First Greater Manchester
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 in Bolton with route branding for services 36 and 37 in April 2013
ParentFirstGroup
Founded1996
HeadquartersOldham
LocaleNorth West England
Service areaGreater Manchester
Service typeBus services
HubsManchester
Oldham
Rochdale
Depots2
Fleet195 (April 2020)
Websitefirstbus.co.uk/greater-manchester

First Greater Manchester[1] is a bus operator in Greater Manchester. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. It was once a major operator in the northern areas of the county competing against Stagecoach Manchester which was dominant in southern areas of the county; however in recent years it has scaled back its operations, now primarily serving north eastern suburbs of Manchester, and the metropolitan boroughs of Oldham and Rochdale.

First operated the Vantage services from Folds Road, Bolton depot which they shared with Arriva North West.

History

GM Buses North Leyland National in Middleton bus station, 1996
MCW Metrobus in early First Greater Manchester livery in central Manchester
Wright Endurance bodied Volvo B10B on route 510 in Bury in June 2008
Scania OmniCity articulated on route 135 in Bury in July 2007
Optare Versa on Metroshuttle route 3 in May 2011

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

Before deregulation in 1986, buses in the Greater Manchester area were publicly funded and went under the name of Greater Manchester Transport. In 1986 Greater Manchester Transport became known as GM Buses, which was owned by the metropolitan borough and city councils of Greater Manchester, but were at arms' length from the local town halls.

In December 1993 GM Buses was split in two, GM Buses North[1] and GM Buses South.[2][3] 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 March 1994 GM Buses North was sold to a management buyout.[4] By this stage many competitors were operating GM Buses routes following deregulation. In March 1996 GM Buses North was sold to FirstBus for £47 million and rebranded First Manchester.[5][6] After a period of experimentation with the livery, a deep orange livery featuring a blue stripe was adopted.[7]

First Manchester soon ended up managing two other FirstBus subsidiaries, First Potteries and First Pennine. That even included many GM Standard Leyland Atlanteans making their way to those two fleets. Eventually the First Pennine and Manchester subsidiaries were merged, adding a number of routes in the Tameside area to First Manchester. A new management team was put in place and First Manchester was relieved of its responsibility for the Potteries subsidiary.

Various depots have been closed over the past 12 years including Atherton (1998), Bolton Crook Street (2004) (replaced by a new depot at Weston Street), Knowsley (2008), Rochdale (2004) and Trafford Park (2005) sites at Lowton, Bolton and Manchester Piccadilly have also been used temporarily for either acquired fleet (Lowton/Bolton) in 1998 or for the Commonwealth Games in 2002 (Manchester Piccadilly).

As of September 2010 First Manchester has taken over the management of the Cheshire and Merseyside depots of First Potteries with the Staffordshire depots transferring to the management of the new First Midlands division. The Cheshire and Merseyside depots fell to a First Manchester licence. In February 2012, the company came under fire from Department for Transport North West's traffic commissioner after a performance survey found an average of 26% of First Manchester services were not running on time.[8] The company were fined £285,000 in March 2012 for their poor reliability.[9]

In Spring 2012 First Manchester was rebranded as First Greater Manchester. In June 2012, it was announced that FirstGroup were looking at selling off some of its operations, which included First Manchester's Wigan depot.[10] On 2 December 2012, Stagecoach Manchester purchased the Wigan operation.[11][12] The transaction saw 300 employees, 120 vehicles (although 20 were owned by Transport for Greater Manchester) and the Wigan depot purchased by the former A Mayne & Son legal entity.[13][14]

On 1 August 2013, FirstGroup announced that subject to regulatory approval by the Office of Fair Trading, it had agreed to purchase the bus operations of south Manchester based company Finglands Coachways.[15] The purchase included the lease of Finglands's depot in Rusholme, South Manchester routes and approximately 100 members of staff, but no buses.[16][17] The deal was approved on 27 January 2014[18] with First taking over Finglands services on 9 February 2014.[19]

The FirstGroup began scaling back its operations in Greater Manchester in an attempt to stem financial losses across the group in 2017, closing its Bury and Tameside depots, with buses and operations transferring to its remaining three depots in Bolton, Queens Road and Rusholme, the latter of which would also close in January 2019.[20][21][22] In February 2019, it was announced that the Queens Road depot in Cheetham Hill had been purchased by the Go-Ahead Group to form Go North West, which commenced operations on 2 June 2019, having acquired 25 bus routes and a fleet of over 160 buses from First.[23][24] First's Bolton depot was then purchased by Rotala on 11 August 2019, expanding the operation of Diamond North West with the acquisition 18 routes, reducing First Greater Manchester to only its Oldham depot.[25][26]

Services

First Greater Manchester mainly run services in central Manchester and the north eastern area of Greater Manchester including Oldham, Rochdale and parts of Tameside.

First also operate services in the Wigan area, although following the sale of the Wigan depot to Stagecoach Manchester in December 2012, First only serve Astley, Atherton, Leigh and Tyldesley with the V1 & V2 Services that use the Leigh Guided Busway and the A580; these services are marketed as Vantage.

Metroshuttle

First Greater Manchester previously operated the three Metroshuttle services that operate around Manchester city centre. These services were free for passengers. The services were passed on to Go North West, following the sale of the Queens Road depot in June 2019.

