Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has selected Yutraffic FUSION, the adaptive traffic control platform developed by Yunex Traffic, to optimise signal management across the region’s road network in support of its long-term sustainable transport strategy. The deployment, announced on 5 May 2026, marks a further step in the authority’s growing technology partnership with Yunex Traffic and is directly tied to Greater Manchester’s commitment that half of all daily journeys will be made by public transport or active travel by 2040, with no net growth in private motor vehicle traffic.
Deepening an Established Technology Partnership
The Yutraffic FUSION contract builds on a relationship between TfGM and Yunex Traffic that has accelerated significantly since 2024. In November of that year, TfGM selected Yunex Traffic’s cloud-hosted Stratos Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) solution, including its Bus Analytics Module, to unify real-time traffic management across Greater Manchester’s road network. The latest procurement goes a step further, adding a layer of adaptive and predictive signal optimisation at the intersection level that the UTMC platform alone does not provide.
Together, the two systems are intended to create a cohesive, data-driven control environment in which signals respond dynamically to live conditions across all road user classes, while operators retain a network-wide view through the Stratos platform.
How Yutraffic FUSION Works
Yutraffic FUSION was co-developed with Transport for London (TfL) and has been tested and refined through a live “Living Laboratory” environment spanning a defined set of London intersections. The system continuously ingests data from multiple sources, models the movement of all road users in real time, and applies optimisation algorithms to select signal strategies based on policy-defined priorities and performance indicators.
Unlike conventional adaptive signal control, which typically focuses on minimising vehicle queue lengths, Yutraffic FUSION is designed to weight outcomes across different modes simultaneously: buses, cyclists, pedestrians, heavy goods vehicles, and emergency vehicles can each be treated as distinct optimisation inputs. The system also incorporates a predictive layer that flags likely congestion events before they develop, enabling proactive rather than reactive network management.
The platform is deployable either as a cloud-based service or locally hosted, and its open interfaces allow integration with a range of existing urban traffic control systems.
Supporting the Bee Network’s Reliability Targets
The Bee Network, Greater Manchester’s integrated public transport programme, has been the central reference point for the authority’s modal shift ambition since its bus franchising rollout began in September 2023. Since that launch, the network has recorded 300 million bus journeys, with punctuality regularly exceeding the 80% target set by the authority, compared to approximately 66% under the pre-franchising model.
Maintaining and extending that reliability improvement as ridership grows is one of the primary operational challenges TfGM faces. Yutraffic FUSION is intended to contribute to this by enabling buses to be systematically prioritised at signalised junctions, reducing the degree to which general traffic conditions erode schedule adherence. The system’s data outputs will also be made available to bus operators, allowing TfGM to work alongside them on continuous service refinement.
The Bee Network’s expansion is proceeding in parallel: commuter rail services are planned to join the network by 2028, and additional night bus coverage to all ten Greater Manchester boroughs was announced as recently as March 2026 following a 14% annual ridership increase.
Growing UK Footprint for Yutraffic FUSION
The TfGM award continues a pattern of Yutraffic FUSION adoption across UK authorities. Tees Valley Combined Authority became an early UK adopter in September 2024, and Lincolnshire County Council followed in February 2025. Kurrant’s earlier coverage of Bristol City Council’s selection of Yutraffic FUSION for city-wide traffic management illustrates a similar pattern of urban authorities seeking multimodal optimisation tools as a complement to their broader active travel and public transport investment programmes.
Beyond the UK, Dubai was identified in August 2025 as the first city in the Middle East to implement the system, signalling growing international interest in Yutraffic FUSION as the platform matures.
2040 Decarbonisation Backdrop
The deployment sits within Greater Manchester’s legally grounded commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2038, a target that requires a fundamental shift in how the region’s 2.8 million residents travel. The Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040, which provides the statutory framework for all transport investment decisions, calls for one million additional sustainable journeys every day compared to current levels. The authority is also in the process of developing a successor strategy, the Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2050, alongside a Delivery Plan covering 2027 to 2037.
Traffic signal technology that actively privileges sustainable modes is increasingly viewed by transport authorities as a lower-capital, faster-to-deploy mechanism for shifting the modal balance compared to major infrastructure schemes, which take years to plan and construct.
