YAY TO BEE!

MAYOR’S DELIGHT AS BEE NETWORK SECOND PHASE LAUNCHES

- GEORGE LYTHGOE

YELLOW buses will now be seen buzzing through Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Bury and north Manchester following the launch of the Bee Network's second phase.

Greater Manchester's vision for an integrated, accessible and affordable 'London-style' transport system has already been introduced into Wigan, Bolton and parts of Bury and Salford.

The Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham was joined by council leaders at Oldham Interchange this morning as he announced 'another historic moment' for the city-region.

Mr Burnham announced: "I caught an early service from Middleton this morning - the update I can give is that the Bee Network has landed, and it has landed pretty well.

"We have had a few delays at the Oldham depot over the launch which were only minor, nothing major, which are teething problems you would expect.

"We are really proud of the team as they've done a phenomenal job over the weekend and we're grateful to our partners. Over half of GM buses are back under public control after four decades of deregulation and I'm sure for people in Oldham, this is a big difference as the buses here were quite old and not the best. Now they've got the best. The journey I took from Middleton to Media City was the one I took when I was first elected as mayor, and this time it was cheaper, it was under £5. Everything that we're trying to do is make things more affordable to people.

He highlighted that anyone left out of pocket by the change to Tranche 2 will be able to apply for the compensation scheme. At the launch, a bus user interrupted the speeches asking why her service was over 30 minutes delayed - which later turned out to be due to the breakdown of a 409 bus, rather than a systematic fault, according to Mr Burnham's team.