Transport bosses have fast-tracked payment to Greater Manchester's bus operators - and asked in return that they keep running routes for key workers.
Every month, Transport for Greater Manchester pays bus operators for routes which are subsidised because they aren't commercially viable, as well as reimbursing them for concessionary pass holders.
Usually these payments are made mid-way through the month, but in April the transfer has taken place early as bus firms struggle with passenger losses of up to 85 per cent as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Despite this plummeting patronage and slashed timetables, firms received £5.6m - around 85pc of their usual subsidy - in a bid to help them through this unprecedented period of uncertainty.
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