THE much heralded opening of the Leigh to Manchester guided busway will get off to a dismal start as it’s going to terminate in Stevenson Square, Manchester, and not the Manchester hospitals as planned.

When I contacted TfGM they stated they can’t say when the guided buses will go through to the hospitals.

First Group, which will be operating the service, has purchased less new guided buses than the service requires and is having to convert two of its existing fleet to operate on the guided busway.

When the service does open it will be almost impossible to get from Tyldesley to the East Lancashire Road and Leigh at peak periods due to the 16 buses per hour crossing Sale Lane and Hough Lane.

Eight buses per hour will be crossing Astley Street and eight buses per hour will be joining or coming off the busway going to and from Atherton.

Let’s get real, this is the biggest waste of our money I’ve ever seen, with more than 90 per cent of the public against the project.

With the same amount of money we could have re-instated a heavy rail link from Leigh to Manchester via Tyldesley, joining the Atherton line at Walkden Yard, and we would all have supported this project.

Let’s not give up, all is not lost. When the guided busway fails due to the unacceptable disruption caused to motorists and the unviable commercial operation it will be time to re-build the bridges at Astley Street, Hough Lane and Sale Lane and get our railway back.

Norman Bradbury, Hillside Avenue, Atherton