METROLINK is taking 2.5 million car journeys off the road every year.

Greater Manchester transport chiefs took the message to a fringe meeting at last week's Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool.

Cllr Joe Clarke, Chairman of Greater Manchester Transport Authority, said the rapid transit system was carrying 12.7 million passengers every year and 20 per cent of the journeys were previously made by car.

He said the number of cars per person had fallen by three percent in the Metrolink area by three per cent between 1991 and 1994.

In Greater Manchester as a whole the figure had risen by five per cent.

Cllr Clarke said: "We have never claimed that Metrolink can solve all the congestion and pollution problems of the county on its own, but these figures show what a significant role future investment in Metrolink will play."

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