Fury over plans to cut bus routes
PASSENGERS and politicians have reacted with fury over plans to slash bus routes across the region.
A total of 20 services, many vital to commuters getting to work and patients travelling to hospital, are to be axed, reduced in frequency or have their routes curtailed. Run by Stagecoach, First and Arriva, the changes affect passengers in areas including Manchester, Rochdale, Salford, Bury, Oldham, Bolton, Wigan, Wythenshawe and Trafford.
Hundreds of people have reacted to the news – with many saying that the services provide a link to jobs and training around the region.
Buses account for nearly 80 per cent of all public transport trips in Greater Manchester.
And politicians are now demanding bus firms justify their decision.
Speaking out, Mr Burnham, Labour’s Greater Manchester mayoral candidate, said: “It is simply wrong that bus services can be chopped and changed at the whim of the operator.
“People will lose confidence in using the service if they’re not sure whether a bus will turn up or not.
“Bus services throughout Greater Manchester are too often run for the profit of the operators and not for the benefit of the passengers.”
Blackley and Broughton MP Graham Stringer, whose constituency will see reductions to the 118 service from North Manchester General Hospital to the city centre via Moston, said the move was ‘yet more evidence that these bus companies are getting public money under false pretences.’ He added: “These companies do not care about public services, only their profits.”
The two services to be axed are the V3, one of three buses which run on the busway from Manchester to Atherton, and the 109 f r o m Wythenshawe Hospital to Manchester.
Heywood and Middleton MP Liz McInnes said: “I am deeply concerned about the impact that these cuts to bus services may have on many local people.
“The fact that these decisions have been made by private bus providers and not by Transport for Greater Manchester clearly demonstrate the need for properly accountable bus services in Greater Manchester. For too long people in Heywood and Middleton have been let down by expensive and unreliable bus services run in the private not the public interest, and enough is enough.”
More than 600 people have already signed a petition on the change.org website protesting against the reduction of the 378 bus service from Stockport to Wilmslow.
Passengers have also been criticising the cuts on the Facebook page of our sister paper the MEN.
Michelle Ionn said: “So they spend a fortune on the guided bus way and bus lanes on the East Lancs only to pull one of the new ‘premium’ services. Crazy.”
Rob Inman added: “Many evening and morning services withdrawn. This is madness. They want to cut congestion and get more people on public transport yet this will make it more inconvenient to use buses across Greater Manchester.”
All services affected are not subsidised by Transport for Greater Manchester.
The changes have already been run past a Greater Manchester’s bus committee and will come into force from April 23.
A Stagecoach spokesman said: “There will be selected service reductions in some localised areas to reflect changing travel patterns, however, most customers will continue to be served by other services or public transport options.
“The vast majority of Stagecoach Manchester passengers will be unaffected by these changes.
“Stagecoach Manchester is continuing to invest in services in Manchester with new buses being introduced in the Middleton area and additional buses on the 250 and X50 routes.”
Phil Medlicott, managing director of First Manchester, said there would be ‘minor changes’ to services 95, 350, 468, 471, 511 and 524.
He said improvements would also be made, with, for example, the cross-city service 18 to resume after the Oxford Road works, stopping at the Manchester Royal Infirmary.