Greater Manchester sets sights on bringing rail under Bee Network control

With less than one month before all Greater Manchester bus services come under local control, Mayor Andy Burnham has called on the Transport Secretary to back the next phase of Bee Network expansion and bring eight commuter rail lines into the network.

In a letter to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Mayor Burnham will make the case for the city-region to oversee eight vital rail lines in order to improve services and support continuing growth of the city-region’s economy. He will say that Greater Manchester is ready to apply the same focus, momentum and pace to bringing rail into the Bee Network as it has done with buses, calling for a firm timeline to be published in January setting out the necessary steps to make it happen.

Routes being considered for integration into the Bee Network by 2028 include lines through Stockport to Buxton and Alderley Edge, currently run by beleaguered operator, Northern.

The call to bring rail routes under local control in Greater Manchester comes less than one month before the completion of bus franchising, with more than 250 routes across Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and parts of Manchester and Salford set to join the Bee Network on 5th January 2025. Work to see the city-region take back control of its bus services after being privatised in the 1980s is set to complete on time and on budget; services already in the network have also seen an 5% increase in usage, and fares taken have exceeded forecasts for 2024 by 9%.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham visited staff at Metroline’s bus depot (pictured) in Wythenshawe as they prepare to take over services in parts of South Manchester from 5th January. He said:

“Next year will be one of real change for Greater Manchester, as we encourage even more people onto public transport to build a low-cost, high patronage network.

“But we’re not stopping at buses – we want to do more. Our unreliable rail services are a brake on growth and we deserve better. By bringing them into the Bee Network we can deliver real change for our residents, increasing reliability and ultimately getting more people out of their cars onto public transport.

“We’ve shown we can deliver – now we’re ready to apply the same focus, momentum and pace to rail reform as we have with buses.

“I’m this week writing to the transport secretary to set out how we plan to approach bringing rail into the Bee Network, to create a true London-style public transport system. We’re committed to working with Government and the rail industry to agree and publish a clear timeline in January of how we’ll make this critical next step a reality.”

Completion of bus franchising is just one important step in the plans to create the UK’s first truly integrated public transport system outside the capital. Progress will be unrelenting in 2025, with ‘tap-in tap-out’ contactless payments across Bee Network buses and trams going live on 23 March 2025. Creating the London-style experience, passengers will be able make any journeys and be guaranteed the best daily or weekly fare. Rail routes from Manchester city centre to Glossop and Stalybridge are also to see trials of contactless payments begin next year.

Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester Vernon Everitt said:

“The Bee Network is delivering positive change for the people and businesses of Greater Manchester, and we are already seeing the results, with better buses, more reliable services, growing numbers of passengers, new night buses and record levels of customer satisfaction.

“Our focus now is on delivering these improvements in south Manchester starting on 5^th January. The scale of the overnight change involving 50 per cent of the Greater Manchester bus network is herculean and there will likely to be challenges for us to get on top of in the early days. Everyone from TfGM, our operators and many others are working hard behind the scenes to get everything ready.

“This is only the first chapter of the Bee Network story as we push on with creating a public transport and active travel network that matches the scale of the region’s growing economy and the need to better connect people to new jobs, homes, education and opportunity.

“We’ll be applying the same rigour and ambition we’ve shown with buses to bring rail into the Bee Network and will be setting out a roadmap for this ambitious programme of work in the New Year as well as a step change in making rail stations accessible, with upgrades at 13 stations over the next three to four years, compared with four in the last decade.”