Has the Bee Network actually improved buses?

Bee Network buses are now a familiar sight across Greater Manchester.

It took a long time to see the yellow giants on our roads.

All buses outside London were deregulated in 1986, and they only returned to public control after Greater Manchester struck a deal with the government to allow the mayor to re-franchise them decades later.

In 2021, Andy Burnham announced he would kick-start a process to take on vehicles and depots, then establish a franchising system so private operators run routes on Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TfGM) behalf.

Chiefs did so in phases, with Wigan, Bolton, and Salford the first areas to get yellow buses in September 2023.

By March 2024, Rochdale, Oldham, north Manchester, and Bury joined the party, and the remaining buses in Stockport, Trafford, and south Manchester followed suit on January 5 this year.

“This is a big moment for us. It’s a journey the city-region has been on as long as I’ve been around,” the mayor said on completion.

“It’s a huge achievement for us all.”

Bringing buses under TfGM’s remit, along with the Metrolink network, promises a ‘London-style’ transport system that’s more reliable, cheaper, and easier to access - so people can leave the car at home and hop on a bus, tram, or bike.

More changes are afoot as ‘tap-in, tap-out’ payments come to the Bee Network on March 24, meaning passengers can travel on buses or trams and only be charged the lowest fare daily.

By 2030, the same system could be used on Bee Network trains, which are set to run to 96 railway stations in Greater Manchester.

Back on the roads, TfGM data suggests Bee Network buses are more on-time than privately-run services, more people are catching them, and passenger satisfaction has also improved.

However, Bee Network buses’ introduction hasn’t been without problems.

Passengers complained drivers did not follow assigned routes and buses were late in the first two tranches.

While widespread reliance on agency staff was removed for January’s final franchising tranche, solving many of the problems seen previously, a litany of complaints were made by angry parents who said school services were ‘horrifically late’ or missed stops.

With such a wholesale change to Greater Manchester’s transport now six weeks old, the Local Democracy Reporting Service has examined if the Bee Network has actually improved buses.

We visited three key interchanges to see what passengers think, examined performance data, and spoke to TfGM bosses and insiders to get a true picture.

“It’s like a white knuckle ride”

Leigh has, perhaps, seen the biggest change to buses.

It was one of the first to get Bee Network services in 2023, and since then the V1 night bus trial was added so buses run 24-hours, and some routes now have more frequent services.

Here, people tend to think the Bee Network is an upgrade.

“I think they’re much cleaner and up-to-date,” Sean Parry explained on a frigid February lunchtime.

“I think it’s affordable too, £5 to go anywhere in Manchester.

"Before, when there was all different companies, I am out of the Wigan and Leigh border, so it used to be £6 or £7 to go to Shevington.”

The aforementioned V1 night bus was a hit with the 34-year-old, because he can plan nights out ‘with it’ and the £2 fare means ‘extra pints’.

Jackie Ramsbottom, 67, now uses the services to go into Manchester for shopping or see a show with her sister, Carol, 73.

But not all are fans.

Reg McCallam, 84, liked previous firm Stones.

He says the new drivers throw passengers ‘about like rag dolls’.

“The drivers are just interested in getting to the destination,” he added.

“They are not bothered about giving you comfort. It’s not right.

"It’s like a white knuckle ride.”

“With the noise you could not listen to music or make a call”

Wythenshawe’s at the opposite end of the spectrum to Leigh, only getting Bee Network buses six weeks ago.

Stagecoach was the big operator in this part of Manchester, and TfGM’s chief network officer Danny Vaughan said it was ‘reasonably good beforehand’.

Having a higher hurdle to clear might explain why some passengers at the town’s interchange believe the Bee Network is no better.

“I use it every Monday, I’ve not seen any difference at all,” shrugged James Higgins, 76.

“I would not say they’ve improved, it was better before then it is now.”

Kirsty Leary, 35, added: “Recently these new buses, they’ve not been on time”.

She uses the 43, 263, 101 and 103 regularly.

But others appreciate the change. Vera Kyei commutes from north Manchester to the town five days a week, and says the Bee Network is ‘better’.

She explained: “They are on time.

"Also, the interior is quite comfortable now.

"The others were quite old, so with the noise you could not listen to music or make a call.”

“They just look nicer”

The centre of Greater Manchester’s bus universe is Piccadilly Gardens, with its Parker Street bus station a hive of activity. Across the board, passengers did not feel too much changed.

“There’s no real improvements, they just look nicer,” said Erin Hallett, 21.

“The buses are alright, I was talking to a few friends and we were saying they seem more cramped.”

Helen Baker, 19, added: “I like how they now show the time, I usually would have to keep checking my phone.

"They’re cleaner because they are new but that’s about it.”

What do bosses make of the plans?

Overall, TfGM is upbeat about its embryonic bus beginning.

It points to 79 percent punctuality in the first phase area, 72 percent in second area, and 71 percent in the last tranche as a success, compared to the average of 69 percent seen previously.

“I would say tranche three, compared to the other two where it took a while to iron out teething problems, has been tremendously successful,” Danny Vaughan told the LDRS.

But that’s not to say he recognises issues need addressing.

Mr Vaughan continued: “We’ve put more bus services in, for example.

"As we’ve gone on week by week, we’ve improved to the extent that I wouldn’t say we’ve cracked it yet, but it’s the number one thing we’re monitoring.”

More changes are coming with the introduction of tap-in, tap-out ticketing.

But the bigger revolution might be in bus lanes, as transport commissioner Vernon Everitt explained: “We have a programme designed to get more bus priority onto the road network.

“It includes putting bus priority orbitally around Greater Manchester as well as into and out of town centres.

"One of the big things we have to get on top of is the actual journey time and journey time reliability.”

In practical terms, it means ‘putting bus lanes in’, ‘getting lane rental so we can get roadworks on and off faster than currently possible’ and creating ‘more red routes so it doesn’t make sense for people to stop’ so buses can speed up, Mr Everitt added.

Alison Chew, TfGM’s deputy director of bus, added: “We’ve got our control room [in TfGM’s headquarters] where we are, day-by-day doing things to optimise traffic signals and enable the smooth passage of buses where possible.”

These changes, plus tap-in tap-out, are what Mr Vaughan says will be ‘the biggest thing’ to help Greater Manchester catch up to London’s public transport network.

However, even with these improvements, he believes we will still be 22 years behind London, as that’s when the Oyster card was introduced.

“That’s probably how far behind we are,” he went on.

“I think if you look at bus passenger growth in London, it took off around the same time.

"I think we’re at the start of that journey.

“We’re immensely proud with what we’ve done, and we’ve done it with nowhere near as much funding as London has.

"But we are getting there really successfully.

“When we can travel around in a much more integrated way, that’s when we take it to the next level.”

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