Metrolink bosses have revealed plans to redesign the Trafford Bar tram stop to ‘corral’ Manchester United fans on matchdays.
Metrolink have told transport bosses of their intention to create a permanent barrier-based queuing system similar to the one at Old Trafford station.
It’s designed to prevent crowding and fans jumping over the wall to the platform.
In recent weeks, staff have been at the stop after games to direct passengers to trams in an orderly fashion.
This is to cater for the thousands of fans who head there to avoid queuing at the stop closer to the team’s home stadium.
Danny Vaughan, head of Metrolink for Transport for Greater Manchester, said at a meeting that Trafford Bar was not designed to deal with large crowds, with weekday matches causing the biggest problem’.
“Trafford Bar is not designed to deal with large crowds. We need to put some sort of corralling in there. That’s a challenge for us. Week day matches are the biggest problem.”
Senior transport councillor Roger Jones, a United fan himself, defended United fans, saying they had worked out that they can skip the queues at Old Trafford by instead heading to Trafford Bar.
“Corralling 60,000 fans - that’s what you do to cattle”, he said.
“I take your point you have got to make the Metrolink safe. When you have thousand of fans who know they will be queuing they immediately walk to another Metrolink platform.
“Before now, I’ve taken a bus to Manchester and then come back on the tram to avoid the crowds.
“That’s why Trafford Bar is busy, people are finding a quieter way.”
Ailine Frantzen, managing director at KeolisAmey Metrolink, said they recognised the issues with the numbers of people using Trafford Bar on match days.
She added: “People are risking their safety by jumping over the wall to get to the platform and there is crowding on the platform itself.
“Safety is the number one priority so we have designed a queuing system to improve safety at Trafford Bar at times of high demand.”
She recognised the queuing system - and the wait customers face as a result - is not ideal, but added: “It is the best short-term solution to ensure safety without major changes at Trafford Bar. We are now looking at a longer-term solution and working with TfGM to establish what infrastructure improvements we can put in place to ensure safety while also allowing customers to get to the right service quickly.”
One fan said: “It’s absolutely rammed on match day. They probably do need to do something permanent at Trafford Bar.”
In a statement, TfGM’s Head of Metrolink, Danny Vaughan, said: “Matchdays are obviously extremely busy and Trafford Bar in particular experiences large crowds when Manchester United play at home.
“Following concerns and feedback from passengers we’re currently looking at what permanent measures we can put in place at the stop to improve our customers’ experience on matchdays.
“In the meantime we’re working with the operator to ensure an appropriate queueing system and staff presence is in place to keep people safe and moving.”
