ANDY Burnham has vowed to push for at least £1 billion from the Government to extend Greater Manchester's Metrolink network into Bolton, Middleton and Stockport.
He made the pledge while visiting Bolton satellite town Westhoughton in a walkabout as part of his campaign to be re-elected as Mayor for the city region.
Mr Burnham said he would attempt to hold Prime Minister Boris Johnson to his promise to extend the acclaimed Greater Manchester tram system, made prior to the 2019 General Election.
The Mayor said: "The three priorities for the expansion of Metrolink are Bolton, Middleton and Stockport."
He said that the replacement of rail services to Oldham and Rochdale with Metrolink had resulted in a six-fold increase in passengers who paid cheaper fares. than on conventional trains.
He went on: "We want to keep building Metrolink. But I don't think the Government is going to say at the moment 'here's the money for Bolton, or Stockport or Middleton'.
"What they are saying is that they will give all mayoral combined authorities a devolved capital transport settlement to begin in 2022/23.
"So they are going to give us a block of devolved funding. We'd be looking for at least £1bn. It would have to be for everything.
"The Conservatives came here in the 2019 General Election and they promised Metrolink for Bolton, Middleton and Stockport.
"So our view is that they've got to give us a funding package that allows those commitments to be honoured."
The extension would be in keeping with Mr Burnham's aspiration to give Greater Manchester a transport system along the lines of London.
He continued: "If re-elected, creating a London-style transport system here will absolutely dominate my time.
"I can't wait to get stuck into it. I know that transport is the biggest thing holding the economy back, without a shadow of doubt. It limits people's lives in that they don't have the same freedoms as they do in London."
And said that part of the plan is for a combined bus and tram system.
"The focus will be during 2021 to 2025, buses and trams becoming one - single branded, yellow and black, the Bee Network. So you can go on as many buses and trams you want in any day, you only pay up to a cap and that's the London principle. Changing this is a burning priority."
Mr Bunrham also said that Bolton would have will have franchised buses in early 2023.
He said: "The key is, we decide where the buses go and what they charge and that's not we've had for 35 years, where services are being withdrawn from estates. I mean, how often does that happen?
"Since 1986 when (then Prime Minister) Margaret Thatcher deregulated the buses, we've gone from 400 million passenger journeys a year to 200 million. The network has just gone smaller and smaller. And in London, with a franchise system, the opposite has happened in that time. They've slowly brought up the number of people using buses."
