Bumps in the road, but more people now using buses after Bee Network launch

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

More people have got on board buses in Greater Manchester since the franchised Bee Network launched, mayor Andy Burnham has revealed in an update a month on.

For many, however, it's been far from a smooth journey so far, although it's only the start of the road for the new system. There have been reports of delays to a number of services operating on the franchised network - and reports of frustrations with the new app.

But transport bosses revealed at a meeting of the Bee Network Committee held on Thursday that journey route planning functionality on the Bee Network app was due to come into force early in the new year. READ MORE: Man, 22, killed after 'disturbance' with hunt underway to find attackers READ MORE: CPS issues statement after coroner rules Yousef Makki was unlawfully killed Mr Burnham, reporting an eight per cent growth in passenger numbers - patronage - since the launch a month and two days ago, paid tribute to 'heroic efforts' that have been made by teams involved to 'move overnight from one way of providing a bus service to another way'.

Punctuality of buses, Mr Burnham said, fluctuated between levels lower than those seen pre-franchising and higher levels. Overall, punctuality he said continued to improve and increased from 71 per cent to 74 per cent in the last few weeks, comparable to this time last year.