Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is the
public body
A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they are statutes owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in s ...
responsible for co-ordinating transport services throughout
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tamesid ...
in
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
. TfGM is responsible for investments in improving transport services and facilities. It is an executive arm of the
Greater Manchester Combined Authority
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is a combined authority for Greater Manchester, England. It was established on 1 April 2011 and consists of 11 members; 10 indirectly elected members, each a directly elected councillor from on ...
(GMCA), the
city region's administrative authority.
The strategies and policies of TfGM 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 districts (
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ce ...
,
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–1 ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
,
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...
,
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
,
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
,
Stockport,
Tameside
The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after the River Tame, which flows through the borough, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Duk ...
,
Trafford
Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, with an estimated population of 235,493 in 2017. It covers Retrieved on 13 December 2007. and includes the area of Old Trafford and the towns of Altrincham, Stretford, ...
and
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
).
History
The organisation traces its origins to the
Transport Act 1968
The Transport Act 1968 (1968 c.73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The main provisions made changes to the structure of nationally owned bus companies, created passenger transport authorities and executives to take over pub ...
, when the SELNEC (South East Lancashire/North East Cheshire) Passenger Transport Executive was established to co-ordinate
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...
in and around
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
. Between 1974 and 2011, it was known as the
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive was the public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester.
SELNEC PTE
Until 1969, the conurbatio ...
(GMPTE), until a reform of local government in Greater Manchester granted it more powers and prompted a corporate rebranding.
Services
Manchester Metrolink
The
Manchester Metrolink
Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Ki ...
light rail system launched in 1992. Entirely subsidised by TfGM without a government grant and operated by
KeolisAmey. It carries over 43.7 million passengers a year. With 99 stations, it is the second largest local transport network in the United Kingdom after the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The U ...
. Further expansion to Stockport is envisaged.
*
Altrincham
Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...
-
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–1 ...
line
*
Altrincham
Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...
-
Piccadilly
Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Cou ...
line
*
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–1 ...
-
Piccadilly
Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Cou ...
line
*
East Didsbury
Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there ...
-
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
line
*
Eccles-
Ashton
Ashton may refer to:
Names
*Ashton (given name)
*Ashton (surname)
Places Australia
* Ashton, Elizabeth Bay, a heritage-listed house in Sydney, New South Wales
*Ashton, South Australia
Canada
*Ashton, Ontario
New Zealand
* Ashton, New Zealand
...
line
*
Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those ...
-
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
line
*
MediaCity-
Ashton
Ashton may refer to:
Names
*Ashton (given name)
*Ashton (surname)
Places Australia
* Ashton, Elizabeth Bay, a heritage-listed house in Sydney, New South Wales
*Ashton, South Australia
Canada
*Ashton, Ontario
New Zealand
* Ashton, New Zealand
...
line
*
Crumpsall
Crumpsall is an outer suburb and electoral ward of Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, bordered by Cheetham Hill, Blackley, Harpurhey, Broughton, and Prestwich. The population at the 2011 census was 15,959. Historically p ...
-
Trafford Park Line
The Trafford Park Line is a light rail line on the Manchester Metrolink network in Greater Manchester, England, running from Pomona to The Trafford Centre. Its name derives from Trafford Park, an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, ...
Rail services
Rail services are operated by
Avanti West Coast
Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership franchise.
During November 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced the In ...
,
CrossCountry,
East Midlands Railway
Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise.
History
In March 2017, the Department for Transport a ...
,
Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ...
,
TransPennine Express
TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major c ...
and
Transport for Wales
Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...
. TfGM subsidise fares on certain local services and fund station refurbishments on an ad hoc basis.
Buses
*
Free Bus and Metroshuttle: launched in 2002, offering free bus services 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
,
Bullocks Coaches
Bullocks Coaches is a bus and coach operator in Cheadle, Greater Manchester.
History
The company was founded in 1928 by Ralph Bullock, initially as a haulage firm, with milk deliveries being the early focus. On weekends, the trucks turned in ...
,
D&G Bus
D&G Bus is a local bus operator owned by Centrebus Group and is based in Adderley Green, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
History
D&G Bus was formed by David Reeves and Gerald Henderson in April 1998 initially operating four buses on two route ...
,
Diamond Bus North West
Diamond Bus (North West) Ltd., trading as Diamond North West, is a bus operator providing services in the districts of Bolton and Wigan in Greater Manchester operating an extensive commercial network along with tendered services on behalf of Tra ...
,
,
First West Yorkshire
First West Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in West Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the FirstGroup, and is made up of three sub-division brands: First Bradford, First Halifax, Calder Valley & Huddersfield and Firs ...
,
Go North West
Go North West is a bus operator in Greater Manchester, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group.
History
Go North West commenced operations on 2 June 2019 following the Go-Ahead Group's purchase of First Greater Manchester's Queens R ...
,
Rosso
Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakchott. The A ...
,
and
Vision Bus
Vision Bus is a bus operator based in Blackrod, Bolton, England. Vision operate several routes in Greater Manchester including tendered and school bus services.
