Greater Manchester’s Mayor Andy Burnham believes that the cost of public transport is such an important part of levelling up that it should become a General Election issue
Speaking at the Transport for the North Annual Conference in Newcastle the Mayor on a panel discussing levelling up and public transport, told the audience that The Greater Manchester region was already using public transport for levelling up citing the Metrolink network as a perfect example of reducing the imbalance between regions in the City
The Bee Network which will be fully operational by the summer of 2025 described it as massive step for the City region
“The economics of the network will shift to public transport away from the car”said the Mayor
He warned though of problems especially around the improvements taking place on the Transpennine Route describing the work without addressing the issues of train logjams in Manchester as building a motorway ending in a car park
The Mayor also warned over the current plans for HS2 making the case for the underground solution for Piccadilly station reaching routes towards Bradford and Leeds
It was not acceptable that Manchester would end up with a second class solution he added
The Conference saw a number of discussions across the transport network in the North
In the opening session, Shadow Transport. Minister Louise Haigh promised that the next Labour Government would invest in the North’s transport infrastructure.
“We will deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2 in full” she said
With regard to rail Haigh said The system in the rail network in place for 30 years has imposed higher costs and a broken system on the countryand there has been little competition under the franchise system as one intended.
Jamie Driscoll, The North of Tyne Mayor opened the conference imagining a full integrated transport system for the future with fewer cars on the road and transport powered by sustainable energy where people choose to leave their cars behind
West Yorkshire Metro Mayor Tracy Brabin said that we need to significantly grow the railways to achieve our Net Zero target-“
We need a proper plan..the current hiatus is hurting our local economies” she told the conference
