The Leigh Guided Busway scheme has been in existence for just under a decade
09:39, 30 Jan 2026Updated 09:41, 30 Jan 2026
The guided busway (Image: Copyright Unknown)
A purpose-built track for buses stretching across two Greater Manchester boroughs has become an unintended hotspot – for walking.
Now approaching 10 years of passenger journeys, the Leigh Guided Busway scheme was designed to improve public transport and speed up the bus commute between Leigh in Wigan and Manchester city centre.
The route – around 13 miles long in total – links Leigh with Atherton, Tyldesley and Ellenbrook, in Salford, before heading to Manchester.
Just under five miles of the route, between Leigh and Ellenbrook, runs on a kerb-guided track. It’s a concrete track with raised kerbs that grab small guide wheels bolted to each bus – and was the north west’s first guided busway scheme in 2016.
The whole scheme was part of the £122m Greater Manchester Bus Priority Package and has helped cut bus times into Manchester by taking services off the busy East Lancashire Road through the area. Park and ride stops have also been built over the years, helping to take cars and other vehicles off the roads into the city centre and the East Lancs Road.
The £68m busway is known for its V-coded services – but transport bosses have hailed an unexpected success story borne off the back of its creation.
The walking route pictured in the snow(Image: MEN)
The length of the guided section is now said to be hugely popular with walkers, with claims it is now ‘one of the most popular walking routes in the whole of the Wigan‘.
A dedicated walking and cycling route runs alongside the full four-and-a-half miles of the route, with councillors revealing it has never been as popular.
Wigan councillor John Vickers, speaking at a meeting of the Bee Network committee on Thursday, said: “Sometimes when we plan things we have unexpected benefits and bonuses.
“The guided busway from Leigh to Ellenbrook is one of the most successful schemes, one of the best initiatives to public transport that has gone on in the last 10 to 20 years. One of the unexpected bonuses of it is that it is now one of the most popular walking routes in the whole of the Wigan borough.
“It’s a safe, quiet environment even when the buses are going past. You would be surprised at the number of people that use it for recreational walking.
“You can walk through Lilford Park in Leigh and walk all the way up to Ellenbrook and back again. It shows that if we provide safe routes for people to walk, they will actually use it for walking.”
Greater Manchester is said to have secured investment of £328m since 2018 in a dedicated walking and cycling programme. More than 160km of cycling and walking network is now in place in Greater Manchester, with more than 20km added in 2025.
Dame Sarah Storey, active travel commissioner for Greater Manchester, called the route a ‘fantastic facility’ and said she has used the busway herself. “If we build it, people will come,” she added, saying further walking routes were in the pipeline.
“If we provide the facilities, then people get to use it and that’s why we need to press on as much as we can.”