Buses in Greater Manchester are about to be brought under public control - here's what to expect

There's just a month to go until Bee Network buses will hit the roads in two Greater Manchester neighbourhoods. Passengers will start noticing differences to travel within weeks.

All buses in the region will be brought under public control by 2025, with the first franchised buses to be rolled out in Wigan and Bolton next month.

This will be the first time in 40 years that buses outside of London are under the control of local leaders - allowing them to set fares, pick routes and control the timetable. Yellow buses have been spotted on the city-region's roads over the last six months as operators start to change the look of their existing fleet.

Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features.

But on September 24, there will be 50 new electric buses in Bolton and Wigan on routes serving parts of Bury, Salford and Manchester too. These new buses will have audio-visual announcements and charging ports for mobile devices.

Some of these new buses were unveiled at a bus depot in Wigan this morning (August 24). At the event, Mr Burnham also made a series of announcements.

He revealed some changes to bus timetables - although they will not all come into effect immediately. The frequency of V1 and V2 services on the Leigh Guided Busway will be increased to eight buses in each direction every hour.

The full V2 service from Atherton to Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) will also be reinstated 'as soon as possible'. The 471 from Bolton to Rochdale via Bury and the 362 from Standish to Wigan will be among services to run earlier and later as transport bosses aim to align bus timetables with the first and last tram and train services. And they also want to make fares simpler and