Labour's candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester Bev Craig says she will help build 'a Greater Manchester that thrives' and 'get stuff done', but is yet to outline how much her proposals for public transport will cost.

At a campaign event on July 3, Ms Craig announced several key transport policies she hopes to deliver if she is elected on July 30 with the launch of the 'Bev Battle Bus'. Despite struggling to start for more than three minutes, the bus was eventually off as Labour look to take the battle to Reform.

Speaking at the Burnage Rugby Football Club just around the corner from the East Didsbury Metrolink stop, she said: "I would not make any promises I couldn't deliver so everything I'll set out to the Greater Manchester people are things that are fully costed, worked through, and deliverable within 18 months."

This is in reference to this month's vote being a special election to replace former Mayor Andy Burnham who is now the Makerfield MP. Voters will go to the polls again in 2028 to elect their next mayor for a full term.

Ms Craig said she would freeze bus fares and keep a £2 cap as well as extending bus passes including the Our Pass which she says could put up to £500 into family's pockets. She also announced she would be expanding bus routes 'to make sure every town across Greater Manchester has the transport that it needs' including more night buses to workplaces.

On the latter, she later told the media any announcements on bus routes would be in the autumn if elected and on extensions to the tram network in both north and south Manchester, she would look to 'kick off the work to get it done'. On the Stockport tram extensions, she said she would lay the groundwork ahead of any 2028 election and finish any planning on the feasibility of the scheme.

Referencing those long-promised extensions of the tram network, the Labour candidate told supporters: "This is a real sign of the things we can do, the differences we can make, and in a time where people feel politicians don't listen to them, that they can't place their trust in delivery, I'm being really upfront with people.

"I'm standing on a track record of someone who has delivered, of someone who has run a budget of over £1bn and managed over 8,000 staff in an organisation. I don't make promises I can't deliver."

Ms Craig said she also would not support any plans for a Clean Air Zone and the proposal was not on the table. She said she would be announcing a potholes fund to help local councils fix key routes across the region.

Speaking to the LDRS, Ms Craig said she would set out in her manifesto some of the costings of her plans, adding: "I have worked on the basis this would not be funded by an additional cost on taxpayers.

"This is how we use the money we already have coming into Greater Manchester be that business rate receipts or government grants. Actually there's an incentive.

"If you think about free bus passes for 11 to 18 year olds, yes that costs money for people that already use the bus but it gets more people on the buses. It makes families more likely to be able to hop on the bus when they are going for their day out in the local town centre and there is a way it can also generate money to help fund it.

"When I talk about it being fully costed, this isn't just about having somebody else having to pay for it. This is about something that can actually get people on our public transport, that they can leave the car at home because they can afford to, and that's the principle of what we are trying to do here."

One mayor transport project that was pushed forward by former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) project including a new trainline between Manchester and Liverpool. NPR was first proposed in 2014 and was originally envisioned as a new line between Liverpool and Hull.

In January, the Government announced the scheme would be delivered in three stages with a funding cap of £45 billion, which could be topped up by local contributions. However a recent report to MPs warned there was a 'clear risk' the project could go over its £45bn budget and fears the UK Government has not 'learned all the lessons from past failures'.

Asked about this, Ms Craig said: "I've been a big advocate for better trains across the north of England be that in Manchester going to Liverpool or into Yorkshire.

"I think Northern Powerhouse Rail is a real opportunity to be able to improve our train transport system but it cannot be delivered in the way HS2 Limited has done."

She said she and Mr Burnham had previously put forward proposals about how to do things better, adding: "There's ways we will do it differently and with Andy as Prime Minister, that gives me optimism we won't fall into the same traps as HS2 Limited and we will actually be able to build a network that works for people and doesn't just create more congestion on our railways."