Andy Burnham has unveiled what new buses on his Bee Network will look like. The Greater Manchester mayor made a series of announcements about the new London-style public transport system this morning (September 22).
It comes one year before the first buses in the city-region are brought under public control, giving local leaders power over routes, fares and ticketing. He revealed that an order has been placed for 50 new electric yellow buses which will be rolled out across Wigan and Bolton from September 17, 2023.
The Alexander Dennis buses will have audio-visual announcements of stops, charging points for mobile phones and contactless card payments readers. 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.
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Transport commissioner Vernon Everitt said there has been 'huge interest' from bus operators so far with 33 bids for the 11 contracts currently available. He also revealed that Greater Manchester Police will treat the transport network as the "11th district", giving it the same status as other boroughs.
This will see officers 'surge' services across the public transport network in the way that they have been in each of the boroughs under Operation Avro. Mr Burnham admitted that safety on public transport is still an issue, but he hopes that pooling police resources for buses, trams and trains will help.
He also announced his intentions for a capped weekly ticket for all bus operators to be introduced in the new year, with negotiations under way. It follows 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 taking advantage of the lower fares, promising to publish the data showing the impact they have had on bus usage next month. However, he admitted that some regular bus users would not benefit from the capped fares because weekly tickets work out cheaper on certain services.
He hopes to reduce the price of multi-operator weekly tickets below £20.60. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday (September 22), the Labour mayor said the Bee Network will be a source of pride for the city-region.
He said: "I believe this will become an iconic symbol of Greater Manchester and the city in time and will be used to identify Manchester going forward."
Read more of today's top stories here.
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