Greater Manchester Region in the north west of England plans to create a unified public transport system across the Greater Manchester Region including buses, trains and trams. Greater Manchester is one of the largest conurbations in Europe, and includes the City of Manchester as well as major towns such as Wigan, Bolton, Bury and Salford.

The new transport plan has been announced following Greater Manchester becoming the first area in the UK to bring bus services under local control since 1986. There is also significant new funding to develop new walking, wheeling and cycling routes across the region.

Following the Council take-over of local bus services, it launched the new Bee Network covering Wigan, Bolton, Bury, Salford and Manchester. Over the past six months, the number of people using buses in those areas has increased by 5%. The network has now achieved the highest weekly patronage in 40 years, with over 849,000 passenger journeys.

Record numbers of people are also travelling by tram, with usage up by more than 20% over the past year and more people travelling on the Metrolink regional train network throughout May than any other month in its 32-year history.

The Council is committing £6.8m of new funding to develop new walking, wheeling and cycling options across the region, and create better connections with buses, trams and trains. The Council aims to make the region home to the UK’s largest active travel network. The aim is to put nearly all residents (95%) within 400 metres of a high-quality walking, wheeling and cycling route. Around 115km of the network have been delivered so far.

Greater Manchester has been awarded £3m in ‘capability funding’ from Active Travel England to support the development of schemes and improve access to active travel through initiatives such as bike libraries or community grants. It may also be used to support School Streets, which aims to make it safer to walk, wheel or cycle to school – with Greater Manchester aiming to have 100 schemes in place by 2028. A further £3.8m will enable the delivery of nine more new or improved crossings and junctions across the city-region.

“Safe, reliable and affordable transport is core to enabling Greater Manchester’s sustainable economic growth and productivity and access to new homes, jobs and opportunity.” said Greater Manchester Transport Commissioner Vernon Everitt. So the next four years will see further rapid improvements to transport for the people and businesses of the region. This includes completion of bringing together Metrolink, buses, trains and active travel into a joined-up Bee Network, all linked by simple and affordable fares, ticketing and customer information. We will also continue to focus on the safety and security of customers and staff.

“The final phase of bringing buses back under local control will be completed in January 2025 and, working with local communities, Transport for Greater Manchester and our bus operator partners will continuously improve the punctuality of services. As part of a new rapid transit strategy, we are working with the rail industry on a detailed timeline to bring eight local train lines into the Bee Network by 2028 alongside work to further extend the hugely successful Metrolink. Delivery of this plan will further increase ridership, driving up revenue for reinvestment in better services.”