Improving journeys: Rochdale, Oldham and Ashton

Through a joined-up Bee Network, we’re helping more people get where they need to go with safer, easier, affordable connections by bus, tram, train, or walking, wheeling and cycling.

As part of this, we’re investing in schemes to make travel easier and to help people get from A to B.

The plans are being put in place to speed up bus journeys and reduce delays for all road users including motorists by easing congestion, improve bus stops so they are fully accessible, comfortable, safe and secure and improve journeys by walking, wheeling and cycling by making them as safe as possible.

One area we are looking to improve journeys is the main corridor between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham and Ashton town centres (A627 and A621), used by the 409 bus service – one of the busiest bus routes in Greater Manchester. This work is to take place between now and 2027.

We are working with local authorities to do this and are looking at lots of different ways to improve journeys, including:

Installing bus lanes and bus only sections of road
Making bus stops better, safer and more accessible with improved shelters, seating, lighting, CCTV and level boarding
Making it easier to walk, wheel or cycle to a bus stop or get from a bus to a train or tram stop with better pedestrian and cyclist crossings and footpaths
Making journeys quicker and more reliable with bus priority at and on the approach to junctions and traffic light priority for late running buses.

Improving this key route will help the local economy to keep growing and help local communities to thrive.

Have your say: Current engagement and consultation

You may wish to read the “Frequently Asked Questions” further below and visit the section webpages link to below before completing the engagement and consultation surveys.

Rochdale Council are carrying out a consultation on the detailed proposals for the Rochdale section of the route until the 12 September 2025.

Have your say on the detailed proposals in Rochdale.

Proposals for each area

Please find out more about the proposals for each area and how the engagement carried out so far has helped shape the proposals:

Improving journeys: Royton
Improving journeys: Oldham
Improving journeys: Rochdale
Improving journeys: Ashton (available soon)

Frequently asked questions

We’re investing in this route for a few different reasons:

Surveys, engagement, and conversations with the public often identifies public transport reliability as something that needs to improve.
Increasing bus speed and reducing delays is important for reliable services.
Bus speeds on the route between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham, and Ashton have been measured as 17% less than our target for Greater Manchester, at an average of 10.6mph.
Research shows that increasing bus speeds is a key contributor to improved customer satisfaction and use. For example, monitoring of the Leigh – Salford – Manchester guided bus way suggests that a 27% improvement in journey speeds was a significant contributor for passengers in increasing satisfaction and the number of people using the bus. Leading to a growth in people using the bus from around 2.1m in 2016/17 to over 3m in 2018/19.

The proposals aim to benefit the local economy in our town centres and high streets by:

Improving access to local shops, businesses, and premises via better bus, walking, cycling, and wheeling options, whilst still keeping existing access.
Helping to increase the footfall and number of people who come to town centres and high streets to help increase the money spent at shops and businesses.
Improving access to jobs in town centres and on high streets for workers, which will also increase the number of workers that businesses can draw on.
Investing in the scenery of local high streets.

TfGM and local councils’ improvements to active travel and bus connectivity on the Oxford Road Corridor, and in Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley have been linked to an increase in local business performance.

Additionally, a recent report from the Confederation of Passenger Transport also states that:

Within Great Britain:

Every £1 of government spend on better services and bus priority schemes can secure economic benefits equal to £4.55 through economic growth, less traffic and pollution, more access to jobs, and better health
£1 in every £10 spend on the GB high-street, nearly £40 billion per year, is spent by bus passengers, in shops, cafes, restaurants, and leisure destinations, driving the growth of local economies.
On average - bus passengers, travelling for leisure, shopping, and commuting – spend £32 per return journey in shops, cafes, restaurants, and leisure facilities at their destinations.

Within Greater Manchester (GM):

The economic and social activities of bus users benefit the GM economy and society to the tune of £675 million a year.
Economic impact of bus passengers within local economies is almost £1.5 billion a year in GM.
Commuters who rely on bus to get to work contribute over £3.2 billion to the economy in terms of gross value added. Gross value added is a way to measure the value of goods and services made in a specific area, industry, or part of the economy.

Sustrans research estimates that active travel, which means walking, cycling, or wheeling, provides £453.6 million in economic benefits in Greater Manchester for our residents and the city-region.

Research across two sample town centres within Greater Manchester by infrastructure consultants Aecom has suggested that:

People travelling sustainably visit the high street more frequently than those who travel by car.
Reported monthly spend is higher for people travelling by walking, cycling, wheeling, or public transport than people travelling by car.

Research from Transport for London shows that improvements to cycling, walking, and wheeling routes can be beneficial to local economies. Their research found that:

Walking and cycling improvements can increase retail spend by up to 30% helping to boost the high street and local town centres.
Over a month, people who walk to the high street spend up to 40% more than people who drive to the high street.
People who walk and cycle take more trips to the high street over the course of a month compared to people who use cars: 16 visits on average for those who walk, 12 for those who cycle, and 8 for those who use cars.
Improving London high streets for walking and cycling led to a 216% increase in people stopping, sitting, or socialising.
Retail vacancy was 17% lower after their high street and town centre improvements
83% of Business Improvement Districts say that walking and cycling improvements attract more customers.
People who are physically active take 27% fewer sick days each year than their colleagues. Improving walking and cycling routes to employers can encourage activity and help reduce absences and increase productivity.

Research within Greater Manchester by infrastructure consultants Aecom has suggested that:

On some high streets around 2 in 3 people arrive by walking, cycling, wheeling, or public transport.

