Greater Manchester Police play vital part in keeping the public safe in new night bus service

We are teaming up with our partners, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), to help them deliver a new night bus service which will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week and on most bank holidays.

The service was launched last night (Sunday 1 September 2024) with will see it run from Manchester to Leigh and Bolton via Salford.

Officers from our Transport Unit in the city centre worked alongside Travelsafe officers to deliver a successful launch of the service, with no incidents recorded throughout the evening.

We already show an active presence on the Bee Network (buses and trams), with staff deployed throughout Greater Manchester.

The year-long trial will provide 24-hour connectivity for around 135,000 people living within a five-minute walk from the two routes – including students and people working in the hospitality, healthcare and logistics sectors.

Superintendent Gareth Parkin from our Specialist Operations Branch said: “We are delighted to be working with our partners over at TfGM to deliver a successful launch of a night bus service which will reach Leigh and Bolton.

“There are already a number of late-night bus services that run throughout the late and early hours, and I cannot recall of any significant incidents over the past three years, so we are hoping this level of behaviour continues with these two services.

“One of the aims of the Transport Unit is to improve public confidence and reduce criminality and anti-social behaviour across the transport systems of Greater Manchester.”

Vernon Everitt, Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester, said: “Providing late-night bus services was one of our ambitions when developing the Bee Network and it’s a core part of the overall plan to improve public transport in all parts of Greater Manchester. 

“Safe, reliable and affordable transport is essential to enabling Greater Manchester’s sustainable economic growth and higher productivity and our night-time economy plays a huge role in this. With hundreds of thousands of people working late and into the early hours, it’s only right that we offer better public transport options. 

“The safety and security of our passengers and hard-working staff is of paramount importance to us with our TravelSafe Support and Enforcement Officers providing a visible presence to go alongside on board CCTV and the support of organisations such as Strutsafe.

“We continue to explore the potential for further action to improve safety, and the perception of safety, across public transport and active travel as part of our zero tolerance towards crime and antisocial behaviour.”