£20.7 million Bee Network boost for walking, wheeling and cycling schemes

A further funding allocation of more than £20 million has been agreed by GMCA to expand Greater Manchester’s walking, wheeling and cycling provision as part of the Bee Network.

The latest £20.7 million of funding available will support building new crossings and improving pavements to expanding the cycle hire scheme. Working alongside local authorities and partners, by 2027 TfGM anticipates 176 km of Bee Network standard segregated walking, wheeling and cycling routes will have been completed across the city-region.

Active travel schemes approved by GMCA include:

• Active travel infrastructure – £8.6m for improved or replaced surfacing for walking, wheeling and cycling, new crossings and upgraded junctions, bus stops and traffic management.
• School Streets – £2m towards maintenance on highways near to schools such as dropped kerbs, improvement of pavements and footpaths and traffic management.
• Bee Network crossings- £2m for new or upgraded traffic signal junctions near schools.
• Cycle hire – £1.5m towards new e-bikes and the extension of the existing Starling Bank Bike hire contract to 2028, to continue enhancing the fleet and with the potential to expand the footprint of the existing scheme.
• Community-led schemes – £1.7m for schemes that help people make the switch to active travel, including bike libraries, walk to school and learn to ride schemes.
• Bee Network scheme development – £2.2m for new Local Authority-led active travel schemes.
• Remedial works – £1.1m for the maintenance and renewal of existing active travel schemes, including changes to existing paths and routes and addressing access issues that prevent those with mobility needs from using certain routes.

A further £500,000 was approved for both secure cycle parking and new route signage.

Active Travel Commissioner Dame Sarah Storey, said:

“Last year’s Active Travel Annual report identified a number of areas that needed significant investment in order to address some of the barriers affecting people from feeling safe enough to walk, wheel or cycle their everyday short journeys.

“The allocation of funding in this latest approval is very welcomed to enable more pavements, cycle routes and crossings to be upgraded, as well as to further develop other parts of the programme across the region for the coming years.”

Walking, wheeling and cycling – also known as active travel – is an important part of the Bee Network and often the mode that links people’s journeys, such as walking or wheeling to the bus stop, tram stop or train station. In 2023, a third of all trips made by Greater Manchester residents were made by people travelling actively.

In the last five years, Greater Manchester has seen the proportion of people walking short journeys increase from 52% to 57%, while the proportion of short journeys being taken by car is down from 41% to 36%. It comes as Greater Manchester sets out its ambition to make 2025 the year that even more people leave the car at home and embrace public transport.