A MAJOR transport overhaul could result in axed bus services being reinstated and other improvements designed to meet passengers’ needs.

Andy Burnham outlined his vision for a fully integrated transport network across Greater Manchester.

During a speech in Leeds, the Mayor said that he will make the city-region the first to use new powers to regulate bus services — rather than having private bus operators like First and Stagecoach set their own routes and fares.

It is hoped that a new system would mean cancelled services, such as the 519 bus between Johnson Fold and Bolton that was controversially cut earlier this year, could return to meet customer demand.

Cllr David Chadwick, Bolton Council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “The problem now is that the bus operators rejig or cancel services whenever they want and there is nothing that people can do about it.

“I hope this will herald a new era where the system will be based around the passengers and not the bus operators’ profits. The 519 bus that went to the Johnson Fold Estate is the prime example. First cancelled that because they said it wasn’t viable, but I hope that it could be one of the routes that would be reinstated.”

The Mayor also announced plans to establish a Strategic Transport Board, introduce contactless payment on Metrolink, and ensure train operators do more to compensate commuters for poor service.

During his speech to the Urban Transport Group, Mr Burnham said: “The public are telling me that things can’t carry on the way they are. Our trains are packed-out and clapped-out. Our buses are confusing and over-priced. And Northern cities don’t have the power to make sense of the chaos and integrate it all. The North has been treated as second-class over many years when it comes to transport investment, but that only tells part of the story. Our road, rail and bus services are not only poor individually, they can’t be properly integrated due to an inconsistent national policy framework in which they operate.

“We cannot have a transport system where different modes of transport operate completely independently from each other or, worse, actively competing and undermining each other as we have seen with bus operators and Metrolink. It lacks coherence, it’s confusing for passengers, and it doesn’t deliver for a growing 21st century city-region. It is time to bring some order to this chaos.”

Cllr Chadwick added: “It shouldn’t be too difficult a task to get to a situation where we have contactless payment across bus stations, train stations, and Metrolink stops.

“That is something that has been in place in London for a long time and that we need in Greater Manchester.”