A NEW partnership aims to provide bus passengers in Bolton and beyond with free hand sanitiser.

Together, Transport for Greater Manchester and soap brand LifeBuoy have supplied sanitiser to over 80 dispensers at interchanges, bus stations and tram stops in Greater Manchester.

The partners hope this will help passengers in Bolton travel safely throughout the region.

Transport for Greater Manchester customer director Stephen Rhodes said: “We want to see people using public transport as Greater Manchester gets back to normal and ensuring people feel safe while they are travelling is critical to achieving that.

“We have implemented a number of measures to keep people safe while they are travelling, including the requirement for people to wear face coverings on Metrolink and at bus stations and Interchanges, and we also know that access to hand sanitiser and keeping your hands clean is important, that is why this deal is such good news for our customers.

“We’ll keep on doing our bit to keep people as safe as possible while they travel, but would ask our customers to also do their bit as they reconnect with the things they love and may have missed, think about each other as you travel, wear a face covering, clean your hands and help to keep each other safe."

The partnership coincides with Mayor Andy Burnham’s It’s Time campaign urging people to support businesses across Greater Manchester, but to do so safely.

Lifebuoy UK and Ireland managing director Benoit Roger-Machart said: “As people start to move around more, Lifebuoy’s purpose remains the same, we want to help keep people safe and one of the most effective and proven ways of doing this is to keep hands clean and sanitised to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.

“By providing hand sanitiser to the thousands of shoppers, workers, tourists, who use the Transport for Greater Manchester network, we are helping to provide extra reassurance for everyone.

"We’ll also be launching information campaigns across the Transport for Greater Manchester network through digital screens, tram takeovers, as well as product sampling."