Timetable changes alongside new and extra buses are planned to improve Bee Network bus services – with new weekly and monthly reports to be made available to show performance.
Before buses came back under local control in Bolton, Wigan and parts of Bury and Salford in September, services in the area were provided on a commercial basis by bus companies, with operators deciding on routes, frequencies, timetables, fares and quality standards.
The Bee Network has allowed Greater Manchester to regain control of its services and, for the first time, review in detail how they are performing.
This has enabled Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to identify areas where improvements need to be made and, importantly, respond to ensure they meet the Bee Network’s customer commitments.
Now, working closely with the operators – with a particular focus on the worst performing and complained about routes – timetable changes are set to be introduced on 44 services from 28 January.
The changes mean that for some services there will be a change to departure times, for others arrival or departure times will change along the route, making the timetable more reliable for customers. Early morning and evening trips to/from Standish will also be extended to/from Pepper Lane on the 362, allowing more passengers to access early morning bus and train services from Wigan.
TfGM is also in discussions with Go North West – operator of the two largest franchises – about bringing in additional buses as part of a planned timetable change in April. This will further help to improve bus punctuality and reliability on services, as well as providing extra capacity.
Passengers on the other locally controlled services that are run by Diamond are also benefitting from newer, better buses as part of a major investment in the bus fleet by the operator.
With accountability a key customer commitment, new reports showing how bus services are performing started this week (Thursday 25 January). A weekly update to show the punctuality of Bee Network services compared to before they came under local control and against non-franchised services will be shared on TfGM’s X channel every week, with a more detailed report being made publicly available every month.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “If we are to build the Bee Network and get more people onto public transport it’s really important that buses arrive on time and when passengers expect them.
“We inherited a system where too often this wasn’t happening, and now that they are under our control, we can do something about it.
“The changes this weekend is the latest in a series of improvements we have already made and once again highlight the benefit of a locally accountable network. We know we need to do more, but the information we have published, and will continue to make available every week, shows it is working – Bee Network buses are performing better than they did before coming under local control and better than the services we are not yet responsible for.
“In two months, we will bring franchising to the north of Greater Manchester, with the whole network fully under our control in less than a year, all while continuing to work on a range of other measures to make journeys better for people, including improved customer information, more new buses, and better bus routes to further improve reliability.”
