Bus fares across Greater Manchester are to be capped at £2 for adults under new plans to transform public transport in the region.
Following a judicial review last week, where a judge ruled in favour of the region’s buses being brought back under public control, mayor Andy Burnham has today announced a series of major steps to move Greater Manchester towards a London-style public transport system, according to Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).
During what has been described as “a major event to outline a new era for Greater Manchester”, Mr Burnham has set out a revised timetable for the introduction of bus franchising.
Regulated buses will first introduced in Bolton, Wigan, and parts of Salford and west Manchester from next autumn, before Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, and areas of north Manchester will follow in spring 2024, and then Stockport, Trafford, Tameside, south Manchester, and remaining parts of Salford are expected to run by the end of 2024.
From this date, customers will be able to take advantage of capped fares across the whole region on buses run by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM).
As mentioned, these newly-announced plans by the Mayor come after a legal challenge brought by bus operators against the city-region’s bus franchising plans was dismissed last week, and are said to signify “a key next step towards the delivery of the Bee Network vision”.
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Some good news to start the week.
From next year, as we take control of our buses, we will:
▪️cap adult fares at £2 ▪️cap child fares at £1
The era of people paying £4 or more for a single journey is coming to an end.
The new £2 capped ticket will function as a ‘hopper’ fare.
This means that the same ticket can be used for any change of bus within 60 minutes of the ticket being bought, regardless of how many times a person changes buses within that hour.
This move clears the way for a new franchising model taking control over buses away from profit-focused operators and placing it instead in public hands – which makes the region the first outside London to have this power in more than 30 years.
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The franchise model is estimated to cost around £135 million and means fares, timetables and routes will be set by local authorities instead of private companies, but operators may continue running services under a franchise system.
Speaking on the new bus fare caps ahead of the official unveiling of the plans later today, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “The court ruling means we now have the green light to deliver on our plans to deliver a London-style public transport system [and] make travelling by public transport more appealing, easier, and significantly, put our people before profits.
“The government has signalled its intention to support our ambitions many times over and we now need them to work in partnership with us to help us turn our shared vision into a reality.”
Greater Manchester will have a new Transport Commissioner to take a leading role in the delivery of the Bee Network, with former Transport for London (TfL) Managing Director of Customers, Communication and Technology, Vernon Everitt, having been appointed.
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🗣️ "We will make travelling by public transport more appealing, easier and, significantly, put our people before profits."
🚍 Today Andy will set out the major steps we're taking to deliver a London-style public system for Greater Manchester.#NewEraGMhttps://t.co/89NaDuZGmX
— Mayor of Greater Manchester (@MayorofGM) March 14, 2022
“I’m delighted to welcome Vernon onboard, as we deliver a new era of London-style transport for Greater Manchester,” Mr Burnham added.
“He is a great signing for this city-region [as he] spent 14 years as a Managing Director at Transport for London, leading on London’s integration of public transport through simple and intuitive fares, ticketing and customer information.
“In Greater Manchester we are leading the way and developing a blueprint for other city-regions to follow when it comes to improving intra-city transport and connectivity between our villages, towns and cities.
“My ambition is that soon here in Greater Manchester it will be simpler, cheaper, and more reliable to get around on public transport.”
Micah Richards reveals dad ‘unexpectedly’ died shortly before going on air for England v Argentina last night
Emily Sergeant
Micah Richards has revealed that his dad died shortly before he went on air for the World Cup semi final last night.
The former right back – who most-notably played for Manchester City for a decade from 2005-2015, and for the England national team from 2006-2012 – was one of the BBC’s pundits providing on-air analysis last night as England faced Argentina in a highly anticipated semi final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup last night.
The two teams faced off in Atlanta, and while goals came from both sides, it was ultimately Argentina that reigned supreme – securing a 2-1 win over the Three Lions.
But while much of the country is grieving the fact that football won’t be ‘coming home’ (well, for another two years at least), Richards is grieving on a deeper level.
He took to Instagram after the loss last night to share with his 1.4m followers that shortly before he went on air, his father Lincoln passed away ‘unexpectedly’ – calling him the ‘proudest parent possible’ in a touching tribute.
“He has left us all too soon,” Richards began in his tribute.
“Hwas my greatest fan. He barely missed a game my entire life. He would take me wherever I needed to go when I was a kid and he was the proudest parent possible during my professional career. It was so rare for him to not be by my side.
“I know how much watching England World Cup games means to everyone at home, and how the experience bonds families together across the generations, like nothing else.
“I know, particularly as a proud old-school Yorkshireman, dad would’ve wanted the show to go on this evening. And so it did.”
Argentina facing disciplinary action for controversial banner after beating England
Danny Jones
In the aftermath of England crashing out of the 2026 World Cup following their defeat in the semi-final, their opponents Argentina look set to face disciplinary action for a controversial flag held up in the wake of beating their old enemies.
For anyone who quickly turned off the telly after the Three Lions‘ 2-1 defeat and might have missed it, the Argentinian national squad waved a makeshift sign which read: “Las Malvinas son Argentinas.”
In English, this translates to “The Falklands are Argentine.”
Referring to the historic conflict between the two countries, which took place more than four decades ago, the statement has been described as inflammatory by some, with No. 10 Downing Street having issued an official response as the team now reportedly risks punishment by FIFA.
Multiple major outlets now believe that a financial penalty at the very least is expected to be passed down for the divisive political message.
As noted by the BBC above, this is by no means the first time this has happened, and perceived ‘tragedy chanting’ among other problematic behaviour from both fan bases has been a recurring issue whenever the two sides have played since.
To put things into context, the Falklands War, which lasted for 74 days, led to the deaths of 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen, with three civilians on the islands also losing their lives.
As such, there is still plenty of bad blood between the South American country and Great Britain, with members of the nation’s leading party even weighing in with provocative and rather public posts on social media ahead of the game.
Vice President Victoria Villarruel has been among the most vocal online.
Jogadores argentinos mostram bandeira com a frase “As Malvinas são nossas”.
The reaction from the UK government was direct, too, with business secretary Peter Kyle telling Sky News: “I had left and gone to bed before the banner came onto the pitch, but I saw the images this morning, and of course, it’s entirely inappropriate.
“Politics should stay away from football. That is a very clear principle of the World Cup, but any consequences that come from that are now a decision for FIFA.”
Speaking to the BBC, he went on to add: “We expect FIFA to undertake an investigation into this. I think it was certain to happen because it was such an egregious violation of the rules of not having political activity as part of football.”
It’s also worth noting that Argentina have prior form for this kind of display.
Will Argentina be punished for holding up the Falklands banner?
After winning 2-1 over England, the players took a banner from their supporters, which said in Spanish: "The Falkland Islands are Argentinian."
The predicted outcome looks more than likely, with FIFA having previously fined £20,000 for a similar stunt before a friendly against Slovenia back in 2014.
‘La Albiceleste’ and their fellow compatriots won’t care one bit, of course, as they’re now into another World Cup final and could join Brazil, Italy and France in becoming back-to-back global champions.
Meanwhile, plenty have criticised Thomas Tuchel‘s change in tactics and substitutions as England went more defensive after going a goal up, and the post-mortem from his first run as manager will no doubt continue in the coming days; whether he makes it consecutive tournaments or not, we’ll wait and see.
If you can bring yourself to watch it back, you can watch the highlights along with the extended post-match reaction in full down below.
Emily Sergeant -
14th March 2022 
