Greater Manchester has heralded a new era in public transport, transforming how people get around the city-region.
Following a phased approach, all bus services – totalling 577 routes, 1,600 buses and accounting for more than 160 million trips per year – are now under local control and accountable to the people, businesses and communities of Greater Manchester.
Making history as the first area in the country to do this in 40 years, Greater Manchester has taken steps to reverse decades-long decline to deliver improved services, better buses and more affordable fares,
All delivered on time and on budget, with a 5% increase in passengers over a 12month period, revenues above forecast and the cost of running franchised services reduced by a third (compared to having to intervene in the private deregulated market), Greater Manchester is setting the blueprint for others to follow.
Completion of bus franchising marks the end of phase one of the Bee Network, with the same focus and momentum now being applied to transform rail travel across the city-region. The next step will be to bring eight priority train lines into the Bee Network by 2028, as well as deliver the first new stations in more than 20 years and significant upgrades to make more stations accessible.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:
“This is an historic moment for Greater Manchester. We are proud to be the first area in England to complete the re-regulation of buses and to have done it on time and on budget.
“From today, every community in Greater Manchester will be served by cheaper, cleaner and greener buses and run in a way which puts people before profit. We are now ready to help other areas looking to follow suit and improve their bus services after decades of decline.
“Greater Manchester is currently the growth success story of the UK. We have an £80bn economy, a growing population and world-leading businesses, and our rate of growth is outstripping that of the South East. But we’ll only be able to reach our full potential, and make life better for all our residents, with a world-class public transport system.
“Whilst this is a nationally significant moment that we can all celebrate, it’s by no means job done. We’ll have an unrelenting focus this year on delivering a truly integrated, London-style transport system across bus, tram and train – the next chapter of the Bee Network’s story.”
