Improving journeys: Connecting Rochdale, Oldham and Ashton

We’re investing in your streets and improving journeys along this important route

Better transport is central to a growing Greater Manchester, where businesses can thrive and people can enjoy healthy, happy lives.

Through the Bee Network, we’re building a joined-up transport system that connects people with places and opportunities.

We’re working to improve all your journeys, no matter how you travel: by road, bus, tram, train, walking, wheeling and cycling.

This includes a major scheme to improve the main route between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham and Ashton town centres (the A627 and A671).

This is used by the 409 bus service, one of the busiest bus routes in Greater Manchester.

Work on this route is taking place in phases through to 2027.

What we’re doing

We're working with local authorities and communities to get the right plans in place for your area.

This £50 million government-funded scheme is aimed at making every day journeys safer, easier and more reliable for the thousands of residents using this busy route every day.

Better connections: Between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham and Ashton.
Quicker, more reliable bus journeys: New bus lanes and bus only sections of road, giving buses priority at junctions, and late running buses priority at traffic lights.
Better, safer bus stops for everyone: Improved shelters, seating, lighting, CCTV, on stop information, and level bus-boarding for easier access.
Safer routes for walking, wheeling or riding a bike: Safe, protected cycle lanes and better pavements, crossings and footpaths.
Improved signal timings and junctions: To make trips safer, keep traffic moving, reduce congestion and speed up journeys for all road users.
Improved links between local transport: Easier journeys to and from bus stops, and better links between bus and tram stops and rail stations.
Welcoming, vibrant public spaces: Where people want to spend time shopping, socialising and relaxing, helping communities and business thrive.
Reduced congestion and improved air quality: By giving more people the freedom to travel safely, easily and affordably on the Bee Network, we’ll help to ease congestion for all road users, including motorists, and clean up our air.

It’s all part of our plans to create to a healthier, happier, more connected Greater Manchester.

Engagement and consultation: listening to local communities

We want to improve your streets, roads and journeys in a way that works for everyone.

The most successful schemes are developed with input from local residents, communities, businesses, organisations and road users.

So we’re using local feedback to help shape plans and design schemes that work best for each place.

That includes surveys and drop in events along the route.

No engagement and consultation exercises are currently taking place.

Your feedback will be used to help shape the proposals. The process is:

During a first round of engagement people tell us about their experiences of transport between Rochdale, Royton, Oldham, and Ashton as a whole. The feedback from this engagement helps to shape the outline proposals.
Feedback received during a second round of engagement on the outline proposals for each geographical section of the route helps to create more detailed proposals.
A consultation takes place on the detailed proposals. The feedback from this consultation will help us create the business case for the scheme.
The business case for the scheme is reviewed by the Bee Network Committee, which is made up of councillors from across Greater Manchester, to decide if the scheme goes ahead in its current form or not.
Approved proposals are anticipated to be delivered from 2025 to 2027.

Below you can see the timeline of engagement and consultation for each geographical section of the scheme. We will update this as the plans progress.

Rochdale

Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) consultation phase one: Autumn 2025 (date to be confirmed).
Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) consultation phase two: Summer 2026 (date to be confirmed).
Consultation on detailed proposals: 4 August to 12 September 2025.
Engagement on outline proposals: 15 December 2023 to 4 February 2024.
Engagement on transport experiences: 15 March to 28 April 2023.

Royton

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

Oldham

Consultation on detailed proposals: 2026 (date to be confirmed).
Engagement on outline proposals: 17 February to 31 March 2025.
Engagement on transport experiences: 15 March to 28 April 2023.

Ashton

Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) consultation on bus lane extension: Autumn/winter 2025 (date to be confirmed).
Traffic Regulation Order consultation on Turner Lane and Springwood Way: Spring 2026 (date to be confirmed).
Engagement on outline proposals: 26 February to 24 March 2024.
Engagement on transport experiences: 15 March to 28 April 2023.

Proposals for each area

Find out more about the detailed proposals for each area. Check out the ‘You said, we did’ summaries on each page to see how your comments have helped shape the plans:

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

Our commitment

We're working closely with Rochdale, Oldham and Tameside Councils to deliver this scheme. It's also supported by Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which represents all 10 local authorities.

Together, we're committed to keeping you informed every step of the way.

We'll contact residents, businesses and organisations that may be impacted by construction works or the final scheme, by letter or email, so you’re up to date.

And we’ll also keep you updated through news releases, social media and newsletters.

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.

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:

Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040: Our long-term vision for ‘world class connections that support long-term transport.
GM Bus Strategy: The Greater Manchester Bus Strategy sets out Greater Manchester’s vision to make the bus the first choice for more journeys.
Streets for All: ‘Streets for All’ is the approach for everything we do on streets in Greater Manchester. It aims to reduce traffic and road danger, improving areas for walking, wheeling, and cycling, whilst enhancing public transport.

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. This is funding aimed at:

Improving and developing local transport networks – particularly public transport networks – and cycling, walking and wheeling routes.
Opening up new areas and improving links to jobs, education and housing.
Creating innovative new transport schemes to solve problems.

Funded by UK government logo