TSSA welcomes victory for Andy Burnham’s Manchester bus reform plans

TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes has welcomed news that a judge has ruled in favour of Andy Burnham’s bid to bring buses across Greater Manchester under public control.

The ruling is a result of a legal review brought by private bus firms attempting to hold onto their lucrative franchises. Burnham, the Greater Manchester Mayor, has signalled that his plans pave the way for an integrated transport system across the region.

Commenting, union leader Cortes said: “Our union welcomes this victory because it can only be good news, and of great benefit, to the people of Greater Manchester.

“Andy Burnham has rightly shown the failed privatisation model in our bus and wider public transport network to be the rip off it always was. Today’s judgement only confirms that.

“What we would like to see now is the removal of greedy privateers altogether on our bus routes - as time and again this has been shown to be an abject failure, as on our rail network.

“Building a sustained economic recovery from the pandemic, while meeting our climate crisis obligations, demands that we have public transport run for people, not profit.

“The only way to ensure that happens is by having a Labour government committed to taking our railways into public ownership and allowing Mayors and local authorities to directly run their bus and wider transport services.”