free wifi.”

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Creating a powerful, nationally significant network of free, high quality wifi services across Manchester is another step towards achieving our goal for Manchester to be a world-leading digital city by 2020.

“We can now offer superfast, free internet connectivity close to people’s homes all over Manchester and have also greatly enhanced our city centre coverage, creating the largest on-street network in the country for our residents, visitors and businesses.

“This scheme will bring huge social benefits and help to support the continued growth of the city’s economy.”

Ian Stewart, City Mayor of Salford, said: “As home to MediaCityUK, Europe’s biggest purpose built community of digital businesses, this is another step in making Salford a truly digital city within a vibrant city region. So much more is being done online, from shopping to applying for benefits, that we want to include as many residents and visitors as possible.”

Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid MP, said: “I’m delighted that Manchester has taken up the challenge to become one of the UK’s Superconnected Cities as part of the Government programme. It’s vital that our cities have the digital infrastructure – like superfast broadband and wifi – in place to deal with the demands of the digital age. Our investment in Manchester and Salford has delivered a welcome boost to the local economy, and is all part of our long term economic plan.”

A detailed map is available showing locations of the various buildings and all of the on-street locations where people can take advantage of free wifi in Manchester city centre. Find out more at www.manchester.gov.uk/freebee. 

Travelsafe Partnership launches

A new pilot scheme, launched today, will significantly boost the ability to tackle and prevent crime and antisocial behaviour on Greater Manchester’s bus and tram network.

Under the Travelsafe Partnership, a dedicated team of 16 police constables, police community support officers, special constables and security personnel will provide regular patrols on the region’s networks for the next three years.

Led by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Greater Manchester Police (GMP), the scheme will use crime and antisocial behaviour data from contributing operators – Metrolink RATP Dev Ltd (MRDL), First Bus and Stagecoach – to target patrols in hotspot areas at key times and support front line staff.

The establishment of a dedicated team will provide expertise and knowledge that will also assist in the identification of repeat offenders, while the provision of body-worn cameras in conjunction with existing public transport CCTV will help gather evidence for prosecutions.

Where appropriate, the partnership will seek to use legal powers to ban offenders from public transport and deliver restorative justice schemes following prosecution.

The pilot will also focus on preventative measures and youth education, with uniformed officers visiting schools to educate youngsters on the dangers, impacts and consequences of crime, antisocial behaviour and fare evasion on public transport.

The pilot will initially run for three years but will be subject to formal annual reviews and regular scrutiny by a strategy group made up of members from organisations involved.

TfGM Metrolink Director, Peter Cushing, said: “The Metrolink network has been and is going through a period of significant expansion and is proving increasingly popular year on year. As the network evolves, we need to ensure that other services keep pace with it.

“Metrolink has always been a safe and pleasant environment on which to travel and, by launching the Travelsafe Partnership, we will ensure that it remains so.”

Chief Superintendent John O’Hare said: “The public transport network in Greater Manchester has grown considerably as has the number of people travelling on it. Unfortunately this can also attract criminals or inconsiderate people who, by acting in an antisocial manner, can make others feel intimidated.

“Everybody has the right to travel without the fear of crime and our aim through the Travelsafe Unit is to make people feel safe, deter criminality and effectively deal with any incidents that could affect public safety.”

Chris Coleman, Managing Director of Metrolink RATP Dev Ltd, which operates the network on behalf of Transport for Greater Manchester, said: “We have a responsibility to our 80,000 customers that travel daily on Metrolink and to our employees working out on the system to ensure we continue to create a safe environment.

“We’re extremely proud to be involved in this partnership and I see this as an extremely positive step in tackling crime and reducing anti-social behaviour on public transport.  As part of our involvement we will have some of our employees – who are trained special constables – seconded over to the unit as full-time officers.

“More importantly, this initiative will also allow a more joined up approach between all the public transport operators in the region as we’ll be able to share intelligence and target known hotspots for crime and anti-social behaviour in a more cohesive way.  Our employees working out on the network will also appreciate the increased visibility of the officers from the Travelsafe scheme to support them in their daily activities.”

Vicky Tomlinson, Operations Manager, First Manchester said: "We're delighted to work together with our transport partners to help keep public transport safe. The Travelsafe Partnership will play an important role in addressing those incidents that do occur but also importantly to help communicate the wider positive messages about public transport to young people."

Matt Davies, operations director at Stagecoach Manchester said: “We are pleased to support the TravelSafe Partnership launched by Transport for Greater Manchester. Safety is our number one priority and while instances of crime and antisocial behaviour on our buses are low the TravelSafe Partnership will provide a reassuring presence for our customers. We take our responsibility to the local community very seriously and believe that this pilot scheme will improve standards even further.”  

READY, SET, GO FOR MEDIACITYUK CYCLE HUB

A major new 24-hr cycle hub will open this summer at MediaCityUK offering secure parking for 300 bikes.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has developed the hub alongside co-funder The Peel Group, as part of a bid to encourage commuter cycling to the flagship quayside development.

Construction work will start next month on land behind Orange Tower, home to ITV and the University of Salford, and close to the BBC’s Dock House.

The innovative hub design reflects the area’s maritime heritage with four repurposed shipping containers linked and covered by a vaulted glazed roof to allow plenty of natural light.

With smartcard access for members only, the hub will offer separate showers, toilets, changing and locker areas for men and women, alongside a cycle storage area. A mixed range of cycling stands will offer something for everyone, with Sheffield stands, semi-vertical and double deck stands.

Annual and monthly standard or premium hub membership options will be available, with standard membership starting at less than £2 a week.

The hub – due to open in June – will join a growing network across Greater Manchester, including Manchester’s large regional centre cycle hub at City Tower, and smaller district hubs now open in Rochdale, Bury and Ashton-under-Lyne.

Councillor Chris Paul, member and Cycling Champion of the TfGM Committee said: “Cycling to MediaCityUK is already popular and we’re confident the new cycle hub, which is great value for money, will encourage even more people to consider commuting by bike as part of our ambition to increase cycling from 2% to 10% of journeys by 2025.

“The hub will be open 24 hours a day – so with thousands of employees on site working a variety of shift patterns, we look forward to seeing it very well used.

“We’ve already had a lot of interest and I share the excitement of those who can’t wait to see it open this summer.”

Stephen Wild, Managing Director of MediaCityUK said: “It’s great that we can support the burgeoning number of cyclists within the MediaCityUK community and beyond with a designated cycle hub. Its position close to our bike themed café Love Conquers All will only add to the experience for cyclists and will create a real buzz around the hub.” 

To find out more and register interest in becoming a member, visit http://cycling.tfgm.com/Pages/join-a-hub-media-city.aspx.

Membership of the MediaCityUK hub will give access to local district hubs including future hubs planned for Sale, Stockport and Leigh as part of TfGM’s Better By Cycle initiative, which is being supported by the Department for Transport’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund.