\u00a0 \u00a0 On September 24, Greater Manchester became the first area to start taking control of bus services since deregulation in 1986. The transition \u2013 literally overnight \u2013 in Bolton, Wigan and parts of Salford and Bury, saw new ticket machines and software installed on hundreds of buses, as well as the transfer of around 1,000 drivers. It also ushered in earlier and later, more frequent and better integrated bus services, cheaper multi-modal fares and 50 new electric buses.<\/p>\n Given the scale of change, the first few days brought operational challenges as the new arrangements bedded in, but TfGM has worked closely with the operators to resolve issues.<\/p>\n Patronage has grown steadily, with the number of passengers being carried on Bee Network buses up by 8% each weekday.<\/p>\n Money generated from fares is also above forecast by between 10% and 15%. Bus punctuality has risen from 70.7% to 74.4%.<\/p>\n There are already so many benefits to franchising<\/p>\n Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: \u201cThere are already so many benefits to franchising. We brought in the \u00a32 cap; we have earlier, later and more frequent bus services; the quality of our buses has improved; they are now integrated through multi-modal, cheaper ticketing with our Metrolink tram system; and passengers have a voice that will be listened to.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t expect everything to be perfect, but everyone involved has rolled up their sleeves and has been working hard to make things better.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m pleased to say we are seeing improvements day-by-day; performance and reliability is up with [Leigh-Manchester] busway services operating at a higher-level year on year, and I\u2019m confident this will soon be mirrored across other services.<\/p>\n This is just the start, and there is much more to come and much to be excited about<\/p>\n \u00a0 Greater Manchester is now responsible for 188 bus routes, equating to around 20% of the overall Greater Manchester bus network. The next phase of franchising will see buses in Oldham, Rochdale, and parts of Bury, Salford and north Manchester come under local control on March 24, 2024, with the remainder of Greater Manchester bus services joining the Bee Network in January 2025.<\/p>\n Further improvements continue to be made to the Bee Network App including additional travel information and the addition of a Metrolink Zonal Map. Apple and Google Pay functions will be coming online in November, with a journey planning feature being added in the new year.<\/p>\n \u00a0 DON\u2019T MISS OUT \u2013 GET YOUR COPY! \u2013\u00a0click here to subscribe!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The post Bee Network journeys rose 8% in first month<\/a> first appeared on Passenger Transport<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u200b\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One month after bus franchising began, Transport for Greater Manchester is reporting passenger growth, increased revenue and improved punctuality \u00a0Andy Burnham: \u2018I have no doubt the Bee Network will be transformational\u2019 \u00a0 A month on from the launch of the Bee Network, Transport for Greater Manchester has revealed that the newly franchised bus services are operating at a level at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3360","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\/3360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Andy Burnham: \u2018I have no doubt the Bee Network will be transformational\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n
\nA month on from the launch of the Bee Network, Transport for Greater Manchester has revealed that the newly franchised bus services are operating at a level at least the same or better than deregulated services \u2013 and passenger numbers are up 8%.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nBurnham continued: \u201cPleasingly, we have already seen an increase in passenger numbers on franchised services too.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis is just the start, and there is much more to come and much to be excited about. I have no doubt the Bee Network will be transformational for everyone living, working and visiting Greater Manchester.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article appears in the latest issue of\u00a0Passenger Transport<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n