First Bus review local bus services

First Bus in Middleton & Heywood review local bus services

First Manchester is reviewing its network of bus services in and around Middleton and Heywood.

It says the review is "to ensure they’re sustainable for the future and to better match customer demand with the supply of bus services".

The company is inviting customers to attend local consultation events or to complete an online survey to have their say on what changes they would like to see implemented.

Dwayne Wells, Commercial Development Manager at First Manchester, said: “We recognise an opportunity to make some changes to the Middleton and Heywood network, but before we implement any changes, we want to hear from our customers on what changes they would like to see made.

“We haven’t made any decisions yet and we’d urge as many customers as possible to get involved. I’m sure there will be new ideas and suggestions that we may not have considered and explored. We want to make sure that we put in place a sustainable network that will encourage more people to travel by bus.”

First Manchester is currently consulting with its employees and collating feedback on how they believe the network can be better improved, ahead of a full customer consultation from 5 January.

Dwayne Wells continues: “For customers, we will have an online survey and we’re also holding consultation events at local libraries across Middleton and Heywood, starting from Thursday 5 January.

“We anticipate changes to be implemented from April 2017, so our customers do not need to worry about anything changing in the coming weeks.”

Consultation events can be found on Rochdale Online Events