I think that the frequency was the main reason,which also reduced overcrowding making the journey more bearable,also from what I remember, Stagecoach used the newer end of their fleet on the service, all in all a very good replacement service which the public seemed to be impressed with.

Cheers John

Thanks for that John. I have only travelled on the trams off-peak but can imagine what they must be like during the busy periods.

Hehe, I remember going to work on them before they closed the city centre track.

Very intimate!

Well the trams are much more efficient.
In normal terms there is a tram every 5 mins.

But not really to the same place. From Piccadilly to Bury could entail a wait of up to 18 minutes in some circumstances.

I mean, there is a bus every five minutes too, but again, not always useful....

Metro-link services resumed today apart from on the Old Trafford to Altrincham line where problems with the new overhead lines prevented any services from running.
Hopefully they should be running later today, or tomorrow morning.

Well of course this hasn't happened.
There are people working on it though.
I don't like the way the buffers at altrincham have been treated. The work has destroyed the historical link to Bowdon station which lay where total fitness is now.

Are the buffers at altrincham some minority group?:)

For those of us that haven't visited Altrincham recently could you please give some details of the work that has been carried out? It sounds like you don't approve.

Why yes of course.
Firstly, the over head wires have been replaced on the Manchester to Altrincham section, the track has been replaced in the city centre and has generally disrupted everything, and Stations are being repainted. There is soon going to be a livery change for the trams and there are new trams on the way. The design of the latter was on display at MOSI's Great garratt gathering. You right I don't approve of some of the changes. Here's why.

The original railway was the manchester, south junction and Altrincham railway, and since the lines conversion, much of the original infastructure had been replaced. The buffers at Altrincham were survivors from BR days, along with some of the track at the station as the trams are standard gauge.
Much of this infastructure is now being destroyed and I want to save what is left. At the old wawrick road (now Old trafford or trafford bar) the original platforms one and two survive, but in an overgrown state and now only platforms three and four are used.

I just want to save these things before it is too late.

The model was and I think still is on display at the MS&I, but if you take a trip past Queen's road you can catch a glimpse of the real 3001 Flexiswift tram, and unless my eyes decieved me, 3002 might be there as well.

Also, the whole point of the refurb was to remove the ex-BR infrastructure, because it's too old now to support the network.

I love nostalga too but, not at the expense of operational effeciency and safety. And really, at the end of the day, track looks like track, and buffers look like buffers. It's not that unique?