Bee Network: Andy Burnham moots new Oldham bus routes

The mayor was answering a question during the show, which was broadcast on Thursday, October 26 – a month and two days after the Bee Network launched in Bolton and Salford on September 24.

Buses in Oldham will not come into the network until March next year, but that has not stopped people from already voicing their views.

Following discussions about the wider Bee Network, host Mike Sweeney read out a text from a person called Connor, in Ashton-under-Lyne, reading: “What are your plans for the Bee Network, especially concerning new routes in Oldham and Tameside?”

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The mayor responded: “We’re very open to new routes, now as I just said, I don’t want people to get carried away with this, but the revenues are higher than we thought.

“I’ve been saying on the Hotseat for the last year, I’ve been a stuck record on this: ‘get on board, come on everyone, help me out, help us all out, use the buses’, but people are doing it.

“The increase in patronage is about eight per cent, I think. So people are backing the Bee Network, which is absolutely brilliant. Thanks so much everybody, we really appreciate that.

“This means we then get the possibility of looking at whether now we can expand the number of routes, or we can re-deploy capacity. Where you’ve got too many buses on one route, perhaps they were chasing the money before on Oxford Road or other places, we can take some of that off and re-deploy it into areas that are underserved.

“So we’re looking now to tranche two of the Bee Network, which is Oldham, Rochdale and North Manchester. That goes live on March 24 next year.

“Once we’ve taken control in the north of the city-region, obviously we get the chance to put those new routes in, and also Tameside – Tameside is mainly covered though in Trance 3, which is January 5, 2025, so we’ve just done 20 per cent of Greater Manchester so far, Mike.

“I know there have been issues, and I know some people still have issues, but I can say confidently today it’s at least as good as it was, and mostly better.

“As we continue to franchise around the city-region, when it’s a whole system it will be clearly better than what we had before.”

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The Bee Network

As part of the new Bee Network, bus routes, timetables and more are controlled by Transport for Greater Manchester from now on in Bolton and Wigan, as well as parts of Salford and Bury.

Oldham’s buses will come under the system from March 2024, along with Rochdale, north Manchester, and the remaining parts of Bury and Salford.

The change will see First Bus effectively exiled from the borough, with Stagecoach and Diamond set to run all local services under a franchise from Transport for Greater Manchester.

An additional 50 yellow electric buses, on top of those already in service, have been ordered ready for Oldham, Rochdale, and the remainder of Bury to become part of the system.

A yellow Bee Network bus (Image: TfGM)

The remaining parts of the city region are set to join from January 2025.

After Greater Manchester buses in every borough have been brought under the system, passengers will be able to tap-in and tap-out across all buses and trams without having to decide on a ticket in advance, with fares capped at the "Bee AnyBus + Tram" price, similar to the system which has already been in place in London’s transport system for years, as well as many other major cities across the globe.

The system may even go cashless in the future, with Mr Burnham previously saying there was "an argument both ways" and that a decision had not been taken, before adding that most felt it would be safer and speed up journeys to go cashless.