Transport for London research suggests that businesses may overestimate their customers’ car use, with an example survey finding that:

Businesses estimated 63% of their customers travelled to the area by car, whereas only 20% of visitors said they travelled by car.
Businesses estimated that 49% of their customers walked to the area, whereas actually 64% of visitors said they walked.
Businesses estimated that 41% of their customers used public transport, whereas actually 54% of visitors said they used public transport.

The most recent Census 2021 data indicates that:

26% of households do not have a car or van in the borough of Rochdale.
26% of households do not have a car or van in the borough of Tameside.
28% of households do not have a car or van in the borough of Oldham.

People without cars rely on public transport or walking, cycling, or wheeling to get to work, get to school, go shopping, get to hospital or the doctors, and visit family or friends. Those without a car are up to 6 times more likely to use buses.

We want to provide people with more choice around how they travel and unlock the potential for some to travel differently than they may have done previously.

TfGM research from 2023 suggests 16% of car trips by Greater Manchester residents were 1km or less, equalling bout 185 million journeys. These could have been walked in around 15 minutes or cycled in around four minutes by most people.
Research across two sample town centres within Greater Manchester by infrastructure consultants Aecom has suggested that most visitors lived less than a mile away from the high street.
Monitoring of the Leigh – Salford – Manchester guided bus way suggests that a 27% improvement in journey speeds was a significant contributor for passengers in increasing satisfaction and the number of people using the bus. Leading to a growth in people using the bus from around 2.1m in 2016/17 to over 3m in 2018/19.
The Confederation of Passenger Transport estimate that one double decker bus using a route can mean up to 75 cars not using that route.

Our aim is to improve public transport and walking, wheeling and cycling routes – and that this will improve the roads for everyone, including drivers, by reducing congestion and speeding up journey times.

We think the project will bring a lot of long-term benefits, but inevitably during any construction stage there is the potential for short-term disruption.

We will try to reduce the impact of any disruption as much as possible and any suggestions you could make through engagement to help reduce any potential disruption would be helpful.

The project is being funded by the Government through something called the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS). This is funding aimed at improving and developing local transport networks - particularly public transport networks - and cycling, walking and wheeling routes. It’s also aimed at opening up new areas and improving links to jobs, education, and housing and creating innovative new transport schemes to solve problems.

We want to hear your feedback on the proposals to improve journeys between Rochdale, Oldham, Royton, and Ashton because we know the most successful schemes are informed by local people, businesses, and road users.

There will be a number of opportunities for the public and local stakeholders to have their say on proposals. We will engage or consult with you through surveys and “drop-in” events at venues in Rochdale, Oldham, Royton, and Ashton.

A timeline of engagement and consultation for each geographical section of the scheme can be found below and will be updated as details are confirmed.

Rochdale

Engagement on experiences of transport: 15 March to 28 April 2023
Engagement on outline proposals: 15 December 2023 to 4 February 2024
Consultation on detailed proposals: 2025 (date to be confirmed)

Ashton

Engagement on experiences of transport: 15 March to 28 April 2023
Engagement on outline proposals: 26 February to 24 March 2024
Consultation on detailed proposals: 2025 (date to be confirmed)

Royton

Engagement on experiences of transport: 15 March to 28 April 2023
Engagement on outline proposals: 26 February to 24 March 2024
Consultation on detailed proposals: 17 February to 31 March 2025

Oldham

Engagement on experiences of transport: 15 March to 28 April 2023
Engagement on outline proposals: 17 February to 31 March 2025
Consultation on detailed proposals: 2025 (date to be confirmed)

The first round of engagement took place in spring 2023. We asked people to tell us about their experiences of transport between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham, and Ashton as a whole. The feedback from this engagement influenced the outline proposals.

Once we have the outline proposals for each section of the route, we will do a second round of engagement on each of the four geographical sections and ask the public to tell us what they think of the outline proposals. The feedback from this round of engagement will help to create more detailed proposals.

Once the feedback has informed more detailed proposals for each of the four geographical sections of the route, the public and key stakeholders will be invited to again provide their views on the detailed proposals as part of a consultation. The feedback from this consultation will help us create the business case for the scheme.

The business case for the scheme will be reviewed by The Bee Network Committee, which is made up of councillors from across Greater Manchester, to decide if the scheme should go ahead in its current form or not.

Any proposals which are approved are anticipated to be delivered during the period 2025 to 2027.

A “You Said, We Did” summary can be found on the individual webpages for the sections of the route. This will summarise the feedback from previous engagement and explain how its helped to change the proposals.

Yes, as well as updating the people that live in these areas we will engage and consult with key stakeholders including businesses, schools and colleges, community centres, health facilities and other local organisations as we develop the proposals. Any organisations that are likely to be impacted by construction works or the final scheme will be contacted directly, by letter or by email, as part of our engagement and consultation processes.

Having more people walk, wheel, cycle, or use the bus along the route will help improve air quality, improve health, reduce noise, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the impact of carbon on the climate.

Plans will also include ‘Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems’ known as SUDS, that help control surface water run off and reduce the risk of localised flooding. SuDS also enhance biodiversity and green space. SuDS can play a significant role in enhancing health and quality of life through improved local environments.

The proposals to improve journeys between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham, and Ashton will help deliver local, regional, and national strategies within the local area. These include:

Yes we are working closely with Rochdale Council, Oldham Council and Tameside Council to deliver this scheme. It is also supported by Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which represents all 10 local authorities in Greater Manchester.

Funding

Funding for the work has been provided through the government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), which saw Greater Manchester awarded £1.07bn to help deliver the Bee Network.

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