UK: Greater Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham has pledged to accelerate integration of local rail services into the nascent Bee Network of public transport provision if he is re-elected on May 2.
The Bee Network is a locally developed brand already being applied to Manchester Metrolink light rail services, and gradually being rolled out across buses as sections of the city region move into franchised bus operations.
The aim is to facilitate development of a fully integrated, account-based ticketing system for Greater Manchester, with recognisable features such as daily fare capping and touch-in/out functionality already widely deployed in cities around the world, including London.
Burnham says his officials have identified eight regional rail corridors for integration into the branding and ticketing area, a process he hopes could be completed by 2028. The routes are:
- Wigan – Manchester Victoria;
- Stalybridge – Southport;
- Glossop – Hadfield – Manchester Piccadilly;
- Rose Hill – Piccadilly;
- Buxton – Piccadilly;
- Alderley Edge – Piccadilly;
- Rochdale – Victoria stopping services;
- Piccadilly – Manchester Airport stopping services.
This list includes two routes already identified for a trial of pay-as-you-go ticketing in 2025 under an agreement announced by Rail Minister Huw Merriman on February 1 covering 17 stations.
A wider roll-out of PAYG on local rail services had been scheduled for completion by 2030, but Burnham believes this timescale is too slow. ‘We want it in by 2028 and we don’t see any reason why people should have to wait. We’ve shown the Bee Network can be introduced in a three-year timeframe, so we believe rail can be integrated in a similar timeframe as well.’
Manchester and beyond
One feature of local rail services around Manchester is that many routes cross local authority borders to serve large communities outside the city region; neither Buxton nor Glossop are in Greater Manchester, for example.
Burnham says this is going to be addressed, reporting that he had already been ‘lobbied by MPs in those areas who complain about their lack of access to the Greater Manchester system and they’re calling for improvements. I did consult them and I got strong support; it’s going to be good for people in Glossop, and we’ll continue to work with all of our neighbours to make sure that things are done right.’
He also reported that he had held talks with his mayoral counterpart in Liverpool, Steve Rotheram, about expanding Bee Network ticketing coverage to stations on the route from Wigan to Southport, which is a significant commuter artery to and from Manchester. ‘He understands why, because it is a Manchester commuter line and that is why it should sit within the Bee Network’, Burnham said.
Rail can move faster
Speaking to the Northern Transport Summit at Manchester Airport on March 21, Burnham reported his frustration about the pace at which the rail industry has moved to finalise its approach to multimodal smart ticketing. ‘Rail has got to get with the Bee Network now’, he told delegates.
‘We need to see the same pace of change on integrating rail into the Bee Network as we have had with bus and tram and that requires culture change in the rail industry. It’s been hard to work with the rail industry — there is a gap between us and we don’t want to be always arguing with it.’
Burnham suggested that the rail sector is ‘in denial’ over the quality of services it delivers, adding that it was ‘frankly disgraceful that 53% of our stations in Greater Manchester are not accessible to disabled people’.
Speaking to local press on the fringes of the summit, Burnham added that he recognised the potential complexity of the ticketing changes. ‘The Treasury would have to sign off some of this because we’d have to change the way the railways are working with regards to fares and ticketing. But absolutely, I can say to you that we’ve all agreed to work in this way.’
In response, Network Rail’s North West Route Director Rob McIntosh said NR and its industry partners would present the mayor with a detailed package of measures required to ensure local trains can be brought into the Bee Network integration.
- Separately, Burnham has also promised progress in expansion of Metrolink light rail services if he wins re-election. ‘We’ve got plans to take trams via Middleton, Heywood and on to Bury, as well as to Stockport’, he said in late March. The Stockport line is an early priority, forming a long-planned extension of the existing East Didsbury route into the town’s £140m transport interchange; this opened on March 18 and features provision for a light rail stop.
