Bee Network: New buses to be added to parts of Greater Manchester network in bid to ‘improve reliability’

The expansion and planned improvement of Greater Manchester’s Bee Network is set to continue this month. This comes in the form of new buses being added to parts of the regional network. 

The new buses will come into operation by the end of April and will be on the road in Bolton, Wigan and parts of Bury and Salford. 

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), in collaboration with Go North West, will roll out 20 additional buses this month in a bid to to help improve punctuality and reliability on services, as well as providing extra capacity.

To date, five buses have been added to the V1/V2,163 and 472/474 services since April 7. From April 28 a further 15 will be added to the 8, 10, 20/21/22, 501, 524, 575/576, 601-606, 607, 608/35, and 609 services from April 28.

Following the launch of stage two of the Bee Network, around 50% of Greater Manchester buses are franchised and under public ownership. The areas that are served by Bee Network buses are Wigan, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and parts of north Manchester. 

Martin Shier, Head of Bus Network Design & Operations at TfGM, said: “Building the Bee Network is about delivering benefits to bus passengers across Greater Manchester. Key to that is improving the frequency and reliability of bus services, and the introduction of 20 additional buses this month clearly demonstrates our commitment to improving public transport in the region.”