My son gets left waiting for Bee Network school buses that never arrive - it's happened four times already
A councillor who says her son was let down by broken down school buses four times has blasted Greater Manchester’s Bee Network.
Coun Meena Minnis’ comments came as Trafford’s controlling Labour group came under fire at full council meeting for putting forward a ‘back-patting’ motion praising the publicly-owned integrated transport service.
Leading councillors on the authority admitted there had been ‘teething problems’ with the service after opposition members argued they needed to be ‘critical friends’ of the Bee Network which came back into public ownership on January 5.
At the council meeting, Liberal Democrat Coun Minnis, who lives in Timperley, said: “You would think from the way [Labour’s] motion has been written, that the Bee Network has been a great success and runs better than it ever has done before.
“But since January many residents have actually experienced a deterioration in our service, and in the instance of school buses, a deterioration of what was already far from ideal.”
She claimed full buses have continued to go past children who were waiting for ‘the one and only bus’ to collect them.
“The new development that we’ve seen since January is children being stranded more than an hour’s walk away from their destination – children as young as 11 being told that no replacement bus is coming and that they just have to call their parents or walk from an unfamiliar location,” the councillor added.
Coun Minnis said ‘schools are often telling the children off and saying they should choose a better form of transport’.
“Many parents now drive their child to school to avoid the risk of their young child being stranded,” she continued.
Coun Minnis said that in a two-month period following an icy January, the bus broke down four times on her son’s journey to and from school.
“On two occasions it broke down before it collected him,” she said, “leaving him waiting for no bus. The other two times, it stranded the entire bus load of children, including my son, telling them to make their own way.”
Lib Dem colleague Coun Julian Newgrosh argued that the new buses have a design flaw in that the distance from the door and drive to the very first seat available is too far for the less abled passenger to cover before the bus sets off.
“And worse, there’s nothing to hold on to apart from those monkey travel straps above, which are out of reach of many of those disabled residents before the bus is moving,” he said.
Coun Sophie Taylor’s motion had ‘welcomed’ the launch of the Bee Network on January 5 – the first integrated public transport system to be operational outside London, encompassing multiple modes of public transport and championing active travel.
It also hailed the introduction [this week] of contactless ‘tap-and-go’ payment across buses and trams in Greater Manchester, commending the vision and leadership of Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.
Lib Dem group leader Coun Shaun Ennis argued: “We are critical friends of the Bee Network. The problem with all this Labour back-patting is that it doesn’t make the buses run any better.”
He urged councillors to back an amendment to the motion which said the council noted the ‘deeply concerning’ feedback from Trafford residents who have experienced a deteriorating service on the Bee Network since January, including the bus services.
It also noted ‘with concern’ the rate of uptake of the OurPass scheme for young people and care leavers which has been shown to be among the lowest in Greater Manchester.
Executive member for climate change Coun Aiden Williams, who is also Trafford’s representative on the Bee Network committee, responded by saying said: “I’m really pleased with the rapid improvements that have been delivered to our integrated public transport services over the last few months.
But he acknowledged that there were ‘teething problems’ with the service.
“Our administration will shortly be confirming arrangements with Trafford’s local Bee Network forum ready for the network review of our bus services that will be completed later this year,” he said
“I also want to acknowledge, though I don’t agree entirely with it, the narrative that’s been progressed by the Lib Dems.
“There have been some teething problems with the rollout of the service
“I would like to offer my support as Trafford’s representative on Greater Manchester’s Bee Network committee in resolving concerns around service provision that are raised by any residents of the borough. The improvements to the Bee Network, I think, are a good news story.”
But Conservative group leader Coun Nathan Evans lambasted Labour, saying: “There’s an elephant in the room, or more to the point, there’s an elephant on the bus.
“We never agreed with the renationalisation of the buses, but that’s happened, so we must ensure that it’s a success.
“More to the point, Trafford residents, who are already contributing £17m to TfGM, plus £11 per household via council tax, regardless of whether they use the buses, should receive efficiency and real value for money.”
He put forward an amendment which criticised the £4m spent on changing the colour of the buses ‘rather than delivering meaningful improvements’ saying residents were ‘rightly skeptical of yet another example of spin and waste from the GM mayor, rather than real, tangible progress’.
“This entire scheme comes at a substantial cost -£226m a year to Greater Manchester residents,” he added.
Responding to the criticism voiced at the council meeting, TfGM’s Stephen Rhodes said: “We have been working closely with schools and our bus operators to address the initial teething problems reported in January, and I can confirm that the majority of those issues have now been resolved.
“We are sorry for the delays and disruption to some bus services which impacted school children on their journeys to school at the start of the year.
“We continue to monitor the performance of all Bee Network bus services, including school services, on a daily basis to ensure a sustained improvement going forward and will intervene again if problems were to reoccur.”