Bus firms to increase services from 31 May

Local bus firms are set to increase the frequency of their services for key workers and essential travel, as the government restrictions are beginning to ease.

From Sunday (31 May), a number of Rosso, First and Go North West services will undergo revised timetables, additional journeys and extra buses in place at busy times, to allow more room for social distancing on board.

Diamond Bus North West has also increased timetables and re-introduced all services (except express) as of Tuesday 26 May.

From Tuesday (2 June), concessionary travel passes will no longer be accepted before 9.30am on weekdays, to create capacity for key workers and other essential travel. This includes Transport for Greater Manchester and Go North West passes.

Guidance has been issued by Transport for Greater Manchester, including: 

• If you have to use public transport wear a face covering, keep your distance from other passengers, clean your hands frequently and use contactless payment. If possible, carry a hand sanitiser with you.
• Buses can carry fewer people now, so please avoid peak periods and be prepared to wait for another service if you see a bus full sign.
• Full buses will normally only operate on a one off, one on basis, so please be patient and consider other passengers who may need to travel more urgently than you.
• Please keep your distance and observe any markers at the bus stop, station or interchange – to keep yourself and others safe.

The timetable changes will see the frequency of many of the most popular services significantly increased, including:

Diamond

• 471 – Rochdale to Bolton via Heywood and Bury has increased to a 12-minute frequency

Rosso

• 464 - Accrington, Rawtenstall, Bacup and Rochdale increased to every 20 minutes Monday to Friday, with buses every 30 minutes on Saturday and hourly on Sunday

Go North West

• 17 and 17A Manchester - Rochdale

The 17 will increase to run every 15 mins, Monday to Saturday daytimes, combining with the 18 to create a bus every 7/8 mins between Shudehill and Middleton. During the evenings, the 17 will run every 30 mins, combining with the 18 to create a bus every 15 mins. There'll be some small tweaks to times for the 17A, restoring the timetable to pre-pandemic times, and there'll be two trips on Saturdays to help you get to work at Stakehill Industrial Estate.

• 18 Langley - MRI

The 18 will run every 15 mins between Shudehill and Langley, extending every 30 mins to MRI. Buses will run every 30 mins through the evenings, Monday to Saturday.

• 41 Sale - Middleton

The 41 will increase to run every 20 mins between MRI and NMGH, Mondays to Saturdays, to improve cross city and hospital links. In South Manchester, two buses every hour will extend from MRI to West Didsbury, with one of those buses extending to Sale. In North Manchester, one bus every hour will extend from NMGH to Middleton.

Diamond has altered costs of its day tickets (£5 for adults, £2.50 for children) whilst the maximum adult single fare is now £4.50.

Diamond is only accepting exact fare payments on buses. Drivers will no longer be able to give change, with any surplus money donated to charity.

Passengers are required to leave the seat next to them empty unless travelling with their own children and guidelines will be clearly displayed on board for passengers to see. It is expected that services will initially operate at around 35% of the normal passenger capacity to ensure sufficient social distancing can be maintained throughout journeys and the company is working with its technology providers to find ways to help passengers see how busy services are before they plan to catch the bus.

Buses at capacity will display ‘BUS FULL Social Distancing’ and Diamond has promised another bus will not be far behind. Every bus is fitted with an anti-bacterial disinfectant kit for the driver's use and drivers also have access to visors and gloves.

The company has also invested in thermal fogging equipment for each depot, which is effective against Covid-19. Diamond is also treating its vehicles every night.

Go North West buses may not stop if they are too full, and change is no longer given on its services, with any surplus money donated to charity.

Rosso has introduced an enhanced and extensive daily cleaning regime with a powerful anti-viral mist whilst further deep cleaning at bus stations and destinations take place throughout the day. The firm will also be installing additional signs on buses and at key bus stops and bus stations giving simple guidance to safe travels.

Rosso CEO Alex Hornby said: “An immense amount of work is going on every day behind the scenes to make sure our buses are safe for everyone to use.

“We’re constantly monitoring customer numbers and adding in extra buses wherever we see journeys becoming busier, so everyone can space out and to enable effective social distancing.”

Ian Humphreys, Managing Director of First Manchester, said: “We are increasing many services to manage social distancing by providing more capacity. This will help to support the needs of workers and others making essential journeys.

“We have introduced a number of industry-leading measures to help ensure that government guidelines are observed across our fleet and that we offer clean, safe, socially-distanced space for passengers and our employees. These range from innovative capacity tracking technology to seat signage that encourages customers to adopt appropriate distancing on board.

“The Government guidance is still to avoid public transport so we urge customers to consider if they need to use the bus to travel, and if so to avoid where possible typically busier times of the day. As travel advice develops, we will look at further service changes.  

“Our drivers and the support teams behind them are continuing to work hard at keeping bus services running. The assistance and understanding of our customers will help us in managing on-board capacity during these challenging times.”

To help drivers, over the next few days a facility will be added to First’s ticket machines, allowing drivers to count passengers on and off and which advises them what, if any, available capacity remains. Where a bus is full, the driver will show a “SORRY BUS FULL” display on the destination screen.

Always check your route before travelling, and only travel if it is necessary.

• www.diamondbuses.com/north-west/bus-services/
• www.firstgroup.com/greater-manchester/plan-journey/timetables/?operator=11&page=1&redirect=no
• www.gonorthwest.co.uk/timetables/
• www.transdevbus.co.uk/rosso/services