Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit

Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit
Route V1 in the original Vantage branding, at Newearth Road bus stop on the guided busway section.
Overview
Owner	Transport for Greater Manchester
Locale	Wigan Salford Manchester
Transit type	Guided busway and Bus rapid transit
Annual ridership	2.6 million (2023/24)
Website	TfGM - V1/V2/V4 services
Operation
Began operation	3 April 2016
Operator(s)	Go North West (under the Bee Network)[1]
Technical
System length	22 kilometres

The Leigh-Salford-Manchester Bus Rapid Transit service in Greater Manchester, England provides transport connections between Leigh, Atherton, Tyldesley, Ellenbrook and Manchester city centre via Salford. The guided busway and bus rapid transit (BRT) scheme promoted by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) opened on 3 April 2016. Built by Balfour Beatty at a total cost of £122 million to improve links from former Manchester Coalfield towns into Manchester city centre, the busway proposal encountered much opposition and a public enquiry in 2002 before construction finally started in 2013. A branch route from Atherton, and an extension to the Manchester Royal Infirmary have been added to the planned original scheme.

From Leigh, the V1 limited-stop bus service joins seven kilometres of guided busway to Ellenbrook, six kilometres of bus lanes on the East Lancashire Road and sections of reserved bus lanes through Salford and Manchester city centres. The V2 service from Atherton to Manchester joins the guided busway at Tyldesley. Stops on the guided busway section have level-boarding from platforms equipped with passenger information display screens. Both services run via the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University before terminating at Manchester Royal Infirmary.^[2]

From from 24 September 2023 all services along the Bus Rapid Transit route were integrated into the first tranche of the 'Bee Network', an overall bus franchising scheme intended as a component of an eventual integrated transport network for the whole of Greater Manchester. Consequently, the Rapid Transit bus operation has been transferred to Go North West, the vehicles have been repainted with the yellow 'Bee Network' branding, and day tickets are valid for all bus journeys across the Network.