McMahon backs bus franchising in Greater Manchester

MP Jim McMahon has urged Greater Manchester to press ahead with bus franchising

Oldham West and Royton MP and Shadow Transport Secretary Jim McMahon has submitted his response to the GMCA consultation - Doing Buses Differently: The impact of Covid-19 - which looks at proposals for the future of the bus networks. 

Once again Mr McMahon has urged Greater Manchester to press ahead with bus franchising.

In his letter, the MP describes the current bus network as a result of bus regulation in the 1980s ‘a failed experiment that has only benefit the bus operators, and not those who use the system’.

Mr McMahon is also encouraging everyone in Greater Manchester to respond to the consultation using the Better Buses for Greater Manchester tool which only takes a few minutes.

Speaking afterwards, the Oldham MP said: “Now is absolutely the time to press ahead with moving to a franchise model in Greater Manchester.

"Every week and month that passes increases the prices that the people in our city-region will have to pay for inadequate bus services.

“I had the opportunity to sit down recently with Transport for Greater Manchester to discuss the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on bus services and our plans in Greater Manchester and I am convinced that franchising is still the best option.

“We have lost millions of miles of bus routes and millions of bus journeys over the last ten years, with a franchise system we can reinvest the money previously taken by bus operators as dividends into new routes that take people where they need to be.

"The truth is that the deregulated model was meant to improve competition, it has done nothing of the sort.

"In some instances, it has left people with no bus service at all.

“I fully support the introduction of a franchised bus network, to deliver local control of our buses, to simplify ticketing and bring down prices, deliver vital community bus routes and reinvest in our bus fleet to make it cleaner and greener.

“If the government is serious about its commitment to the North and rebuilding after the pandemic, it should absolutely commit helping Greater Manchester transition to the new franchised system as bus services are vital to our city-region and it’s economy.”

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