Bee Network funding boost for more electric buses

Public transport across Greater Manchester is to become more sustainable following a £65 million funding boost, primarily to fund more electric buses on the Bee Network.

Almost £60 million will be invested to switching a further 13% of the Bee Network fleet from diesel to fully electric, with the first buses expected to be in service by the end of 2026.

Nearly 350 electric buses – around one in five – currently serve communities across Greater Manchester, compared to a national average of just one in 10. The new buses will further boost this number by 220, making progress to the pledge to deliver a fully electric fleet by the end of the decade.

Vernon Everitt, Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester, said:

“The Bee Network is making public transport more affordable, frequent and cleaner and these further steps will deliver more improvements for the people and businesses of Greater Manchester.

“We are accelerating investment to introduce even more electric buses to add to those which already comprise 20 per cent of our vehicles, marking another significant step towards the goal of a fully zero-emission bus fleet by 2030.”

GMCA’s Bee Network Committee has also approved funding to develop plans for expansion of the Metrolink tram network to include tram-train services serving the Atom Valley Mayoral Development Zone in the North of the city-region. Members approved £5.7 million to progress with the next phase of work on the Oldham-Rochdale-Heywood-Bury Tram-Train ‘pathfinder’ scheme, which will sit alongside an extension into Stockport as the next phase of expansion for the tram network, a business case for which is now expected to be published in 2026. Funding will also support exploring options for ‘next generation’ vehicles for the existing Metrolink network, and models that can run on existing rail infrastructure.

The investment and future expansion of the Bee Network is key to unlocking the UK’s first fully integrated, zero-emission public transport system by 2030.

The Greater Manchester Strategy also pledges to continue to develop the Bee Network so that, by 2030, 90% of the population live within 400 metres of a bus or tram that comes at least every 30 minutes and night buses play a key role in this.

The funding approved at the latest Bee Network Committee meeting is part of the £1.07 billion City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement, which helps fund Greater Manchester’s pipeline of transport infrastructure projects.