Mayor Andy Burnham revealed the design of Greater Manchester’s new buses as part of a range of announcements on the future of the transport network.
Other announcements included new electric buses, weekly fare caps, and accessibility improvements.
Speaking from Transport for Greater Manchester’s building in Manchester, the Mayor revealed 50 new electric buses had already been ordered for Bolton and Wigan – the first areas for buses to be taken back under public control as part of plans for a ‘London-style’ public transport network.
Each new bus has been designed to allow for ‘audio-visual’ stop announcements, contactless payments, and mobile phone charging.
Buses are set to be painted yellow, with Bee Network branding, which Mayor Andy Burnham said he hoped would become ‘an iconic symbol of Greater Manchester’.
Asked whether stop announcements will feature appropriate regional accents the Mayor said: “It would make it a very iconic experience, wouldn’t it, if Liam Gallagher was announcing the next stop?
“Whether visitors to the city would be fully able to make sense of it all is another question – I don’t know, I’ll give Liam a call and see if he’s free, that would certainly make life in the city interesting.”
The Mayor also laid out plans for tackling crime on transport, with the network set to become the 11th district of GMP.
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The Mayor said TfGM expects a third of its new bus fleet to be electric by 2027, two years after the network fully launches at the beginning of 2025.
When it will happen
In his announcement, the Mayor confirmed a timeline for each part of the bus network to come under public control.
Wigan and Bolton’s buses will be the first, on September 17, 2023 – just shy of one year away, with 50 new electric buses already ordered from manufacturer Alexander Dennis.
March 2024 will see the new bus network come to the north of the city region, including Oldham and Bury.
January 5, 2025 is when the south of the city region will be included – missing a previous target to have all of the city region’s buses integrated with trams by the ‘end of 2024’ by only a few days.
Weekly fares will also be looked at
The Mayor also confirmed TfGM is in talks with operators to bring a cap to the weekly multi-operator bus ticket prior to full franchising after a cap was introduced for daily and single fares.
Accessibility improvements were also announced, with bus stops set to be upgraded to ‘Metrolink standards’ and raised for level boarding, and new buses able to lower down and ‘kneel’ to stop level.
Transport commissioner Vernon Everitt confirmed that there were already 33 bids from companies for the 11 bus franchises up for grabs.
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