Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham announces new annual Bee Network bus pass

ManchesterWorld

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has announced the launch of a new annual Bee Network bus pass, which will be available from Sunday 5 January, 2025.   The annual pass will cost £800, but passengers will be able to pay for it over the course of the year via Credit Unions in weekly or monthly instalments. The idea behind this is to provide affordable public transport for people still feeling the effects of the cost of living crisis.

Transcript

00:00We are going to give you the opportunity to buy a new annual VBUS pass from your credit union

00:08and you'll be able to pay for it via weekly instalments or monthly instalments

00:15and that will be the pass that people would buy up front if you like for 800 pounds if you were

00:21going to go into a TFGM shop you would pay your 800 pounds and get the annual pass.

00:25What we're saying is we're going to give everybody the opportunity to sign up to a credit union

00:30and then at that point they will be able to pay weekly or monthly to get the annual pass and all

00:36of the discount that comes with it and people will be able to do it via payroll as well.

00:43Credit unions I think allow people to do it via payroll so this is really going to help

00:49people who are still struggling with the cost of living. The latest Greater

00:53Manchester residents survey says that over 50 percent of residents in Greater

00:58Manchester say they are struggling still with the cost of living and over 50 percent say it's

01:02affecting their mental health their well-being so these pressures are still massive on people

01:07and myself and the other 10 leaders of Greater Manchester are thinking of ways

01:10how can we relieve these pressures on people how can we reduce the cost of public transport which

01:15we control now so we can do something more to help our residents. So what does it mean for

01:21people if you were to sign up with a credit union and you were to get an annual VBUS pass

01:26to use any bus in Greater Manchester not just the ones in your area any bus unlimited the new

01:32night buses we're introducing every single bus in Greater Manchester unlimited travel you will save

01:39£5 on the current weekly because the weekly payment will be about £15 so immediately you'd

01:46make a £5 saving per week if you were buying weeklies you would make £5 saving £20 over a

01:52month is the saving and over the course of a year you will save £240 on the cost of your

01:59the cost of your travel. So I hope you can see that this is a really beneficial scheme

02:04for our for our residents and I'm really proud to be standing with our our credit unions today

02:11Co-ops UK who support our credit unions and Salford City Council who do a lot as a council

02:17to help to help our residents.

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