Services
Most of the Vision Bus routes serve Bolton or Leigh
Leigh may refer to:
...
. From 2023 these will be merged into the Greater Manchester-wide "Bee Network".
*Maintenance of bus shelters and stations, including
Shudehill Interchange
Shudehill Interchange is a transport hub between Manchester Victoria station and the Northern Quarter in Manchester city centre, England, which comprises a Metrolink stop and a bus station.
History
The tracks through the site were opened in 1 ...
.
*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
get me there is an electronic ticketing scheme under development by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) for use on public transport services in Greater Manchester, England. It was first announced and confirmed as an integrated travel card, c ...
*Public transport maps and timetables
*Website
Route Explorer application
File:Metrolink Tramway, Radcliffe Station.jpg,
TfGM owns Greater Manchester's light rail system, which includes over 64 miles of track and 99 stops across seven of the ten Greater Manchester boroughs.
File:YJ14BJY.jpg,
TfGM owns the free bus service around Manchester city centre
Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...
.
File:Manchester Piccadilly - Arriva 195007 leaving for the airport.JPG,
Commuter rail services are provided by train operating companies (TOCs). TfGM subsidises local rail services and helps to fund station improvements across Greater Manchester.
File:Parker Street - geograph.org.uk - 2711601.jpg,
Bus services in Greater Manchester are deregulated
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
. TfGM owns and maintains bus stations, stops & shelters. It implements the System One multi-operator and multi-modal travelcards, and subsidises some fares.
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 a proposed
integrated transport network
The Integrated Transport Network (ITN) is a dataset containing details of Great Britain's transport network. Produced by Ordnance Survey – the national mapping agency of Great Britain – it forms part of the OS MasterMap suite of products.
...
for Greater Manchester, composed of bus,
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...
, 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
Active mobility, soft mobility, active travel, active transport or active transportation is the transport of people or goods, through non-motorized means, based around human physical activity. The best-known forms of active mobility are walking a ...
routes, the vision for the Bee Network was expanded following the
Greater Manchester Combined Authority
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is a combined authority for Greater Manchester, England. It was established on 1 April 2011 and consists of 11 members; 10 indirectly elected members, each a directly elected councillor from on ...
's decision to use the powers given to it under the
Bus Services Act 2017
The Bus Services Act 2017 (c. 21) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provides for local transport authorities to create partnership schemes to improve bus services in their areas, and to introduce advanced ticketing schemes.
T ...
to introduce a bus franchising scheme for the city region. The active travel subset of the Bee Network was then renamed the ''Bee Active Network''.
Transport for Greater Manchester Committee (TfGMC)
TfGM inherited the responsibilities of the
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive was the public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester.
SELNEC PTE
Until 1969, the conurbatio ...
(GMPTE), which was established in 1974.
On 1 April 2011, the GMPTE became TfGM,
a new regional transport body for
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tamesid ...
that forms part of the new
Greater Manchester Combined Authority
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is a combined authority for Greater Manchester, England. It was established on 1 April 2011 and consists of 11 members; 10 indirectly elected members, each a directly elected councillor from on ...
(GMCA). As a result, GMITA was abolished,
replaced by the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee (TfGMC) which ultimately reports to the Combined Authority. TfGMC and its subcommittees are made up of a nominated pool of 33 councillors from the ten
metropolitan borough
A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropoli ...
s of Greater Manchester who manage TfGM and create transport policy in Greater Manchester.
Although it differs in certain structural forms,
on the day of its inauguration TfGM became the second most powerful and influential transport organisation in England after
Transport for London, as it united previously splintered governance over transport policy in the boroughs under one body.
It elects its own Chair and Vice-Chair and assumes the functions previously performed by GMITA, as well as the newly devolved transport powers and responsibilities from government and the ten metropolitan councils which make up the area. The 33 councillors have voting rights on most transport issues, despite not being members of the GMCA: major decisions still require approval by the GMCA, but the functions that are referred (but not delegated) to the TfGMC include making recommendations in relation to:
*The budget and transport levy
*Borrowing limit
*Major and strategic transport policies
*The local transport plan
*Operation of Greater Manchester Transport Fund and approval of new schemes
*Appointment of Director General/Chief Executive of TfGM
Corporate identity

TfGM uses a corporate identity designed in-house. The black and white "M" logo is adapted from the GMPTE logo and is used on bus stops across Greater Manchester.
Legal case
A
High Court case decided in 2012 between
Thales Group
Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris ...
's transport and security subsidiary (supplier of the tram management system) and TfGM considered the operation of an audit clause in a contract, and the extent to which a supplier must comply with this.
[Fenwick Elliott]
Dispatch, Issue 152 February 2013
accessed 8 May 2022
See also
*
References
External links
*
*
Official website of Transport for Greater ManchesterGreater Manchester Integrated Transport AuthorityGreater Manchester Transportation UnitSELNEC plans for urban rapid transportGreater Manchester Congestion Charge Proposals
{{authority control
Organisations based in Manchester
Public transport executives in the United Kingdom
Transport in Greater Manchester
2011 establishments in England