On a sunny Wednesday morning in Denton, you might expect to see the town's train station packed with commuters and shoppers making their way into Manchester or nearby Ashton.
Instead, weeds grow through the train tracks and the platform is eerily quiet. The only sound to be heard is from cars and HGVs whizzing along the M67, which runs parallel.
The station is serviced by just two trains a week, and local residents have to make a formal request if they want it to stop. It currently only runs between Stockport and Stalybridge twice on a Saturday morning.
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Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is currently running a consultation about whether to bring the station, which hasn't had a regular service since the 1990s, back into use. Local campaigners have been calling for the train line to reopen for years.
And with the nearest tram stop several miles away in Ashton, residents who live in the Tameside town - which is just five miles from Manchester city centre - are forced to drive or use the bus.
But gridlocked traffic, due the town's proximity to one of the region's busiest motorway networks, means that it can take passengers hours to get where they need to be.
Denica is 26 and works in Manchester city centre. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News as she patiently waited to catch the 201 or 202 bus into town, she told us she has to leave her house an hour and a half before work to get there on time.
She said: "I usually get the bus to town which takes about 45 minutes although it very much depends what time you take it. I normally give myself an hour-and-a-half before I have to get to work.
"I will get to work about an hour early just to make sure I'm not late. There are times when the bus will take too long and I don't want to be late for my job. If I get it around 9am it's hit and miss and you think 'is it going to come?'
"I would definitely get the tram if there was one. I don't use the train as it's just not frequent or quick enough for me. The buses are generally okay and it costs me about £5.30 a day."
Many older residents in the town rely on the 347 bus, which is applauded for its frequency. But recently, pensioners say they are finding the service harder to use due to a rule which states if they are paying in cash, they must have the exact change.
Kelly Lenihan, 40, is a support worker and helps care for the ageing population in Denton. She says the policy is confusing for people like Linda Rea, 64, as the two sip coffee from a park bench in the town's newly refurbished square.
"The problem is the pricing structure isn’t comprehensive. You can go a short distance for £2 or you can go a massive difference for £2. It’s difficult because if you want to pay by cash, which a lot of older people do, you’ve got to have the exact fare," she said.
"That makes it quite problematic and it’s constantly changing so to have the exact fare you’ve got to know what it is. I know people have had to get off the bus and go to a cash machine to get some more money.
"There is an ageing population in the area and they don’t travel very far so to pay the amounts they are paying it makes it quite limited. There can be quite a lot of nuisance on the buses as well so I think people opt for the car because it feels safer."
Karen Hockley, 58, relies on the 347 bus which she uses on a daily basis. She said she feels safe using the service to and from the town centre, but said a recent incident in which a young girl was attacked had left some people feeling anxious.
"The bus goes to Stockport and you can go to Bredbury and Romiley. Because I'm bad with my legs I always use the bus," she said. "We did have one bad incident where the young girl was attacked, but touch wood we don't have many problems.
"If we come out on an evening to a restaurant and have to get the bus home we don't worry about who we are going to be sitting next to. The train station isn't very good for trains and you see a lot of people parking their cars at Ashton and getting the tram. If we had better public transport I do think we would get more footfall in the cafes, restaurants and shops around here."
One woman, who asked not to be named, lives a five-minute walk from Denton station and said she could get into Manchester within half an hour if the trains ran more frequently.
"I have to use the 201 or 202 buses which are okay but the traffic gets totally gridlocked around here which means every journey takes a really long time," she said.
"I go to Manchester quite a lot and the train would be brilliant. They currently only go once or twice a week from Stockport to Stalybridge but you have to book it. I've never done it."
The woman said she does like using the Metrolink but has to get the bus to Manchester Piccadilly or Ashton to get one. "If I could get the train it would cut all out all of that. I live really near the train station so it's quite frustrating," she said.
Currently, the station is serviced by two trains on a Saturday morning - a so-called 'parliamentary' service that is designed to stop the line from being shut. Passengers wanting to board the train have to make a request for it to stop.
Members of the Friends of Denton Station group have been fighting to get a more frequent service on the line for years, arguing that the traffic from the nearby M67 is 'horrendous' and that a regular service would benefit residents in the town.
Transport for Greater Manchester ran a public consultation as part of the government's Restoring Your Railways Scheme last month, asking residents to comment on whether they'd like to see a more regular service. The outcome has not yet been published.
Denton is also set to fall under the Greater Manchester Mayor's £275 million 'Bee Network' - an integrated London-style transport system consisting of high-quality walking and cycling schemes.
A Greater Manchester Combined Authority delivery plan from 2021 to 2016 has pledged that 'major improvement' will be made for cycling and walking in the town. the strategy also plans to connect "poorly served" Denton and Reddish with a Metrolink service or train from Stockport to Ashton.
"Denton and Ashton in the east and the Trafford Centre and Salford Quays in the west makes accessing employment opportunities by public transport unpopular, which increases car dependency for those with access to a vehicle," the plan states.
"The town suffers with significant levels of congestion due to its proximity to the M60, M67 and A57 junction (Denton Island Junction). This has a negative impact on all road users and has resulted in high levels of air pollution along nearby roads that are at risk of exceeding legal limits of NOx (Nitrogen Oxides) by 2020."
Tameside Council currently has three schemes in development to tackle transport issues in the area, including a segregated cycling route from the A57 in Denton to Hyde, an upgrade of the A57 Crown Point junction and a scheme to improve sections of the TransPennine Trail to "enhance" connections between Denton and Reddish Vale and further on to Stockport town centre.
A Stagecoach Manchester spokesperson said: "We offer a range of fares to suit the different ways people travel. This includes single daytime tickets which range from £1.50 to £3.60 based on the distance travelled. In the evening, our single fares are capped at a maximum of £2.50 for travel between 7pm and midnight, or up to £3.00 for travel between midnight and 4am. The price of our single fares changed in March but had previously been held at the same price for more than four years.
"We also offer unlimited travel with a choice of day, 7-day and longer-term tickets and we support free travel for young people who have an Our Pass as well as free travel after 9.30am on weekdays and all weekend for pensioners who have a travel pass.
"Our customers can pay for their tickets online, on the Stagecoach Bus App or on the bus with cash, contactless or a debit or credit card. It is always helpful when customers who are paying with cash have the right fare but we do give out change when it is needed.
"We did bring in a temporary change of policy where we requested exact fares in cash as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we are in the process of removing the last of this signage from our buses and we apologise to our customers for the confusion this may have caused.
"If anyone isn’t sure about their fare they can access all of our fare options on our website or on the Stagecoach Bus App, alternatively they can also contact our customer services team.”
"We have had some issues of ASB on our 347 service and we would like to reassure customer that we take these incidents very seriously. The safety of our customers and drivers is of utmost importance to us and where we do have reports of incidents we act quickly to ensure that everybody on board our services remains safe.
"We continue to work closely with Greater Manchester Police and TravelSafe to find the people responsible and TravelSafe are undertaking extra patrols in the areas."
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