Stagecoach Manchester - History

History

A timeline overview of public transport in Manchester, prior to 1993, is given here.

GM Buses (South) was formed in late 1993 in preparation for privatisation of the former PTE bus company in Greater Manchester. It was broken into two parts to make more money for the Government and also to fulfill the Government's 'sweet shop' bus company ownership vision. Stagecoach put in a strong bid, and gained clearance from the Department of Trade & Industry, but the employees bought it for £16 million. It faced an uphill struggle. as over 40 competitors had grown over GM Buses routes before the break-up, although most of those competed with GM Buses (North). However, Bee Line and MTL Manchester did go south, and Mayne, Walls and Finglands were established competitors on lucrative South Manchester routes.

Both companies also suffered from elderly fleets, as a stand-alone (nil subsidy) arms' length company, GM Buses had not been able to buy new buses, and thus Atlanteans and Fleetlines—the newest by then 15 years old—had to soldier on. Competitors were expanding and the private company could not meet the investment needed.

Stagecoach set up a Ribble subsidiary, Stagecoach Manchester, to compete on GMB (South)'s prime route, the 192 (Manchester - Hazel Grove) with brand new buses, and soon they became popular, the new Volvo B6s made a lasting impression where GMBS could only present a dowdy, dated image.

GMBS had to fight back, in response to increasing competition by Merseyside Transport (MTL Manchester) GMBS set up Birkenhead & District on the Wirral, running Fleetlines in Birkenhead Corporation livery. Throughout 1994 GMBS bought a large number of secondhand buses, mainly more Atlanteans and Leyland Nationals. Competition with Stagecoach became stronger, with Stagecoach bringing in new buses in the shape of new Volvo B10M-55s with Alexander PS bodies. GMBS used its Charterplan coaching fleet to attack Stagecoach Ribble's X43 to Burnley. By the end of 1994 everything turned peaceful, Stagecoach agreed no further competition on the 192, and financed 20 Volvo B6s for GMBS.

In February 1996 GMBS gave up, and Stagecoach bought the business, it was quickly rebranded Stagecoach Manchester and did well out of Stagecoach new bus orders. The original Stagecoach Manchester was sold to Finglands.

On 21 January 2008, Stagecoach Manchester purchased the bus operations of A Mayne & Son Ltd (Maynes), with the Maynes fleet of 37 vehicles passing to Hyde Road depot, to be repainted at a later date. No depot was involved in the sale.

On 10 August 2008, Stagecoach Manchester purchased another independent bus operator, this time Bullocks Coaches based in Cheadle, Stockport, removing the only independent operator to be based in Stockport. Bullocks has however retained one bus route, the 147 "Oxford Road Link" operated as a subsidised university and hospital link. Bullocks' services included the 157 route between Woodford and Manchester, which has since been re-numbered X57 and made limited stop between East Didsbury and Manchester.

In March 2011, Stagecoach started running the Stockport Metroshuttle service, taking over the service from Bluebird. This is the first time that Stagecoach has run a Metroshuttle service in Greater Manchester.

On 31 October 2012, an agreement was reached by First Manchester Ltd and Stagecoach Group for Stagecoach Manchester to acquire First Greater Manchester's Wigan operations, including the Lockett Road Depot, satellite facilities at Wigan Bus Station and bus fleet, for £12m. The deal will see the 300 employees and 120 vehicles (although 20 are owned by Transport for Greater Manchester) transfer to Stagecoach's Greater Manchester East Buses Ltd subsidiary, which was also used for Stagecoach's takeover of Mayne in 2008. The transfer of operations from First to Stagecoach took place on 2 December 2012. Following the takeover the subsidary was renamed Greater Manchester Buses West Ltd and a Stagecoach Wigan brand was introduced, the subsidary is seperately run though shares the same management as Stagecoach Manchester.

One week later, on 7 November 2012, Stagecoach announced that they had agreed to acquire the business and assets of Bluebird Bus and Coach for £2m, although the deal is subject to clearance from the Office of Fair Trading and was approved on 22 February 2013. The purchase will include Bluebird's 40 vehicles, 80 staff members and its lease on the depot at Greengate, near Middleton and was completed on 3 March 2013.