Transport for Greater Manchester

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is a local government body responsible for co-ordinating transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England. It is an executive arm of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), the city region's administrative authority. The strategies and policies of Transport for Greater Manchester are set by the GMCA and its Greater Manchester Transport Committee (GMTC). The committee is made up of 33 councillors appointed from the ten Greater Manchester boroughs (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan), as well as the Mayor of Greater Manchester.

TfGM owns Metrolink – the United Kingdom’s largest light rail network – which is operated and maintained under contract by a Keolis/Amey consortium. TfGM also owns Greater Manchester's Cycle Hire scheme, and is responsible for cycling and walking infrastructure. TfGM owns and maintains bus stations, stops & shelters, however bus services are deregulated in Great Britain outside London. Following the passing of the Bus Services Act 2017, Greater Manchester became the first city-region to start the process of bus franchising, returning bus services to public control. TfGM does not control National Rail services or infrastructure in Greater Manchester.

TfGM is responsible for developing the Bee Network, an integrated transport network for Greater Manchester. The Bee Network is proposed to include a single transport livery, integrated fares & ticketing, and a fare cap across tram, bus, cycling, walking, and eventually suburban rail. By 2025, Metrolink trams, franchised buses services, and cycle hire are planned to be integrated. Negotiations with central government are ongoing for some commuter rail services to join the network, starting from 2025.

History

The organisation traces its origins to the Transport Act 1968, when the SELNEC (South East Lancashire/North East Cheshire) Passenger Transport Executive was established to co-ordinate public transport in and around Manchester. Between 1974 and 2011, it was known as the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE), until a reform of local government in Greater Manchester granted it more powers and prompted a corporate rebranding. On 1 April 2011, the GMPTE became Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), a new regional transport body for Greater Manchester that forms part of the new Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).

Governance

TfGM inherited the responsibilities of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive established in 1974. At the same time the Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) was abolished, with responsibility for oversight of the executive transferred to the combined authority.

The combined authority and the ten Greater Manchester districts have delegated or referred most of their transport governance functions to a joint committee, the Bee Network Committee. Each local authority appoints one of its executive members with responsibility for transport matters to sit alongside the mayor, a member of the GMCA, and up to four other councillors appointed by the mayor. These additional mayoral appointees allow the committee's political make-up to reflect the political make-up of Greater Manchester's councils as a whole.

The Bee Network Committee has four key responsibilities: Decision-making over significant operational matters across the transport network (including the ability to draw down funding for investment), monitoring the performance and financial stability of the network, developing policy to support the local transport plan, and facilitating coordination between the ten local authorities around highways maintenance and infrastructure delivery.

Services

Manchester Metrolink

The Manchester Metrolink light rail/tram system launched in 1992, entirely subsidised by TfGM without a government grant and operated by KeolisAmey. It carried 43.7 million passengers in the 2018/19 financial year. With 99 tram stops, it is the second largest local transport network in the United Kingdom after the London Underground. Further expansion of the network to places like Stockport and Bolton are envisaged.

Altrincham – Piccadilly (extends to Etihad Campus Mon–Sat evenings and all day Sunday)
Ashton-under-Lyne – Eccles (via MediaCityUK outside Mon–Sat daytime hours)
Bury – Piccadilly
East Didsbury – Rochdale Town Centre
The Trafford Centre – Deansgate-Castlefield
Manchester Airport – Victoria

Altrincham – Bury (operates Mon–Sat daytime)
Etihad Campus – MediaCityUK (operates Mon–Sat daytime)
East Didsbury – Shaw and Crompton (operates Mon–Sat daytime)

Rail services

Rail services are operated by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales. TfGM subsidise fares on certain local services and fund station refurbishments on an ad hoc basis.

Buses

Free Bus and Metroshuttle: launched 2002, free bus service around Manchester city centre. New services were provided in Bolton, Oldham and Stockport after success of the service in Manchester.
Bus services operated by private operators including Arriva North West, Bullocks Coaches, D&G Bus, Diamond Bus North West, First Greater Manchester, First West Yorkshire, Go North West, Rosso, Stagecoach Manchester & Vision Bus
Maintenance of bus shelters and stations including Shudehill Interchange
Ring & Ride – An accessible, low-cost minibus service for people who have difficulty in using public transport

Highways and cycling

Greater Manchester Urban Traffic Control Unit (GMUTC) – responsibility for road management transferred to TfGM in 2009. Entails installation, maintenance and management of traffic signals, limited areas of road safety (2012), incident response and event management via a traffic control centre.
Cycling – promotion of the Greater Manchester Cycling Strategy and delivery of Cycle Hubs and regional cycle routes

Fares, ticketing and information

Subsidised fares on certain services
System One travelcards
Get me there
Public transport maps and timetables
Website
Route Explorer application

Bee Network

The Bee Network is an integrated transport network for Greater Manchester, composed of bus, tram, cycling, and walking routes. TfGM's vision is for the network to be operational by 2024, with commuter rail services joining the network by 2030.

Originally devised in 2018 as a network of active travel routes, the vision for the Bee Network was expanded following the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's decision to use the powers given to it under the Bus Services Act 2017 to introduce a bus franchising scheme for the city region. A fleet of buses were branded and repainted yellow for this in 2024. The active travel subset of the Bee Network was then renamed the Bee Active Network.

Greater Manchester is set to invest a further £40.7m in its walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure as it progresses with its delivery of the largest active travel network in the country. The £23.7m has been allocated to 13 schemes in total, including a new active travel corridor along Chapel Street in Salford and a striking cycling and walking ‘helix ramp’ as part of the new Stockport Interchange.

Corporate identity

TfGM uses a corporate identity designed in-house. The black and white "M" logo is adapted from the GMPTE logo and was used on bus stops across Greater Manchester. It has since been replaced by a yellow “Bus Stop” sign, with the Bee Network logo appearing in the corner of the sign.