Stagecoach Manchester

Stagecoach Manchester

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 on route 192
in Manchester in April 2009
Slogan Moving Greater Manchester Forward
Parent Stagecoach
Founded February 1996
Headquarters Stockport
Service area Greater Manchester (some services overlap into other counties)
Service type Bus services
Hubs Manchester
Stockport
Tameside
Trafford
Wigan
Depots 6
Fleet 877 (April 2014)
Daily ridership 265,753 (December 2012)
Website www.stagecoachbus.com/manchester

Stagecoach in Manchester (legal name Greater Manchester Buses South Limited)[1] is a bus operator in Greater Manchester. It is the largest UK bus subsidiary of Stagecoach Group, carrying 98 million passengers in 2012.[2]

History

Alexander ALX300 bodied MAN 18.220 on route 15 in July 2008
Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Trident 2 on route 101 in July 2008
Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 hybrid on route 192 in March 2013

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

In December 1993 GM Buses was split in two, GM Buses North[3] and GM Buses South.[1] It was planned that the two companies would compete against one another, but in reality they stuck to the sides of Manchester as indicated by their names.

In April 1994 GM Buses South was sold to a management buyout. It faced an uphill struggle as over 40 competitors were operating GM Buses routes following deregulation, although most of those competed with GM Buses (North). However Bee Line and MTL Manchester did go south, and Finglands, Mayne and Walls were established competitors on lucrative South Manchester routes.

GMBS suffered from operating an elderly fleet. As a stand-alone (nil subsidy) arms length company, GM Buses had not been able to buy new buses, and thus Daimler Fleetlines and Leyland Atlanteans - the newest by then 15 years old - had to soldier on. Competitors were expanding and GMBS could not make the investment needed.

Stagecoach set up Stagecoach Manchester as a Ribble Motor Services subsidiary, to compete on GMBS's main route 192 with brand new Volvo B6 buses that were far more appealing than GMBS's rundown fleet.

In response to increasing competition by Merseyside Transport, GMBS set up Birkenhead & District[4] in Liverpool, running Daimler Fleetlines in Birkenhead Corporation livery.

Throughout 1994 GMBS bought a large number of second hand buses, mainly Atlanteans and Leyland Nationals. Stagecoach responded with more new buses in the shape of new Alexander PS bodied Volvo B10M-55s. GMBS used its Charterplan coach fleet to compete with Stagecoach Ribble's route X43 to Burnley. By the end of 1994 everything turned peaceful, Stagecoach agreed to no further competition on route 192, and hired 20 Volvo B6s to GMBS.

In February 1996 Stagecoach purchased the business and rebranded it Stagecoach Manchester. The original Stagecoach Manchester was sold to Finglands.

On 21 January 2008, Stagecoach Manchester purchased the bus operations of A Mayne & Son with 38 buses all transferred to Hyde Road garage.[5][6]

On 10 August 2008, Stagecoach Manchester purchased Bullocks Coaches.[7] Bullocks retained route 147 Oxford Road Link operated as a subsidised university and hospital link. Bullocks' services included route 157 between Woodford and Manchester, which has since been renumbered X57 and made limited stop between East Didsbury and Manchester.

In March 2011, Stagecoach started running the Stockport Metroshuttle service.[8]

On 2 December 2012, Stagecoach Manchester purchased First Greater Manchester's Wigan operation.[9][10] The transaction saw 300 employees, 120 vehicles (although 20 were owned by Transport for Greater Manchester) and the Wigan depot purchased by the former Mayne legal entity.[11][12] The business was rebranded Stagecoach in Wigan although it is managed by Stagecoach Manchester.

On 3 March 2013 Stagecoach purchased Bluebird with 40 buses, 80 staff and its depot lease at Greengate.[13][14][15] On 26 April 2014 Stagecoach took over the business of JPT Bus Company with 41 buses.[16][17]

Depots

Services

Stagecoach Manchester mainly run services in the southern areas of Greater Manchester, serving Stockport, Trafford, Tameside and south and central Manchester. They also run some local services in Glossop. Stagecoach does run some services outside these areas:

Since December 2012, Stagecoach has operated services in the Wigan area, following the purchase of First Greater Manchester's Wigan operation. Services from Wigan depot mainly run in the Wigan and Leigh areas, whilst also serving Manchester and Salford on routes 32, 33 and X34 (the latter two being shared with First Greater Manchester), while route 540 runs to Bolton, which is also served by route 22 and Stagecoach Lancashire route 125. Route 113 is operated from both Stagecoach Manchester's Wigan depot and Stagecoach Lancashire's Chorley depot.

From March 2013, Stagecoach moved further into north Manchester by purchasing Bluebird.[14]

Nightbus

Stagecoach Manchester offer several night bus services in Manchester and Wigan every Friday and Saturday night. The services run every 30 minutes or every hour from 00:00 until 03:00 and the routes are mainly the same as the normal routes with some exceptions.

Stagecoach also operates night bus services in Wigan. The network is largely based on the main Wigan services with some running an amended route to its normal routes. Wigan's Nightbus network runs on Friday nights/Saturday mornings and Saturday nights/Sunday mornings. The services also operate on New Year's Eve with additional journeys during the evening between 19:00 and 23:00, along with journeys on Arriva North West's route 352 to Orrell and 362 to Standish and on Wigan Buses/Maytree Travel route 612 to Wrightington Hospital.[18]

See also

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 Companies House extract company no 2818654 Greater Manchester Buses South Limited
  2. ↑ Stagecoach Manchester Provides £11.3 Million Boost for 192 Bus Route Stagecoach 8 February 2013
  3. ↑ Companies House extract company no 2818607 First Manchester Limited formerly Greater Manchester Buses North Limited
  4. ↑ Companies House extract company no 1858001 Birkenhead & District Transport Limited
  5. ↑ Anticipated Acquisition by Greater Manchester South Buses Limited of A Mayne & Son Limited Office of Fair Trading 16 January 2008
  6. ↑ Stagecoach starts Mayne integration busandcoach.com 30 January 2008
  7. ↑ Stagecoach Announces Bullocks Acquisition Stagecoach 8 August 2008
  8. ↑ "GMPTE - Buses - Latest Changes". GMPTE. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  9. 1 2 Stagecoach buys FirstGroup's Wigan bus arm for £12 million BBC News 31 October 2012
  10. ↑ Acquisition of Wigan Bus Operations from First Manchester Stagecoach 31 October 2012
  11. ↑ Companies House extract company no 308157 Greater Manchester Buses West Limited
  12. ↑ McCollom, James (31 October 2012). "Stagecoach to acquire First routes in Wigan". Manchester Transport. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  13. ↑ "Acquisition of bus operations in North Manchester". Stagecoach Group. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  14. 1 2 Anticipated acquisition by Greater Manchester Buses (South) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stagecoach plc, of Bluebird Bus & Coach Office of Fair Trading 27 February 2013
  15. ↑ Bluebird bus services are now part of Stagecoach Manchester Stagecoach
  16. ↑ "JP Travel bus services will shortly be part of Stagecoach". Stagecoach Group plc. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  17. ↑ Stagecoach takes over from JP Travel busandcoach.com 6 May 2014
  18. ↑ "Wigan New Years Eve services". Stagecoach Bus. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  19. ↑ "Princess Road book". Stagecoachbus. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  20. ↑ "Bus firm Stagecoach travels to new stop as century-old depot shuts". Manchester Evening News. MEN Media. Retrieved 2011-09-20.

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