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intu Trafford Centre tram stop

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Mojo

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Is it true that the Trafford Centre branch line terminates at Cornbrook station as per the maps? Seems a bit of a shame that they can’t get it as a direct Tram to the city centre.

I know that in normal times the line between Cornbrook <> St Peters Sq is one of the most frequent two track rail lines in the country even exceeding the Underground but it just seems a shame that they perhaps couldn’t squeeze it through even to Deansgate or even perhaps terminate services there off of one of the other branches that has two lines.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Is it true that the Trafford Centre branch line terminates at Cornbrook station as per the maps? Seems a bit of a shame that they can’t get it as a direct Tram to the city centre.
Yes, effectively operates as a shuttle between the Trafford Centre and Cornbrook.

To be fair, you don't normally have to wait too long for a connecting tram at Cornbrook.
 

Ianno87

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Is it true that the Trafford Centre branch line terminates at Cornbrook station as per the maps? Seems a bit of a shame that they can’t get it as a direct Tram to the city centre.

I know that in normal times the line between Cornbrook <> St Peters Sq is one of the most frequent two track rail lines in the country even exceeding the Underground but it just seems a shame that they perhaps couldn’t squeeze it through even to Deansgate or even perhaps terminate services there off of one of the other branches that has two lines.

Yes, effectively operates as a shuttle between the Trafford Centre and Cornbrook.

To be fair, you don't normally have to wait too long for a connecting tram at Cornbrook.

Originally, it was waiting for the additional trams required to be delivered, so it could be extended through to Crumpsall.

Now however, with passengers so low, it's hardly likely to be a priority until passenger numbers (and revenue) recover after Covid.
 

py_megapixel

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Yes, effectively operates as a shuttle between the Trafford Centre and Cornbrook.

To be fair, you don't normally have to wait too long for a connecting tram at Cornbrook.
I thought they were meant to run all the way through to Crumpsall, via the city - in fact, didn't Crumpsall recieve an extra bay platform for this very purpose?
 

edwin_m

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Plastering a logo all over a shopping centre may boost the egos of the managers, but I agree it's unlikely to influence shoppers on where to go. It may possible influence retailers deciding whether to take a unit, but they can find out easily enough by other means who owns and manages the centre and whether they're any good. Very much like a rail franchise really...
 

Mcr Warrior

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I thought they were meant to run all the way through to Crumpsall, via the city - in fact, didn't Crumpsall recieve an extra bay platform for this very purpose?
Was the intention so quite possibly will start up in the near future.

Was however looking at tfgm's live running info just now. Current service provision is a 10 minute service operating between the Trafford Centre and Cornbrook only.
 

Ianno87

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Plastering a logo all over a shopping centre may boost the egos of the managers, but I agree it's unlikely to influence shoppers on where to go.

Very little advertising is 'overt', i.e. makes you want to rush out and buy it right away. It's more about getting brand names stuck in your head so that you gain a positive image of that brand and that influences your choices later.

e.g. if Nescafe* advertised on TV, I'm not going to rush out there and then and buy a jar of coffee. But next time I'm in the supermarket buying coffee, I will be influenced, consciously or subconsciously, by my perception of the brand.

*Other brands of coffee are available.
 

edwin_m

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Very little advertising is 'overt', i.e. makes you want to rush out and buy it right away. It's more about getting brand names stuck in your head so that you gain a positive image of that brand and that influences your choices later.

e.g. if Nescafe* advertised on TV, I'm not going to rush out there and then and buy a jar of coffee. But next time I'm in the supermarket buying coffee, I will be influenced, consciously or subconsciously, by my perception of the brand.

*Other brands of coffee are available.
Indeed. But the likes of intu don't or didn't advertise to the general public. So the only way that would work for them would be if they liked the intu centre in city A and were influenced to try the one when the visited city B. But how many people regularly shop in two different cities?
 

Bletchleyite

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Very little advertising is 'overt', i.e. makes you want to rush out and buy it right away. It's more about getting brand names stuck in your head so that you gain a positive image of that brand and that influences your choices later.

e.g. if Nescafe* advertised on TV, I'm not going to rush out there and then and buy a jar of coffee. But next time I'm in the supermarket buying coffee, I will be influenced, consciously or subconsciously, by my perception of the brand.

*Other brands of coffee are available.

I don't disagree. The thing is that because there aren't that many shopping centres (typically one or at most two per town) you don't typically have a choice between two competing shopping centre brands. You have the one in the town you're in that has the shop you want, and that's your lot. You're not likely to go and drive to another town just because you Googled it and there's an Intu branded centre there. (You might drive to one that's bigger than your local one, but it will be wholly predicated on that specific one, not the Intu brand).

If anything, a local brand that gives people a feeling of "ownership" of their local centre works better, which is what the owning companies tended to do prior to Intu's "big rebrand".

With the likes of Nestle it's about cross-selling of products where you will have a choice - i.e. "you like Nescafe, you'll also like <other Nestle product>".

Indeed. But the likes of intu don't or didn't advertise to the general public. So the only way that would work for them would be if they liked the intu centre in city A and were influenced to try the one when the visited city B. But how many people regularly shop in two different cities?

People do travel from miles around to the Trafford Centre, but that's because of that specific centre being known as good, not due to any particular brand loyalty. You're not likely, if in another town, to specifically go to an Intu branded centre, you'll go to whatever centre is there, because there is very rarely more than one.

