TfGM

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. In January 2025, all Metrolink trams and franchised buses services were integrated, along with cycle hiring services. Negotiations with central government have led to the agreement that eight commuter lines across Greater Manchester and North Derbyshire will be progressively transferred to TfGM control of fare and service specification between December 2026 and December 2028 with the introduction of multi-modal fare caps with tram and bus, tap and go ticketing, and 64 rail stations refurbished and branded Bee Network. The remaining 32 stations across Greater Manchester lying on other rail lines will then follow by 2030.

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.

* – (extends to Etihad Campus Mon–Sat evenings and all day Sunday)
* – (via outside Mon–Sat daytime hours)
* –
* –
* –
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* – (operates Mon–Sat daytime)
* Etihad Campus – (operates Mon–Sat daytime)
* – (operates Mon–Sat daytime)

Heavy Rail

Heavy 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: launched 2002 as Metroshuttle, now consist of 2 free bus routes around Manchester city centre. New services were provided in Bolton, Oldham and Stockport after success of the service in Manchester. But those services were substantially withdrawn by 2019.
*Bus services operated by Bee Network operators (First Greater Manchester, Go North West, Stagecoach Manchester, Diamond Bus North West and Metroline Manchester) and private operators including Arriva North West, Belle Vue Coaches, D&G Bus, First West Yorkshire, High Peak Buses, and Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire etc..
*Maintenance of bus shelters and stations
*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

*Bee Card
*Subsidised fares on certain services
*System One travelcards
*Public transport maps and timetables
*Website
*Route Explorer application

File:MML M5000 (3).jpg,
TfGM owns Greater Manchester's light rail/tram system, which includes over 64 miles of track and 99 stops across seven of the ten Greater Manchester boroughs.
File:BNSC 19429 R1.jpg,
TfGM owns the free bus service around Manchester city centre.
File:TFW 197123 East Didsbury (2) (cropped).jpg, Heavy rail services are provided by train operating companies (TOCs). TfGM subsidises local heavy rail services and helps to fund station improvements across Greater Manchester.
File:BNML WDS277 R201.jpg,
Bus services in Greater Manchester were deregulated. TfGM owns and maintains bus stations, stops & shelters. It implements the System One multi-operator and multi-modal travelcards, and subsidises some fares, however this is reverted by the new Bee Network, with the network being brought back under local control, with TfGM appointing franchisees to operate the services.
File:Mancunian Way UMIST.jpg,
TfGM is responsible for managing the Key Route Network of major roads, as well as maintenance of traffic signals.

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. After the rollout of Bee Network bus franchising, bus stop signs are replaced by a black “Bus Stop” wording against a yellow background, with the Bee Network logo appearing in the corner of the sign, while the route font remains unchanged.

See also

* Timeline of public passenger transport operations in Manchester

References

External links

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Official website of Transport for Greater ManchesterGreater Manchester Integrated Transport AuthorityGreater Manchester Transportation UnitSELNEC plans for urban rapid transportGreater Manchester Congestion Charge Proposals

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Organisations based in Manchester
Public transport executives in the United Kingdom
Transport in Greater Manchester
2011 establishments in England