Andy Burnham has made calls for ‘London-style’ bus fares across the North of England.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester appeared at the Transport for the North conference in Leeds yesterday and claimed that fares set at £1.55, just like in the capital, would be a “game-changer” for millions of northern residents and has “the potential to elevate us”.
Mr Burnham told the Yorkshire Post that Greater Manchester could act as a “template” for the idea of a standard £1.55 fare for single journeys to be adopted across the North.
With Greater Manchester due to take buses back into public control under a franchising system from 2023, Mr Burnham said that the region could have the fares system in place by mid-2024.
This is providing the government offer sufficient support.
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Off to Leeds for the big @Transport4North conference where I will call for London-level bus fares for the North of England.
£1.55 a journey would be a game-changer for millions here.
“We could be a template for the rest of the North, particularly for combined authorities where the powers do exist to put buses under public control,” Mr Burnham told the Yorkshire Post.
“We think what we would do would be helpful to Leeds, helpful to Liverpool and helpful to other places as they look to go down a similar path.
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“It’s perfectly doable.”
Giving a further insight into how the standardised transport system could work in Greater Manchester, the Mayor said: “In our case, we would integrate the buses with the tram system. As well as it being £1.55 for a bus journey, you would have a daily cap on what people could expect to pay on any given day, no matter how many buses or trams they took.
“This would be a big shift from the very overpriced transport system we have got at the moment to a London-style system which I think would bring huge benefits.
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“It could be done [in Greater Manchester] by the middle of 2024 [as] we’ve got a plan to do that, but it does require the government to back us properly with obviously the funding but also the powers we need.
“It is a big vision but it is the best example of levelling up I have seen so far.”
🗣 “Greater Manchester is a world class city-region in many ways, but our transport system is not,” adds Andy at @Transport4North#TfN21
“A London-style transport system, with London-level fares for 2.8 million people, has the potential to elevate us – that is levelling-up.” pic.twitter.com/cpRvV6Hjqm
— Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham (@MayorofGM) September 20, 2021
Addressing the concept of a London-style bus fares in a statement issued earlier this month regarding Greater Manchester’s plans to be carbon neutral by 2038, Andy Burnham said: “We know that transport sits at the beating heart of all city-regions and the fact is that ours is just not fit for purpose.
“A single 20-minute bus journey between Middleton and central Manchester can cost £4.50 – compared to the £1.55 hopper fare in London. Around one third of our residents do not have access to a car [and] those that do, drive a lot due to a lack of better alternatives [so] half of all trips in our city region are less than two kilometres, and, shockingly, four in 10 of those trips are currently made by car.
“A single, London-style, integrated transport network that is accessible, affordable and reliable will unlock Greater Manchester’s economy.
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“It will significantly improve air quality and it will help us to level up our communities.”
After asking the government to give the region the “money and powers” needed to “get the job done”, Mr Burnham then added: “Our people deserve much better and this is the first phase of our plan to give them a world-class transport network.”
Featured Image – Flickr
News
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman to step down from Strictly Come Dancing
Danny Jones
Long-serving Strictly Come Dancing presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have announced that they will be stepping down from the beloved reality TV competition after more than three decades between them.
The Strictly team will, of course, ‘keep dancing’, but this still feels like the end of an era.
While Claudia Winkleman only became a joint co-anchor back in 2010 in preparation for the legendary Sir Bruce Forsyth’s eventual retirement in 2014, Tess Daly has been one of the two lead presenters since the hit smash-hit UK show first started way back in 2004.
Boasting a cumulative and incredible 31 years as the respective lead faces on one of the nation’s favourite IPs, Daly and Winkleman released a joint video on their social media pages confirming the bittersweet news.
Writing in the caption on Instagram, the pair said: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together, and now feels like the right time.
“We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series, and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show.
“They’re the most brilliant team, and we’ll miss them every day. We will cry when we say the last ‘keep dancing’, but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.”
Although Winkleman, 53, began as the presenter of the spin-off programme ‘It Takes Two’, it now seems hard to imagine the main show without either of them.
