Two of the region's biggest bus companies are scaling back their operations - but will still run timetables to help key workers during the coronavirus crisis.
Stagecoach Manchester is axing two services and reducing the frequency of those that remain from Saturday.
First Manchester, which was already operating a Saturday timetable, will be reverting to a Sunday timetable from Monday.
Stagecoach has withdrawn the 143 and 147 services from West Didsbury into Manchester until further notice although people will still be able to catch other services (15, 42a, 42b, 43, 11 and 142).
Its new timetable has been designed following the government advice on avoiding non-essential travel.
The firm has improved vehicle cleaning, is encouraging passengers to observe social distancing rules and wants fares to be paid using 'contactless' cards where possible.
Free concessionary passes normally permitted after 9.30am can now be used earlier to enable elderly customers to make use of dedicated shopping hours for them.
Elisabeth Tasker, managing director of Stagecoach Manchester, said: “We continue to play a crucial role in ensuring that key workers, such as NHS staff and the people vital to the food supply chain, can get into work.
"We have tried hard with our special temporary timetables to ensure that we are continuing to serve critical routes. If our customers feel we haven’t got things quite right, then we’d really like to receive any comments through our dedicated feedback form which can be found at www.stagecoachbus.com/coronavirus.
“I’m extremely proud of the way in way our team in Greater Manchester is pulling together to ensure that we can continue to deliver our services. They are key workers too and I would like to thank them for their continued support and resilience in these challenging times.”
Details of the new timetable are here.
First Manchester is moving all services to a special timetable from Monday, March 30.
It will be a Sunday timetable but with earlier times for the first services of the day to make sure key workers like NHS staff can get to work.
Ian Humphreys, Managing Director of First Manchester, said: “With much of the UK effectively ordered to stay at home for at least the next few weeks, we have made the decision to move to a special timetable to support those who still need to get to and from work and get out to shops and pharmacies.
“Please bear with us as given the fast-changing nature of the situation it will be difficult to keep all our communication channels updated with the latest information."
The company confirmed that its app may not reflect the correct new timetable immediately and so urged people to check the website.
The firm said it was working to make sure the app was up to date.
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