\u00a0 \u00a0 He said the entire network had been designed to optimise economic productivity while ensuring Greater Manchester became an inclusive place to live and work.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s bringing together buses, Metrolink, the active travel side of things and, ultimately, local rail into one system,\u201d Everitt explained. \u201cIt\u2019s not here to absolutely replicate what happens in London, but some of the core elements that have made London a successful public transport operation are applicable here. Integration is at the heart of it, including integrated ticketing and information alongside those rock solid, high quality safe, affordable, reliable day-to-day services.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that improving public transport in Greater Manchester would enable \u201cother stuff\u201d. <\/p>\n The Bee Network can deliver more jobs, more businesses, more homes and inclusion<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not an end in itself,\u201d Everitt added. \u201cThe Bee Network can deliver more jobs, more businesses, more homes and inclusion.\u201d In addition, he said the Bee Network would deliver better sustainability for the region by giving people a better alternative to using their cars.<\/p>\n Everitt continued: \u201cThat\u2019s not an anti-car statement. There are lots of car journeys that are absolutely essential, but at the moment [they account for] over two-thirds of the journeys in this region\u2026 we want to offer them a decent, affordable, reliable alternative to their vehicle. That\u2019s what makes me extremely optimistic about patronage.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he felt there was a massive market for Greater Manchester to go after with the Bee Network, much of which will be fuelled by the population growth the region has been experiencing in recent years.<\/p>\n If you go around the 10 districts, there\u2019s building, there are commercial developments, there are housing developments. Everyone needs to be able to move around sustainably and we believe integrated public transport is the answer<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at Salford and the centre of Manchester, there are cranes everywhere,\u201d Everitt said. \u201cIf you go around the 10 districts, there\u2019s building, there are commercial developments, there are housing developments. Everyone needs to be able to move around sustainably and we believe integrated public transport is the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed to the current modal split between the car and sustainable transport. This is currently 60% in favour of the car and the first step to building patronage was to get that closer to a 50:50 split. Everitt said this equates to around one and a half million journeys each day being moved to public transport. <\/p>\n He continued: \u201cWe want to go much further than that and we want to go faster. We believe the plans that we\u2019ve got in hand will enable us to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Everitt described the Bee Network as being rather similar to London Overground and its creation in 2007. He said creating the brand had allowed Transport for London to link up disparate parts of the capital\u2019s rail network, enabling members of the public to envisage how they could make journeys by public transport in a way they couldn\u2019t see before.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t evident as a network until it was painted orange,\u201d he claimed. \u201cWe could demonstrate to people a new way of moving around.\u201d<\/p>\n Everitt also highlighted how the introduction of the \u00a32 bus fare cap last autumn had allowed Greater Manchester to tackle unaffordable bus fares and that it was already starting to drive growth. Between September and December, bus patronage had risen by around 10% and he felt that around half of that growth had been driven by the fares intervention. <\/p>\n \u201cIt just goes to show that if you can price things properly \u2013 and make things simpler \u2013 they\u2019ll use you more,\u201d Everitt added.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know any bus network in the country that completely washes its face. It certainly doesn\u2019t in London<\/p>\n But he admitted there would always be a requirement for public money to support the network. \u201cThere will always be some requirement for governments to provide support,\u201d Everitt said. \u201cI don\u2019t know any bus network in the country that completely washes its face. It certainly doesn\u2019t in London \u2013 pre-Covid the surplus on the Tube used to plug the gap in bus subsidy. We will continue to need support but we recognise we need to raise money locally. There\u2019s lots of money going into this which has been raised here.\u201d<\/p>\n When probed further on the finances of Greater Manchester\u2019s plans by board member Arthur Leathley, Everitt returned to growth and claimed there was a \u201cmassive revenue upside opportunity\u201d. He pointed to Metrolink where patronage was already ahead of 2019\u2019s figures in the midweek and at weekends. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re edging towards 90% overall,\u201d he said. \u201cIn London the Tube is at about 85%\u2026 The challenge [for them] is that lots of people [in London] can work from home. It\u2019s not the same here. Many people have to be in work, so there\u2019s a huge commuter market and a huge leisure market here [for us to go after].\u201d <\/p>\n \u00a0 DON\u2019T MISS OUT \u2013 GET YOUR COPY! \u2013\u00a0click here to subscribe!<\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The post Everitt: Bee Network will transform GM<\/a> first appeared on Passenger Transport<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u200b\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Vernon Everitt, Greater Manchester\u2019s Transport Commissioner, believes that the Bee Network will transform the city region\u2019s transport system \u00a0Everitt: \u2018Bee Network about delivering growth\u2019 \u00a0 Vernon Everitt, Greater Manchester\u2019s transport commissioner, told Transport Focus board members last week that the region was on the cusp of \u201csomething genuinely transformational\u201d as it moved to begin rolling out the fully integrated Bee…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Everitt: \u2018Bee Network about delivering growth<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n
\nVernon Everitt, Greater Manchester\u2019s transport commissioner, told Transport Focus board members last week that the region was on the cusp of \u201csomething genuinely transformational\u201d as it moved to begin rolling out the fully integrated Bee Network.<\/p>\n
This story appears in the latest issue of\u00a0Passenger Transport<\/em>. <\/strong><\/p>\n