Transport bosses hoped to have ironed out school bus 'teething issues'

Bee Network bosses have said they hope school bus ‘teething issues’ are ‘a thing of the past’ following a wave of complaints from Tameside parents.

Every Greater Manchester bus service came under Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TfGM) control on January 5, concluding a ‘franchising’ process which began in September 2023. January’s ‘tranche’ of franchising included half of all buses, covering a swathe of southern Greater Manchester.

TfGM chiefs warned of ‘teething problems’ ahead of the shake-up, as they had been experienced in other parts of the city-region previously. However, the main complaints came from parents of children using the bus to get to school in Tameside and Stockport.

“It’s disgusting, honestly,” said one furious Droylsden mum lamenting ‘horrific’ hour-long delays on the 864 bus. “We have lost £250 in lost earnings because my partner is self-employed and had to take the day off work [to drive her to school].”

Aftab Marchant, a dad in Heaton Chapel, said of the 42A: “We are tracking on the app, and so is he. It says due in eight minutes, then three minutes, then two minutes… then it never comes, and disappears from the app.”

“The one after is 45 minutes later. On Monday (January 6), my wife left work to pick him up. There were eight or nine children at that stop waiting and eight or nine children at the next one too.

“On Friday (January 10), the same thing happened. Honest to God, his lips were blue when I picked him — and up he had a big coat on.”

A few weeks on, TfGM’s chief network officer Danny Vaughan has said he ‘hopes’ the issues have abated. He told a Greater Manchester Combined Authority meeting on Thursday: “Performance in the first week suffered because of the weather but it was a very very successful switchover. 

“The biggest concern so far is the performance of school services… I think it’s a teething issue. 

“Operator Metroline is making progress with driver route awareness and scheduling. We have added more buses”

“I think there were a few [negative media stories] but I hope they are a thing of the past, he says. The resilience is there and hopefully we will have a better service.”

Mr Vaughan added ‘services now are quite reliable’ across the Bee Network just over three weeks after taking buses over.