The countdown is on for the launch of the Greater Manchester Bee Network, as we were invited to the Stagecoach Wigan depot in Ashton-in-Makerfield, to mark one month to go until the launch of the Bee Network and franchised bus service for Greater Manchester. The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, was joined by transport commissioner Vernon Everitt and leaders of Wigan Council and Bolton Council and a fleet of yellow Bee Buses ready for the launch next month.
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00:00 This is the final countdown to the B network.
00:03 Have you all got that song in your heads now?
00:05 It'll be there.
00:06 You'll be cursing me all day now, won't you, with that.
00:09 But it really is.
00:10 It's a month to go before we retake control
00:15 of our buses here in Greater Manchester
00:17 after four decades of deregulation
00:20 and a bus system that's gone backwards in that time.
00:24 This is a hugely important moment for Greater Manchester.
00:29 And behind me, for the first time on Greater Manchester soil
00:33 is a new Greater Manchester icon,
00:36 the zero emission B network bus.
00:39 And they look absolutely fantastic.
00:41 We're sat here on one of the new buses in the fleet
00:57 that's now gonna serve both Wigan and Bolton.
00:59 The first of the B line rollout,
01:01 which starts on the 24th of September.
01:03 And what we certainly do know from today's visit,
01:06 the quality of the transport we are talking about.
01:09 And it's certainly, I think,
01:10 when people get on board with these new buses,
01:12 will fully appreciate that public transport
01:15 is not a second class option.
01:17 It's a first class delivery.
01:19 And this is what the B line will bring to Wigan.
01:22 (silence)
01:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]