Five new bus and coach routes: Part 1

Thursday 10th September 2026 I’ve been exploring five new routes introduced over the last couple of weeks – here’s the first of a three part blog taking a look at these new additions to the bus and coach scene. Part one covers two new routes introduced in the North West which hit the road for the first time on Sunday. I visited the area on Monday where Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram’s publicly controlled Metro branded franchised bus network was launched with the introduction of a large fleet of brand new buses together with a raft of changes to bus routes in the St Helens area where Stagecoach is the successful new franchised operator (taking over commercial routes previously operated by Arriva as well as tendered journeys under the old deregulated regime). The other area in this first tranche of franchising is in the Wirral, now run by Go North West. However, I travelled over to St Helens by trying out TfGM’s Bee Network new bus route – the 612 between Wigan and St Helens…