Confirming that they will be departing the British telly favourite at the end of the current series, which is around a month into its 23rd series.
Daly, 56, went on to share a further statement addressing the decision to quit the Strictly lineup after such a lengthy stay on BBC One.
It goes without saying that, much like when ‘Brucey’ left 11 years ago now, the show just won’t be the same without them.
For now, all we can say is thanks for all the memories, and we’d better see them back in the ballroom or popping up for special cameos in Blackpool again one day soon.
What do you make of the announcement, Strictly fans – and who do you think should replace them?
Featured Images — BBC Media Centre/Screenshot (via BBC)
News
Morrisons set to close more than 100 brand locations across the country
Danny Jones
UK supermarket company Morrisons is set to close more than 100 specific locations across the UK, including multiple here in Greater Manchester.
Despite still being considered one of the giants of the sector here in Britain, Morrisons is continuing its previously announced ‘restructuring’ by adding a number of other shops to the chopping block.
The chain had already announced that a slate of 50 Morrisons Cafes would be closing earlier this year, but now other brand branches are expected to follow suit.
While their major supermarkets will remain virtually untouched, several Morrisons Daily convenience stores, florists, pharmacies and Market Kitchens, like the busy lunchtime spot on Piccadilly Gardens – but don’t panic: the corner store itself is staying as far as we’re aware.
Fortunately, major mainline Morrisons supermarket locations look to be safe from closing. (Credit: JThomas/Jaggery via Geograph)
Despite insisting the business is in good shape and has a “bright future” ahead, Morrisons‘ chief executive, Rami Baitieh, confirmed that “a minority [of sites] have specific local challenges and in those locations, regrettably, closure and re-allocation of the space is the only sensible option.”
It’s also believed that 35 butchers’ counters and the same number of fishmongers are set to wrap up as part of the shake-up.
You can see the full list of Morrisons Cafes closing down below; thankfully, we Mancs have managed to avoid closures in this particular department.
Morrisons Cafe Locations closing
Bradford Thornbury
Paisley Falside Road
London Queensbury
Portsmouth
Great Park
Banchory North, Deeside Road
Failsworth, Poplar Street
Blackburn, Railway Road
Leeds, Swinnow Road
London, Wood Green
Kirkham, Poulton Street
Lutterworth, Bitteswell Road
Stirchley
Leeds, Horsforth
London, Erith
Crowborough
Bellshill, John Street
Dumbarton, Glasgow Road
East Kilbride, Lindsayfield
East Kilbride, Stewartfield
Glasgow, Newlands
Largs, Irvine Road
Troon, Academy Street
Wishaw, Kirk Road
Newcastle, UT Cowgate
Northampton, Kettering Road
Bromsgrove, Buntsford Industrial Park
Solihull, Warwick Road
Brecon, Free Street
Caernarfon, North Road
Hadleigh
London, Harrow, Hatch End
High Wycombe, Temple End
Leighton Buzzard, Lake Street
London, Stratford
Sidcup, Westwood Lane
Welwyn, Garden City, Black Fan Road
Warminster, Weymouth Street
Oxted, Station Yard
Reigate, Bell Street
Borehamwood
Weybridge, Monument Hill
Bathgate
Erskine, Bridgewater Shopping Centre
Gorleston, Blackwell Road
Connah’s Quay
Mansfield, Woodhouse
Elland
Gloucester, Metz Way
Watford, Ascot Road
Littlehampton, Wick
Helensburgh
Sadly, it seems that plenty of people saw this coming, with early reports of the off-license/corner shop-esque Daily shops following soon after cafes were confirmed to be closing back in March.
Morrisons closing 52 cafes, 17 convenience stores, and potentially 365 people redundant
Just before new NI tax laws kick in from next month
Retail is 10% of total UK employment, a notoriously low margin business
This is where Greater Manchester comes in, as a handful of florists and Market Kitchens in the region are to join the wider collection of closures by the end of the year.
The Manc -
21st September 2021 
