Bee Network night bus trial to have 'security presence'

Night buses will have a ‘security presence’ on-board when a pilot launches in the summer, the Mayor has said.

Earlier this week (February 19), Andy Burnham confirmed that an hourly service will come to two routes as a pilot for ‘a network of night services as the Bee Network develops’. They are the V1, which runs from Manchester Royal Infirmary to Leigh and the 36 route from Piccadilly Gardens to Bolton, via Farnworth. 

Although timings of the service and a launch date for the pilot have yet to be confirmed, Mr Burnham said it will start in the summer following discussions with the firms that operate those services on behalf of the Bee Network, plus the trade unions affected.

Speaking on Friday (February 23) at a meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), the Mayor shed more light on the pilot — telling city-region leaders that the buses will have on-board security.

“It’s our ambition to restore a significant network of night buses in the future,” he said. “Initially it will be an hourly service, and it will have a security presence on the service in order to ensure people use it.”

That news was welcomed by Paul Dennett, the Mayor of Salford where both routes will serve, who added: “I know from speaking to drivers and trade unionists that there are concerns about security on buses at night. It’s also a disincentive for people getting on the bus at night.”

The announcement came a day after the GMCA’s Bee Network committee approved a plan to spend millions on improving ‘pinch points’ on the bus network to ‘target areas of bus delay or poor reliability’. It includes work to junctions and bus stops in nine boroughs, the exception being Rochdale.