Agenda and decisions

That apologies be received and noted from Councillors Howard Sykes and Linda Blackburn.

Apologies were also received from Gary Nolan (One Bus).

The Chair welcomed the attendance of bus operators present at the meeting.

To note the appointment of Cllr Mark Aldred as Chair and Cllr Warren Bray as Vice Chair of the Bus Services Sub Committee for the forthcoming municipal year as agreed by the GM Transport Committee at their meeting on the 12 August 2022.

That the appointment of Cllr Mark Aldred as Chair and Cllr Warren Bray as Vice Chair for the Bus Services Sub Committee be noted.

To note the membership of the Bus Services Sub Committee for the forthcoming municipal year as follows –

That the membership of the Bus Services Sub Committee for the forthcoming municipal year be noted as below –

To receive declarations of interest in any item for discussion at the meeting. A blank form for declaring interests has been circulated with the agenda; please ensure that this is returned to the Governance & Scrutiny Officer at the start of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider the approval of the minutes of the meeting held 18 March 2022.

That the minutes of the GM Transport Bus Services Sub Committee meeting held 18 March 2022 be approved as a correct record.

Report of Stephen Rhodes, Director of Bus, TfGM.

1. That the performance of the GM Bus Network be noted.

2. That a meeting would be arranged between Cllr John Vickers, TfGM and First to address the concerns raised regarding the V1 and V2 Vantage Bus Services, specifically services capacity, waiting times and ticketing costs.

3. That officers would pick up with Cllr Phil Burke directly concerns regarding the performance of Rosso services in Rochdale.

4. That the Committee would receive an update on the work of the Travel Safe Partnership at the next meeting of the full Committee on the 14 October.

Report of Stephen Rhodes, Director of Bus, TfGM.

1. That the changes to the commercial network set out in Annex A be noted by Members.

2. That the proposals that no action is taken in respect of changes or de-registered commercial services set out in Annex A be agreed by Members.

3. That the action taken in respect of the service change set out in Annex B be noted by Members.

4. That the typo in relation to service 464 be amended from ‘reduced’ to ‘introduced’.

5. That thanks be expressed to officers at TfGM for the work to address the significant number of potential service changes and withdrawals.

6. That the proposed changes to general subsidised services set out in Annex C be agreed by Members.

7. That it be noted that First would provide patronage figures to Cllr George Hulme to illustrate the trend of decline.

8. That officers would meet with Cllr John Vickers to discuss the withdrawal of service 595 and consider other options that could include a route change for service 583.

9. That Cllr David Meller would submit a suggested route amendment for service 371 to officers at TfGM to consider.

To inform the Committee of the latest challenges, issues and achievements across the bus network.

That the verbal updates provided by operators be noted.

To comment on the proposed Work Programme for the GM Transport Committee and Sub Committees.

1. That the proposed work programme for the GM Transport Committee and its Sub Committees be noted.

2. That a future report on concessionary travel with a focus on the current concession pass criteria, the processes by which residents can obtain the required passes and the processes by which passes can be renewed be programmed for consideration by the full committee.

3. That operators be asked to provide an update on the compliance of their fleet with regards to Euro 6 standards at the next meeting of the Bus Services Sub Committee.

To consider future meeting dates for the Committee –

Friday 18 November 2022

Friday 20 January 2023

Friday 10 March 2023

That future dates for the Bus Services Sub Committee be noted as below –

Friday 18 November 2022

Friday 20 January 2023

Friday 10 March 2023

That, under section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public should be excluded from the meeting for the following items on business on the grounds that this involved the likely disclosure of exempt information, as set out in the relevant paragraphs of Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

That, under section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public should be excluded from the meeting for the following items on business on the grounds that this involved the likely disclosure of exempt information, as set out in the relevant paragraphs of Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of Stephen Rhodes, Director of Bus Services, TfGM.

That the financial implications of forthcoming changes to the bus network be noted.