'Nicer and better'

PASSENGERS ON BOARD WITH BEE SERVICE DESPITE QUESTION OVER FREE PASSES

- ETHAN DAVIES

A BUS passenger has named the rule she would 'love to change' as the first weekday Bee Network services started in south Manchester.

Michelle Bond, 47, has a disabled person's travel pass which gives her free bus travel in Greater Manchester - but there's a catch five days a week.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TIGM) rules say some passholders travelling before 9:30am on weekdays must pay a concessionary £1 fare, rather than travel freely as she can later in the day, but other passes allow free travel all day.

Government rules say authorities like TfGM only have to follow 'mandatory concessions, which allows bus operators to charge the full fare before 9:30am.

But the government also says local travel authorities can relax their rules to allow all disabled or elderly pass holders to travel for free before the 9:30am cut-off.

Michelle lives in Crossacres, Wythenshawe, where the Bee Network took over running the bus services she uses most, on Sunday.

Prior to that, she would catch privately run buses, which she was largely happy with.