Operators ousted and corporate images swept away, the Bee Network is on a roll. Richard Sharman takes a look at the changes that have occurred during the implementation of tranche 2 of TfGM’s franchising process, and takes a glimpse of what is to come in the recently announced tranche 3
What might have seemed like the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham’s pipe dream back in 2021 is very quickly coming to fruition. Greater Manchester was the first place in England to re-take control of its buses, to use the familiar rhetoric, after nearly 40 years of deregulation. In doing so has now become a blueprint for other local authorities which can now see that Manchester has done it, and so can they; the recent announcement by neighbouring West Yorkshire is a demonstration of this.
The Bee Network is Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TfGM) vision for an integrated, accessible and affordable ‘London-style’ transport system, which it says will change the way people travel across the city region. The first round of franchises, tranche 1, began operation on 24 September 2023 with the launch of the first franchised services in Bolton, Wigan and parts of Salford and Bury under the Bee Network brand.
Tranche 2 launches
Exactly 181 days later, on 24 March 2024, as the dust has only just settled and the paint has only just dried on many of the newly painted yellow buses, we see the launch of tranche 2, as the next phase of the Bee Network masterplan was rolled out in Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Salford and north Manchester. The changes mean that 50% of Greater Manchester’s bus network – totalling 324 routes – are now Bee Network services.
Transport for Greater Manchester says reports published weekly show that Bee Network bus services continue to be more reliable than before bus franchising and are outperforming services elsewhere in Greater Manchester. Between 1 January and 19 March, it reports that 74.30% of Bee Network buses were on time, compared to 67.62% of commercial services and 62.75% for the same period last year prior to franchising.
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