Salford MP Rebecca Long Bailey celebrated the historic moment as buses across the region came under public control for the first time in 40 years.
The celebration comes as Greater Manchester has heralded a new era in public transport, transforming how people get around the city-region.
The transformation will see all bus services – totalling 577 routes, 1,600 buses and accounting for more than 160 million trips per year become under public control.
The move across Greater Manchester means that they are the first area in 40 years across the country to make this move.
Following the completion of phase two of the Bee Network, Salford MP Rebecca Long Bailey shared: “Today we celebrate the completion of the Bee Network buses which means, after four decades of deregulation, Greater Manchester has finally taken all buses back under public control.
“Parts of Salford first joined the Bee Network in 2023 but the final stage, which covers more than 250 routes, will now see all buses in the region under public control.
“I’m looking forward to the Government empowering more local leaders to match this success with the incoming Bus Service Bill.”
The Bus Service Bill will aim to place a duty on the Government to ensure that every town with a population of more than 10,000 people has a regular bus service operating seven days a week.
During the celebration the Salford MP was joined the Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett, and other council and government officials for the occasion.
Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett congratulated the integration of the Bee Network, as he said: “Bus services across Salford have now all joined the Bee Network as part of the final phase of bus franchising across Greater Manchester.”
The move will aim to provide better connections, more reliable services, affordable fares, and hundreds of new, greener and more accessible vehicles are now on the roads.
As Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “This is an historic moment for Greater Manchester. We are proud to be the first area in England to complete the re-regulation of buses and to have done it on time and on budget.
“Every community in Greater Manchester will be served by cheaper, cleaner and greener buses and run in a way which puts people before profit.
“We are now ready to help other areas looking to follow suit and improve their bus services after decades of decline.”
The Bee Network will also be looking to integrate the newly launched initiative will aim to move to a London-style touch-in, touch-out payment system.
The bold new plan will be launched in March 2025, with the hope of using of a more contactless payment system.
The plan is to install the new feature across all bus and tram networks, and promises to provide easier travel whilst guaranteeing the right fare for the journey.
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