The Bus Chronicles: An introduction

On the 5th January 2025, TfGM (Transport for Greater Manchester) and the GMCA (Greater Manchester Combined Authority) completed their implementation of the Bee Network, a new network of franchised bus services now under public control. The first new publicly controlled network in the UK since 1986.

The final tranche of services to come under the Bee Network included Stockport who, along with the rest of South Manchester, had been waiting an extra 18 months to be brought under public control. Meaning that we had an extra 18 months of Wild West style chicanery and poor services compared to, say, Bolton - who were done first. 

This wasn't all entirely bad given that fate delivered the populations of Mellor, Hawk Green, Marple, Offerton, Bosden Farm and Heaviley the 385, as run by D&G, a small bus company based in Stoke. Which turned out to be something of an accidental triumph when it came to creating a real sense of community on the buses. 

The fate of the 385 after the introduction of the Bee Network is something I intend to write about over the next twelve months as I explore the rollout of the new system, and keep a careful eye on how it's going. As someone who has written extensively about the need for bus re-regulation in the UK, who campaigned for Greater Manchester to use the Bus Services Act 2017 to take it's buses back under public control, I am certainly not going to be trolling TfGM, the GMCA or the Bee Network itself. What I am going to be doing is writing about how I feel the newly franchised services are running in Stockport, and gently raising any concerns and issues I find along the way.

Franchising was never going to be a perfect solution; it leaves many of the bus routes across Greater Manchester in the hands of the same bus companies who were running the routes (often badly) before the Bee Network was introduced. But what it does bring is greater powers to hold those companies to account when they fail to provide a service, along with the powers for TfGM and the GMCA to set fares and timetables. It will be interesting to see if the introduction of the £2 hourly 'hopper' fare will increase use of the network, and I have heard anecdotally that the new annual pass is proving popular. Fares have been lowered across the board, are good times ahead? We will see.