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A Bee Network V1 bus going down the Leigh Guided Busway(Image: TfGM)<\/p>\nIt will make travelling by bus easierA Bee Network V1 bus going down the Leigh Guided Busway(Image: TfGM)<\/p>\n
Major rule changes are in store for hundreds of thousands of Bee Network passengers this week.<\/p>\n
Transport bosses have confirmed rules for disabled people and the elderly will be altered on Friday, August 1, to make it easier to use Bee Network buses.<\/p>\n
From the end of this week, passengers who have an \u2018older person\u2019s travel pass\u2019, \u2018disabled person\u2019s travel pass\u2019, or a \u2018travel plus pass for disabled people\u2019 will be able to use their bus passes at any time.<\/p>\n
Currently, the concessionary tickets can only be used after 9:30am on weekdays and all-day on weekends.<\/p>\n
Never miss a story with the MEN’s daily Catch Up newsletter – get it in your inbox by signing up here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really excited for no more \u2018twirlies\u2019 (older people arriving \u2018too early\u2019 to use their bus pass) this August on the Bee Network,\u201d said Erica Woods, co-chair of the Greater Manchester Older People\u2019s Equality Panel.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a great result for older residents and we can\u2019t wait to make the most of it. It\u2019s often older people with financial challenges that rely on buses and currently they can\u2019t get to essential health appointments, meaning that treatment is delayed or they have to use taxis that they can ill-afford.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it\u2019s not just older people that will benefit \u2013 we\u2019re shoppers, we\u2019re carers, we\u2019re volunteers. This pilot will really help us to unleash our potential.\u201d<\/p>\n While the move has been welcomed by campaigners, the rule change is only temporary for the month of August 2025. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) chiefs said it is being done \u2018on a trial basis\u2019, and the impact on bus services before and just after 9:30am will be assessed in September before a final decision is made.<\/p>\n Lifting the restriction was first announced by mayor Andy Burnham<\/a> on July 9 at the launch of the Greater Manchester Strategy, where a host of transport policies were unveiled including the beginnings of an underground city centre tram and train network.<\/p>\n They also included<\/a> \u2018a new half-price monthly bus pass for 18 to 21 year-olds from September\u2019, costing \u00a340 per month, or \u00a31.43 per day for unlimited Bee Network bus travel. Night buses are also being extended with the 135, from Manchester city centre<\/a> to Bury<\/a> via Prestwich<\/a>, and the 17 and 17a, from Shudehill to Rochdale<\/a> and Norden, set to run 24\/7 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will make travelling by bus easierA Bee Network V1 bus going down the Leigh Guided Busway(Image: TfGM)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8916,15333,14985,51,285,8825,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-301856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-andy-burnham","9":"tag-bee-network","10":"tag-buses","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-transport-for-greater-manchester","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114937921829282539","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}