Transport in Manchester - Buses

Buses

Main article: List of bus routes in Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester has an extensive bus network managed by TFGM, including a night bus service which is one of the most extensive outside London.

Buses are operated by companies including First Greater Manchester, Stagecoach Manchester (incorporating the lower-cost Magic Bus), Arriva North West, Finglands, Bluebird and JPT. Until 22 December 2006, when their services were suspended by the North-west Traffic Commissioner, UK North (also trading as GM Buses) also operated buses in Manchester.

The major routes, with high passenger volumes, include Oxford Road/Wilmslow Road, one of the busiest bus routes in Europe, bringing large numbers of students and commuters from the South Manchester suburbs of Rusholme, Fallowfield, Withington and Didsbury to the university buildings and the city centre. Tickets for some services on this route are cheaper than on most other commercial routes and special week passengers can be bought only for services on this corridor. Tickets on other routes that are not as commercially attractive, with smaller passenger volumes, and which are less well provided for, have significantly higher prices for single, daily and weekly tickets. Further major bus corridors include Rochdale Road between Manchester and Middleton, Oldham Road between Manchester and Failsworth, Hyde Road between Manchester and Gorton, Princess Road towards Wythenshawe and the A6 corridor in Salford.

The majority of bus services in South Manchester are provided by Stagecoach Manchester including the 192 service which connects Manchester and Stockport, which is reputed to be the busiest bus route in the country. Stagecoach also provides services from Manchester city centre to the Airport. This includes the 43 service, the only 24 hour bus service in Greater Manchester, which also serves the Oxford Road/Wilmslow Road corridor.

First Manchester is the main operator in the North of Manchester. It operates free Metroshuttle services that link important points in the city centre such as Manchester Victoria, Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations with Chinatown, Deansgate, Salford Central, and Albert Square. These services are very successful and therefore often busy. There are three routes, numbered 1, 2 and 3, coloured orange, green and purple respectively. They run every 5–10 minutes and complement the Metrolink and National Rail services. Those arriving at Manchester Piccadilly Bus Station and needing to take a train from Manchester Piccadilly, less than half a mile (500 meters) away, can choose either Metrolink or the free Metroshuttle, or walk.

First Manchester also operates a number of 'overground' services, high frequency colour-coded services connecting Manchester with many large towns around the conurbation including Bolton, Bury, Oldham and Rochdale. A high frequency bendy bus route on the Bury-Manchester 135 service, which operates every six to ten minutes is the competing bus route with the Bury metrolink line. Manchester's principal bus station used mainly for services on the south side of the city is at Piccadilly Gardens, which is served primarily by Stagecoach Manchester and also by Metrolink. Shudehill Interchange caters for routes mainly on the north side of the city, which is within walking distance of Victoria station is mainly used by First Manchester. Long-distance coaches, operated mainly by National Express, serve the Manchester Central Coach Station at Chorlton Street, opened in March 2002 replacing the old one on the same site.

Greater Manchester bus stops were replaced over a five-year period. The older bus stop flags were based on a nationally adopted design featuring a single decker bus and were used over the entire country with the exception of London. Following bus deregulation there was no compulsion to use the national symbol and several PTEs like West Yorkshires Metro and Merseyside adopted a new bus stop flag design featuring their capital M logo. GMPTE inherited their own M shaped logo and also began to use it on the glass back of bus shelters from the late 1990s. They have subsequently introduced this to a new design for bus stop flags - firstly used in 2002 on high priority routes - and now being erected across the entire GMPTE area. In 2011, with a change of name and remit of the transport authority, these are being replaced by a modified "M" design.