NEW FOI Request Submitted Directly to TfGM After GMCA Internal Review — The Fight for Bus Safety Transparency Continues

Over the last few months, I’ve been pursuing something that should be simple, obvious, and automatic in any publicly-controlled transport system:

The publication of bus safety performance data.

This is the same information Transport for London has published every quarter since 2014 — without commercial harm, without resistance, and with clear safety improvements.

Yet in Greater Manchester, securing equivalent transparency for the Bee Network has become a battle no member of the public should have to fight.

---

🔶 GMCA Internal Review: What Happened

On 20 November, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) released its decision following my request for an internal review of their refusal to publish Bee Network bus safety data.

Key points:

❌ GMCA dropped their previous Section 43 “commercial sensitivity” argument

They admitted the exemption was misapplied.

❌ They still failed to release the safety data

Not because it is commercially sensitive — but because they now claim it isn’t held by GMCA, despite previous written commitments that it would be published by them.

❗ They directed me to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)

GMCA stated that the safety information is held at operational level and therefore by TfGM, not the GMCA.

This is a major shift — and it confirms something important:

📌 GMCA itself cannot justify withholding this data.

They simply say TfGM has it.

So the next step is clear.

---

🔶 NEW: FOI Submitted Directly to Transport for Greater Manchester

Today, I have submitted a comprehensive Freedom of Information request directly to TfGM.

This FOI covers:

Bee Network bus-safety performance data

collision and injury statistics

near miss and incident data

safety reporting frameworks

governance structures

the Bee Network Safety Plan

safety KPIs and review processes

operator reporting requirements

timelines for public publication

Every category mirrors the exact data that TfL publishes — safely and routinely.

There is nothing commercially sensitive about this information.

This is public safety data from a publicly-controlled transport system.

---

🔶 Why this matters

Greater Manchester is currently the only franchised region refusing to publish safety performance data despite:

Written commitments to do so

The Mayor’s public assurances

The London model proving it works

Other Combined Authorities accepting the importance of transparency

Contrast:

✔ South Yorkshire

Has committed to exploring quarterly publication and developing a full Bus Safety Data Framework.

✔ West Yorkshire

Has confirmed that safety reporting will be built into contracts and that “there is no reason why critical measures are not reported upon.”

✔ West Midlands

Acknowledges safety reporting is essential (though commitments remain vague).

❌ Greater Manchester

The only region actively withholding bus safety data — while simultaneously promoting the Bee Network as a safer, better model.

This cannot continue.

---

🔶 Let’s be very clear:

**Bus safety data is not a trade secret.

It never has been.

It belongs to the public.**

TfL has demonstrated for 11 years that transparency saves lives and strengthens accountability.

Greater Manchester cannot call the Bee Network a “London-style model” while keeping safety data hidden.

---

🔶 What happens next

I will:

✔ Await TfGM’s response to the new FOI

✔ Pursue an ICO complaint if needed

✔ Continue briefing press, unions, MPs and safety campaigners

✔ Continue engaging with Combined Authorities across the UK

✔ Keep updating this blog with every development

And I stand by this:

> If we truly want safer, better buses across the UK, transparency must be the starting point — not an afterthought.

---

🔶 Thank you

To everyone reading, sharing, and supporting this campaign — thank you.

Bus workers and passengers deserve a system built on openness, accountability, and evidence-based safety.

This fight will continue until every region in the UK publishes the same bus-safety data that London has released since 2014.

—

Lee Odams

RMT Bus Branch Secretary – Notts & Derbyshire Buses

Secretary – RMT National Industrial Organising Conference (Bus Workers)

Bus Driver – Nottingham (19 years)