Andy Burnham is urging the new Transport Secretary to back the next phase of Greater Manchester’s Bee Network – expanding it to include eight commuter rail lines to create the first fully-integrated transport system outside London by 2028.
In a letter to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Mayor Burnham will make the case for the city-region to oversee eight vital rail lines in order to improve services and support continuing growth of the city-region’s economy.
He will say that Greater Manchester is ready to apply the same focus, momentum and pace to bringing rail into the Bee Network as it has done with buses, calling for a firm timeline to be published in January setting out the necessary steps to make it happen.
comes as the Bee Network marks the one month countdown to the completion of bus franchising, with the city-region on track to complete its pioneering work to bring buses back under local control on time and on budget.
On 5 January, more than 250 bus routes in Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and parts of Manchester and Salford will join the Bee Network. To mark the one month countdown, Mayor Burnham visited a bus depot in Wythenshawe where Metroline – one of London’s biggest bus operators – is training up the next generation of bus drivers ready for the new year.
Completion of bus franchising is just one important step in the plans to create the UK’s first truly integrated public transport system outside the capital. Progress will be unrelenting in 2025, with ‘tap-in tap-out’ contactless payments across Bee Network buses and trams going live on 23 March 2025. Creating the London-style experience, passengers will be able make any journeys and be guaranteed the best daily or weekly fare.
