Bev Craig has announced that young people aged 11 to 16 will be able to travel for free on buses across Greater Manchester from January 2027. The move was announced in Bolton town centre on her first day as the city-region’s new mayor on Monday, August 3, and is expected to save families £500 a year per child.
Extension of Our Pass scheme
All 16 to 18 year olds already get free bus travel around Greater Manchester through the region’s Our Pass scheme, introduced in 2019. This will be extended to 11 to 16 year olds to help a further 200,000 young people benefit from free bus travel.
Bev Craig also announced major plans for upgrades to Greater Manchester’s Bee Network through new and expanded routes, and night buses.
Mayor's vision
“I want every young person growing up in this city-region to feel they can go anywhere they want to in life, both literally on the bus, and in the future,” the mayor said. “We’re so excited to build out the Bee Network, and free bus travel for 11 to 18 year olds comes on the back of expansions that we’re also announcing. By the end of August, we’ll see expanded routes, new bus routes, we’ll see night buses right across Greater Manchester, making that connection to get to where you want to go.”
Bev Craig said she hopes the plan will be ‘transformational’ for families in Greater Manchester. She told the Manchester Evening News: “The number one thing people talked to me about during this election campaign is that they just felt family finances were tough. Free bus passes for 11 to 16 year olds helps families, puts £500 in their pockets, and sends a big message to young people that they can go wherever they want to and not be reliant on the bank of mum and dad. I’m hoping it shows that we can make a practical difference to the pockets of people across Greater Manchester.”
First in England outside London
Manchester is thought to be the first English city to introduce free bus travel for 11 to 16 year olds outside of London. Asked about the significance of this decision by The Guardian in a press huddle, Bev Craig said: “I think Greater Manchester always prides itself on trying to do things first. For me it’s a common sense thing that mayors can do, that we can make a difference to people when times are tough and families are struggling, putting more money in their pockets but also lifting up our young people.”
Other transport changes
Greater Manchester’s mayor confirmed that plans to give free travel to school on Bee Network buses to children in temporary accommodation will be implemented from this September. This change will be administered by local councils and be in place for the new school year.
Improvements to bus routes will begin on Sunday, August 30 with a new 388 service providing an hourly bus between Ashton and Hyde via Stalybridge. The existing 615 route linking Wigan and Middlebrook Retail Park will be extended to Bolton, creating a half-hourly service between the retail park and the town centre. Then from Tuesday, September 1, a new 377 service will connect Woodford Garden Village to Stockport town centre.
New night services will start from September 3, when every part of Greater Manchester will have at least one night bus on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The new round-the-clock services will include the 50 (Manchester - Salford), 216 (Tameside - Manchester), 263 (Trafford - Manchester), 192 (Stockport - Manchester), and 83 (Oldham - Manchester). On September 6, a new 612 will provide a half-hourly (hourly on Sundays) service between Wigan and St Helens via Abram, Golborne and Newton-le-Willows. This is a cross-boundary service which will align with the rollout of locally-controlled buses in the neighbouring Liverpool City Region.
Improvements are also coming to timetables on selected routes across Greater Manchester, including increases in frequency so buses come more often, buses running earlier and later, and improvements to Sunday services.
Parents welcome the announcement
In Bolton town centre, parents welcomed the announcement of free bus travel for 11 to 16 year olds. Sotonye Ayodele, 36, has a son aged 11 and a daughter aged 13, and said it will make a huge difference to families. She told the LDRS: “Definitely it will help, we just need anything at all to make life easier for us, we work really hard and we want the best for our children. Taking transportation off, especially going to and from school, will ease a bit [of pressure] on our pockets. Since we heard about the free bus pass, we’ve written down a list of places we would love to go to in the summer holidays. In the past where I had to pay for their bus ticket I had to think twice before coming out, but now I think there’s no limits to where we can go or travel, I really appreciate it.”
Sarah Hellings, 34, added: “I think it’s a really good idea, I’ve got older children as well, it just gives them a bit of freedom to get out and about, more change to go to different places instead of being stuck by the charges, because it can get expensive, especially if you’re going out every day. It will put money back in families’ pockets, you can have more budget to actually go to different places as well. I’ve got two older sons and that adds up if you’re going out every day.” Her daughter Scarlett Hellings, 10, added: “I think it’s a good idea because all the people that want to travel can travel more without having to pay the fee.”
The Bee Network was set up by former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and has brought major changes to transport across the region, including bringing local buses back under local control. There are wider plans to bring 64 Greater Manchester train stations into the Bee Network by 2028.
