“This is the only bus that gets me to work on time,” says Caitlyn Lamb, as she waits for the number 11 service from Cheadle to her utility firm job in Edgeley. The 26-year-old sets off each morning from Woodford, near Stockport’s border with Cheshire, getting the 42B bus to Cheadle, then hopping on the number 11 to arrive at work on the other side of the borough in good time.
But the future of these services - and dozens of others across Greater Manchester appears to be uncertain. Operators - including Stagecoach, First and Arriva - intend to cut 33 ‘non-viable’ services altogether from October 30, as the government’s Covid recovery funding comes to an end. A further 32 would either run less often or have shortened routes.
A £15m plan to save the routes and maintain service levels as best as possible has been hatched by transport bosses - but it hinges on finding new operators to run axed services and agreeing subsidies to keep others running as often as they do now.
