Has Greater Manchester has been ‘short changed’ on buses?

Labour councillors say Greater Manchester has been ‘short changed’ by the government over transport reforms. They’re calling for a £120 million ‘shortfall’ to be made up after money offered to the region for its ambitious plans for a franchised bus service fell short of what leaders actually asked for.

Andy Burnham last week admitted he could no longer guarantee £1.50 hopper fares after the region was given only half of the money requested from the government from its ‘bus service improvement plans’ pot. And councillors from Greater Manchester’s ten councils are now calling on the government to ‘Back Our Buses’ with more money.

“For all the government’s claims about ‘levelling up’ transport in Greater Manchester to back our vision for a London style public transport network - when it came to coughing up the funding we need, Greater Manchester was short changed,” they say in a joint statement.

“Our Labour Mayor, Andy Burnham, and Labour councillors asked for £218million to support our ambitious plans for cheaper bus fares, more frequent services and 24hr services on key routes. We got less than half that.”

A sum of £94.8m will be paid to Greater Manchester over three years for ongoing costs to run the bus network - but that’s less than half of what is needed to guarantee a ‘London-style’ bus network with hopper fares, new routes and ‘24-hour services’. Single journeys at £2 for adults and £1 for children look set to go ahead however.

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“We're not going to be in a position to do everything that we wanted to do,” Mr Burnham told the M.E.N last week. “However, we are going to be in a