Speculation has already started over who will voice the announcements on Greater Manchester's new buses and whether they'll have Mancunian accents. The new Bee Network buses are set to be launched in Wigan and Bolton in 12 months' time and rolled out across the whole city-region by January 5, 2025.
Unveiling the branding of the new buses today (September 22), mayor Andy Burnham promised the public transport network will be a source of local pride. The first 50 electric buses, which will be in service from September 17, 2023, will have yellow liveries, phone charging points and contactless card readers.
The Alexander Dennis buses, which are used in London, will also have audio-visual announcements advising passengers of the next stop on the journey. However, when asked if the announcements would be made in a Mancunian accent, Mr Burnham and his transport commissioner were taken by surprise.
READ MORE: Yellow buses, weekly fare caps and better policing: Andy Burnham’s Bee Network unveiled
But the Merseyside-born mayor ruled out voicing the announcements himself. He said: "It's quite an interesting idea.
"That would make it a very iconic experience if Liam Gallagher was announcing the next stop. Whether visitors to the city would be fully able to make sense of it all is another question."
Burnham joked: "But I'll give Liam a call and see if he's free. That certainly would make life in the city interesting."
Under the new franchising system set to launch next year, buses will be under public control, giving local leaders powers to pick routes, fares and ticketing. All buses in Greater Manchester will be under public control by 2025 with routes in the North of the city-region franchised by March 2024 before services in the South join the system by January 5 of the following year.
Transport commissioner Vernon Everitt said there has been 'huge interest' from bus operators so far with 33 bids for the 11 contracts currently available. It comes after the launch of new single fares capped at £2 for adults and £1 for children and multi-operator day tickets priced at £5 at the start of September.
Mr Burnham said people are already taking advantage of the lower prices and announced his intentions to extend the capped fares to weekly tickets as well.
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