The point is to significantly increase the capacity of T2, to be able to take some of the pressure off of the other terminals.

T2 was the only sensible option for expansion, with respect to not unduly affecting operations during the works. It's a phased build, with the new section of the terminal to be constructed before they renovate the existing.

I live 6 miles from MAN and there is no public transport available thus I use my car (or very occasionally a taxi) and have done for 20 years or so.

I could "construct" a no-car journey which would involve a 1.5 mile walk to the nearest station, train into Manchester City centre and another train back out to the Airport. Depending on the time of day that takes well over an hour and costs £14.90 day return.

Try that 5 times a week and watch your bank balance dwindle...........

I take it you work there. How much do you pay to park?

6 miles looks like a nice bike ride.

And of course you have had 20 years to consider whether to move house to somewhere with direct access by public transport.

Yes - at 5am with a suitcase and flight bag. :ugh: I suppose I could wear my hat backwards to stop it blowing off!

Yes - spent all of that time considering how much I like my house and the town I live in. Anyway the new road opens in 5 months time so driving in will be a doddle...........

That's a choice you are free to make. It only annoys me when people make that choice and then complain about the consequences - traffic jams, parking charges etc. I'm sure your nice new road will be wonderful for a few weeks until it gets jammed full. Remember rule #1 of road building. Traffic expands to fill the space available.

No it`s when you have a choice and they then take it away and leave the bad option, which for me is a 20 minute walk in the wrong direction to then get a bus that takes 3 times as long as the original
What is the point of moving when you have all costs of moving and you end up in an area you don`t really want to be (schools etc etc).

Even at Heathrow relatively few terminal passengers arrive or depart using the local service buses. No most of their clientel are workers or even transfer (bus to bus) And nothing to do with the airport. And whilst the local buses within the GLA are frequent and some even operate 24 hours a day those into neighbouring Surrey are dire
Many foreign tourists are collected by tour rep and coaches just as the Brits are in the med on traditional package breaks
National Express operate the transfer coaches between airports very profitably plus they carry extensive longer distance traffic either directly or via Victoria for cost conscientious regional passengers
However the prime public transport method used by terminal passengers are rail both LUL and for the rich or time pressed the Heathrow Express

Compare and contrast Manchester has TFM support early trams from guess who yeap staff
Regionally heavy rail has captured significant traffic flows and could do better

Whilst delegulation remains TFM can’t do any thing about the buses and as with Surrey, Cheshire too has dire transport support across the board

The lack of integration is entirely the responsibility of past Tory political dogma and a total lack of understanding of the benefits of such ideas preferring the market to dictate
Hense a bazilian million buses through Rusholme and nought past the post house or what ever it’s called these days
National Express do operate into the airport and via the Central Manchester coach park in a similar manner to Heathrow however they don’t seem to have the success in marketing the connections available
Inbound tourism especially packages remain a small part of the airport profile so not so many coaches apparent
All that said live anywhere south of the city taxies remain the most cost effective and probably most environmental method of getting a family and granny with suit cases safety to and from airport period

InOban,

I can just imagine aircrew cycling 6 miles to work, especially cabin crew, in the winter, when it's dark, cold and wet.

Drove along Ringway Road West a week or so back, and saw several aircrew walking along the road towards EGCC, with luggage on wheels. Something I had never seen in 30 years.

"Aircrew" (How quaint that sounds these days) Having to walk ....Get used to it this is the brave new world of airtravel ..BOACs never coming back;)

bodminsteve,

Most 'aircrew" are "motorists"......They need somewhere to park their cars.

'Multi-storey car-parks'.......They're the future.

And as for BOAC.....Of course it'll never come back......Just like vinyl....When it was replaced by CD in the 1980s. :E

Oh for Pete's sake. If I am getting on a first wave departure in winter, I would very much prefer a well rested and stress free pilot. Same goes for cabin crew.
It's not beyond the wit of man to sort this out.

If walking a few hundred yards is going to stress a crew member out to extent they cannot function effectively he/she's is in the wrong job i'd suggest

There is growing evidence of the long-term medical effects of working hours which don't match our natural body rhythms. Personally, I wonder whether all safety-critical staff who clock on before, say, 7, should be required to sleep on-site. Would cost a fortune.

It’s a 40 minute walk with a crew bag (and possibly a handbag). The crew member is then expected to be on their feet for upto 14 hours and still function 100% should something go wrong on the final landing of the day. Then walk back 40 minutes. Try that 5 days a week!

I suspect the crew you saw walking were Jet2 crew. They have a very “robust” disciplinary process for late crew members and most are on temporary contracts. You can understand why the crew choose to walk but it’s not something I want to do before a long duty.

A little bit of light exercise at the start of the day, to get blood circulating properly, is recommended by the experts.

If it were Jet2 crew then they shouldn't have been feeling they needed to walk, Jet2 crews have all been told explicitly that if the car parking and bus causes them to be delayed then they will not be investigated for being late.

If you walked that I reckon you'd be passed by 3 or 4 staff buses on the way.

Depends on the time of day and the current roadworks

Blinkin heck...
MAN slow news weekend+...Three days of buses & car parks!.
Riveting stuff.
Bring back LAX LHR with info trawled out of GDS....