PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN GREATER MANCHESTER

updated January 2008

In Greater Manchester there are four bodies that ensure that public transport functions smoothly. Three of these bodies, the Traffic Commissioner for the North West, the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA) [gmpta] and the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) [gmpte] support and oversee the operation and the fourth, the bus companies, supply and control the function.

The roles of these bodies are:

The Traffic Commissioner for the North West, [traffic commissioner] appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport, licenses buses and coaches, undertakes the registration of local bus services and the licenses drivers of Public Service Vehicles (PSVs).

The Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority (GMPTA) [gmpta], comprising 33 Councillors appointed by the ten local authorities in Greater Manchester. For example Manchester has five seats and Salford three seats. The current (June 2007) political make-up is 16 Labour, 11 LibDem, 5 Conservative and 1 Community Action Party. Salford’s three members are 2 Labour (Cllr Roger Jones and Cllr Barry Warner) and 1 Conservative, (Councillor Ian Macdonald). Cllr Roger Jones is the Chairman of the GMPTA, which has its own Secretariat under the Clerk to the GMPTA, Sir Howard Bernstein [gmpta+who we are].

Its function is to assess the public transport needs of the county and make policy decisions about public transport provision. It is funded by the ten local authorities. GMPTA does not directly provide bus, train or tram services, they are operated by the private sector.  The role of the PTA is to monitor and subsidise, when requested and agreed, but not to regulate or operate 

The Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) [gmpte] is the body responsible for implementing the GMPTA policies and receives a grant to carry out this work. GMPTE undertakes the following roles:

• pays for bus services which are not provided commercially by bus operators,
• owns bus stations, shelters and stops in Greater Manchester and works to ensure all the information you'll see there is correct,
• subsidises concessionary fares and free travel facilities on buses throughout the region, including paying to keep non-profitable services running where you need them most,
• carries out the policies of Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority to ensure that local rail services meet local travel needs,
• owns the innovative and successful Metrolink system which carries over 19 million passengers a year,
• actively campaigns to promote public transport in Greater Manchester, to improve the environment and cut congestion.

The Bus Companies. There are 63 licensed companies in Greater Manchester, The main three are First Manchester Ltd [first manchester] Stagecoach Manchester [stagecoach manchester],  and Arriva [arriva manchester]. They are part of larger companies variously running bus and train services nationally and internationally. Stagecoach has recently taken over the contract to run the Manchester Metro [metrolink contract].

Very few bus routes are themselves economic so the companies receive subsidies to run services.

The autumn and winter 2007 increases in fuel prices has placed increased pressure on the profitability of many of the subsidised routes.

There are three forms of subsidy the bus routes receive:

• They are exempt from paying fuel duty and VAT
• They receive a subsidy or compensation for carrying free or reduced fare passengers. This is calculated by a complex formula based on passenger/kilometres and not by actual numbers.
• They receive a subsidy based on a number of factors such as whether the whole journey needs subsidy, whether evening services need subsidy. In our area by way of example the 551/553 service Boothstown to Bolton is completely subsidized, the 126 Wigan to Trafford Centre is not subsidized as is the X34 limited stop service between Leigh and Manchester. The 26 service between Wigan and Manchester is subsidized in the evenings.   All buses passing through Boothstown are subsidised to some extent.  The PTA has never refused a request from the Operators for a subsidy for a bus service serving Boothstown.  

The total amount of these subsidies is about £100million and this comes from Council Taxes in Greater Manchester as well as Government Grant.

Bus companies have no service responsibilities in law, but a Transport Bill going through Parliament (see page 6 and [dft+localtransportbill]) will put in place “sponsored services” where, here, the GMPTE or the local authorities could ask for a contract for a bus service. This can be done at present in London. This will result in better services but will probably cost more than the current £100million to run.  However, The Bill, currently (January 2008) before the House of Lords has watered this down somewhat and will seek to replace the PTA with a Sub-Regional Authority drawn from the Greater Manchester Council Leaders and other nearby Council leaders.  

At present very little can be done to influence services changes and the bus companies can decide that even with a subsidy they do not want to run a service. One way forward is to look at services currently operating on an experimental basis such as Local Link, a demand responsive localised service and the community transport in Salford. Ring & Ride provides a door-to-door, accessible minibus service for people of all ages, including children who find it very difficult to use ordinary public transport. (see pages 15,16 & 17) .  There is good availability of local bus timetables in the libraries, community centres and some shops. There are travel centres in Eccles and at Piccadilly in Manchester. The timetables are on the internet [gmpte+104202] and you can plan journeys [gmpte+journeyplanner] and see travel options on the GMPTE “journey planner”. See also [gmpte+102782].

If anyone has a complaint about a bus service such as non-arrival or punctual running should contact the bus company and send a copy of their letter to the GMPTE.

If Greater Manchester agrees then a congestion charge will be implemented and the government will provide £3billion to implement a number of improvements to the Metro, build the Leigh Salford Manchester Guided Busway and provide a number of new buses and other measures.

The likely scale of the congestion charge is £2 to enter the area inside the M60 between 7.30am and 9.30am and £2 to leave the area inside the M60 between 4.30pm and 6.30pm. A further charge of £1 would payable to enter a yet to be defined area of Manchester city centre.

All the local authorities in Greater Manchester, through a body called AGMA [agma], have set some criteria for the implementation of congestion charging and these are based on public and business acceptance of the concept of charging.  The Charge would not come into operation until the Passenger Transport improvements are in place and in operation.