(OK, Milton Keynes has two, but most people probably think of it as one with two parts - the "old bit" and the "new bit" (which is what almost everybody calls them) - indeed, it's not unlikely that if Intu sell up Midsummer Place, the current owners of "centre:mk" will buy it, then it will be! There is no competition between the two at shopper level - you go to the bit that has the shop you want or indeed both bits as they're next to each other - competition is purely at the level of retailers deciding which to put their store in)
 
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Fokx

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Indeed. But the likes of intu don't or didn't advertise to the general public. So the only way that would work for them would be if they liked the intu centre in city A and were influenced to try the one when the visited city B. But how many people regularly shop in two different cities?

They do, it’s just the advertising is not done largely through the medium of TV or billboards anymore as it was with the previous owner peel.

Intu largely use social media ad campaigns which their target audience are more likely to shop and spend large amounts of money in the centre (the fashionable 16-35).

I’ve certainly seen many of their paid advertising campaigns in Twitter and Instagram, and they LARGELY focus on clothing over other amenities such as the leisure and dining options
 

SargeNpton

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Plastering your name over your shopping centres to advertise your brand is debatable at the best of times; when you are racking up £4.5billion in debt at the same time is not really the image you want to convey.

 

Ianno87

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Plastering your name over your shopping centres to advertise your brand is debatable at the best of times; when you are racking up £4.5billion in debt at the same time is not really the image you want to convey.


Most shoppers couldn't care less about the shopping centre's debt....
 

duncanp

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This situation is rather like that on the West Midlands Metro where the stop outside Birmingham New Street station is called Grand Central , after the shopping centre located above the redeveloped station.

The on board announcements say ".. the next stop is Grand Central, alight here for New Street station..."

Personally I think it should be the other way round, with the stop named New Street Station, and the announcements changed so that it says "..the next stop is New Street station, alight here for Grand Central shopping centre.."

Just shows what can happen when the developers pay a bit of money.

If you've never been there it is hard to know where the shopping centre ends and the railway station begins.
 

edwin_m

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This situation is rather like that on the West Midlands Metro where the stop outside Birmingham New Street station is called Grand Central , after the shopping centre located above the redeveloped station.

The on board announcements say ".. the next stop is Grand Central, alight here for New Street station..."

Personally I think it should be the other way round, with the stop named New Street Station, and the announcements changed so that it says "..the next stop is New Street station, alight here for Grand Central shopping centre.."

Just shows what can happen when the developers pay a bit of money.

If you've never been there it is hard to know where the shopping centre ends and the railway station begins.
Confused by the fact New Street itself is a short walk in the other direction, and the tram touches it either side of the station stop.

Apparently what is now New Street station was originally referred to as Grand Central.
 

Richard P

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The trams will run to Crumpsall once the pandemic is over and all the new trams have been delivered. The additional platform at Crumpsall is completed and ready for use
 

Ianno87

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The trams will run to Crumpsall once the pandemic is over and all the new trams have been delivered. The additional platform at Crumpsall is completed and ready for use

And once there are some passengers again!
 

krus_aragon

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Public transport names can be positively glacial to change with the times, even when there wasn't a sponsored name.

There are several bus stops in North Wales called "X Kwiks" , on stop signs, timetables, and even some on-board announcements. That's despite Kwiksave folding almost fifteen years ago (and several branches had been rebranded as Somerfield before then).

You need a fair bit of local knowledge to know that a given Co-Op or Home Bargains used to be a Kwiksave, to make sense of the naming. And that doesn't help where the building's actually been demolished altogether. In those few towns where Kwiksave exists (again), it's usually in new premises, nowhere near the bus stop!

I suppose the Trafford Centre stop is lucky to be getting so much attention: it might actually renamed this decade...
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Of course, when public transport was in the hands of local authorities those of my age recall buses giving an area name in their destination boards, followed by the name of a well-known public house. In North Manchester, examples were Moston, Ben Brierley / Moston, Gardeners Arms.
 

507 001

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And once there are some passengers again!

It wouldn’t surprise me if we start running through before things are back to normal. It would be an ideal bedding in period, plus it would allow easier social distancing on the southern most part of the Bury line.

Regarding the TPL service pattern, currently sets are running OOS to Deansgate Castlefield to turn back. This is due to DCF being our meal break location.

As for the Trafford centre station, changing the name should be relatively easy, as Intu hasn’t been included on anything other than the IBIS system and the signs on the platform. The TMS system refers to it as Trafford Centre.
 

py_megapixel

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There's been an interesting development.

The official map on the TfGM website has been updated to show 'The Trafford Centre'. When I was looking at the same map yesterday I'm sure it said 'intu Trafford Centre'. Also, the metadata on the file says it was last modified at half past seven this morning and the filename for the image now says "The_TC" presumably standing for "The Trafford Centre" suggesting that it's been updated:


Could this be a sign of a potential renaming?
 

Ianno87

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Relatively easy signage change at the stop, it just involves sticking 'The' over 'intu'.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Looking in on the TfGM website, the tram stop on its individual page is now shown as....The Trafford Centre.

EDIT ... This is something reported to me by a neighbour and not a comment made from my own knowledge.
 
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507 001

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Looking in on the TfGM website, the tram stop on its individual page is now shown as....The Trafford Centre.

EDIT ... This is something reported to me by a neighbour and not a comment made from my own knowledge.

The signs on the stations have been updated. IBIS system on the trams hasn’t been yet.
 

507 001

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Fair enough - so I guess it's analogous to what would be called a PIS (Passenger Information System) on the mainline railways then

Yes, however it was initially intended to do a lot more than a normal PIS system, but it never came to pass.
 

notlob.divad

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A similar stupidity with the name "Etihad Campus". Why not just call it Sportcity, which is its actual name, especially when the stop serves the NCC and things, not just the stadium.
Is there not another stop after this called VeloPark, which is far better situated for reaching the NCC. That says I have never took the tram to/from the NCC because they were never able to get me back into Central Manchester after the racing finished in time to get a train home.
 
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