The transport funding Greater Manchester asked for and what it actually got

The government announced more than £1bn of transport funding for Greater Manchester on Monday (April 4) – but how that will be spent is not yet clear. Three separate pots of funding which will benefit the city-region have been confirmed by the government as part of a £7bn package to 'level up' transport.

Labour mayor Andy Burnham welcomed the news, calling it a 'vote of confidence' in his vision for a London-style public transport system. However, he warned that Greater Manchester will only receive half of the money it requested to cover the ongoing costs to run a better bus network.

This means the £1.50 'hopper fares', new ten-minute bus services and more 24-hour routes which were proposed in the original plan might not happen. Burnham also called for clarity on Covid recovery funding for buses, warning services could get worse before they get better if the cash is not confirmed.

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He said: "On the face of it, it looks good. £1bn for capital and just under £100m for bus revenue. However, as ever, the devil's in the detail."

Greater Manchester's Bus Service Improvement Plan asked for £308m to cover revenue costs over three years including £90m of recovery funding. This recovery funding is supposed to help services survive while passenger numbers remain below pre-pandemic levels – around 75 to 80 pc for buses.

The government had already announced a national pot of more than £150m to support bus and trams services across England for six months – and the latest announcement reveals Metrolink will receive £20.5m of this recovery funding. However, the Department for Transport has still not announced how much