The services are called a ‘lifeline’
There’s been a big change for Bee Network bus passengers using ‘lifeline’ buses.
New upgrades to ‘ring and ride’ and ‘local link’ bus services means users can now book a door-to-door journey via an app for the first time, and track buses in real-time. Bookings can still be made over the phone and online.
The same IT infrastructure will allow operators to sync services up with mainstream Bee Network buses, and co-ordinate door-to-door journeys to ‘reduce wait times and optimise routes’. The raft of upgrades comes in after Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) signed a new deal with Via, the company which owns app CityMapper.
“The Bee Network is committed to making public transport and active travel more inclusive and accessible for everyone in Greater Manchester, and both ring and ride and local link play a vital role in providing access to low-cost, accessible and flexible journeys by public transport,” explained Alison Chew, TfGM’s deputy director of bus, who called both ‘a lifeline’.
Ms Chew added: “We have invested significantly in modernising our public transport system to improve accessibility, including fitting our new Bee Network buses with audiovisual announcements, hearing loops and wheelchair bays, and we’re working hard to deliver even more improvements for our passengers.”
Ring and ride services give ‘accessible, low-cost transport to disabled people and older people with walking difficulties’ while local Link ‘offers a flexible minibus service for local journeys in parts’ of Greater Manchester ‘where public transport services are limited’.
Some 850 people use the buses every day, with local link buses available in Dane Bank, east Manchester, Heald Green, Heywood, Middleton, Saddleworth and Mossley, south Manchester hospitals Area, Timperley and Sale West, and Wythenshawe. Ring and ride buses are available across Greater Manchester, but a journey is limited to six miles.
You can find out more about ring and ride online here and local link buses here.