£133 million to Deliver Better Buses across Greater Manchester

The Transport Secretary has confirmed £133 million of new bus funding for Greater Manchester, including significant investment for Stockport. This announcement builds on the major progress already underway across the region, where Mayor Andy Burnham’s Bee Network model has already begun transforming services.

After a decade of decline, people across Stockport and Greater Manchester have been clear: they are tired of unreliable, infrequent bus services holding them back from getting to work, hospital appointments, education and social plans. But the introduction of the Bee Network has already shown how locally controlled, publicly accountable services can deliver better reliability, simpler fares and clearer routes.

Buses matter to millions of people. But 14 years of the Conservatives’ broken bus system failed countless communities and has led to a spiral of decline in bus services. Now, after years of decline, better buses are on the way. This funding means local leaders rather than Whitehall will decide how bus services should be run, continuing the Government’s commitment to ensuring services are run for people, not profit

This new funding will allow Greater Manchester to build on the progress already made, showing how a Labour metro mayor in Greater Manchester working together with a Labour Government in Westminster will improve people’s lives in Stockport and across Britain. It directly supports the Government’s plan to deliver the biggest reform to England’s bus system in 40 years, putting power back into the hands of the communities who rely on buses every day. 

Totalling £3 billion across England, this investment represents one of the largest commitments to bus services in recent history. It follows the Bus Services Act becoming law in October, giving local authorities the power to run and protect socially necessary routes. This is an approach Greater Manchester has already begun to prove can work with the Bee Network providing integrated, affordable, and accountable bus services that work for the people who use them.

This new Government has a plan to deliver better buses across the country. This funding boost is another crucial step on that journey.