Nightbus

First Greater Manchester operated several night bus services across Greater Manchester on Friday and Saturday nights. The routes mainly operated the same routes as their daytime equivalents with some exceptions, such as service 67 not serving Shudehill on nights, with service 135, which did not normally serve Shudehill, taking its place. The Nightbus services, mainly originating from Piccadilly Gardens bus station, ran to a frequency of either every 30 minutes or every hour from midnight to 3:30am and offered a flat fare ticketing system.[27]

Until December 2012, First Greater Manchester also operated the Nightbus network in Wigan town centre, providing a number of late night services to various areas across Wigan, as well as the 598 service to Leigh, which allowed connection with the 39 service to and from Manchester. From 2 December 2012, the Wigan Nightbus network passed to Stagecoach Manchester with the sale of First Greater Manchester's Wigan operations.

In January 2015, First Greater Manchester withdrew six night bus journeys which served Rochdale, Bury and Eccles, including service 135, as part of wide-ranging cuts to its bus network.[27] In Spring 2016, First's remaining night bus services were withdrawn on services 8, 36 and 39 due to low passenger numbers.[28]

Vantage

On 3 April 2016, First Greater Manchester commenced operating services on the 4.5 mile North West Guided busway between Leigh and Ellenbrook under the Vantage brand.[29][30]

Fleet

As of April 2020, the First Greater Manchester fleet consisted of 195 buses.

Prior to the sale of the Bolton and Queens Road depots in 2019, First Greater Manchester operated a fleet of 583 buses, consisting mainly of Wrightbus-bodied Volvos and Alexander Dennis Enviro400s. Up to 160 buses at Queens Road were sold to Go North West and 125 buses based at Bolton were dispersed within the FirstGroup following a period on lease to Diamond North West.[31][32]

First Greater Manchester are planning to electrify their remaining Oldham fleet, trialling a Mellor Sigma 10 in March 2023.[33]

Route branding

Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TL showing the branding used for Overground service 8 in September 2010

First Greater Manchester originally branded their frequent services as an Overground. Based on the London Underground network where each frequent service is given a recognisable colour, each Overground service was also allocated its own colour line. The concept was a prominent fixture on network maps and coloured vinyls applied to the buses frequently serving those routes. However, the brand has largely been dropped.

Usually, the colours are allocated randomly. However, the 180/184 was allocated the Purple line when the services were made into an Overground route in 2004 and the 184 was extended to Huddersfield replacing service 365. The extension also saw the 184 service incorporated into the Huddersfield Overground with services 348, 350 and 352 (which were later replaced by routes 181, 182, 183 and 185 to fit in with the 184) already branded as the Purple line (as had the 365 previously).

Due to ongoing fleet modernisation most Overground services are currently unbranded, with only the 180/184 and 409 having significant route branding. Former route, Route 100 was previously branded as "unmissable", route X34 branded as "Spinning Jenny" and route X35 as "Flying Shuttle", rather than with a colour line.

Heritage liveries

Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TL in replica Lancashire United Transport livery in November 2013

In 2013, First Greater Manchester repainted eight buses into the liveries of former transport companies to create a heritage fleet across their operating areas, which acknowledges the preceding companies that would eventually become First Greater Manchester.[34]

Three Volvo B7RLEs were painted into the liveries of Bolton Corporation Transport, Oldham Corporation and Ramsbottom Urban District Council, while five Volvo B9TLs were painted into liveries of Bury Corporation, Manchester City Transport, Rochdale Corporation, Salford City Transport and Lancashire United Transport.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Companies House extract company no 2818607 First Manchester Limited formerly Greater Manchester Buses North Limited
  2. ↑ Companies House extract company no 2818654 Greater Manchester Buses South Limited
  3. ↑ Jarosz, Andrew (18 December 1993). "Split GM Buses ready to be sold". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough: Emap.
  4. ↑ Murray, John (28 March 1994). "Manchester bus company won by employee buyout". The Independent. London. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  5. ↑ "North follows south into big group fold". Coach & Bus Week. No. 209. Peterborough: Emap. 16 March 1996. p. 5.
  6. ↑ "FirstBus double acquisition". Bus & Coach Buyer. No. 349. Spalding: Glen-Holland Limited. 15 March 1996. p. 4.
  7. ↑ "GMBN boosts its branding". Coach & Bus Week. No. 218. Peterborough: Emap. 18 May 1996. p. 8.
  8. ↑ "Bus firm First slammed by transport watchdog over unreliable services". Manchester Evening News. 7 February 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  9. ↑ "Bus firm First fined £285k by transport watchdog after one in four services run late". Manchester Evening News. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "First seeks buyers for seven bus operations". Passenger Transport. 28 June 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  11. ↑ Stagecoach buys FirstGroup's Wigan bus arm for £12 million BBC News 31 October 2012
  12. ↑ Acquisition of Wigan Bus Operations from First Manchester Stagecoach 31 October 2012
  13. ↑ Companies House extract company no 308157 Greater Manchester Buses West Limited formerly A Mayne & Son Limited
  14. ↑ McCollom, James (31 October 2012). "Stagecoach to acquire First routes in Wigan". Manchester Transport. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  15. ↑ Companies House extract company no 243051 Finglands Coachways Limited
  16. ↑ "FirstGroup plc Agree To Acquire Finglands Bus Operations In Manchester". First Group. 1 August 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  17. ↑ Jobs saved as famous bus firm gears up for takeover Manchester Evening News 2 August 2013
  18. ↑ "PRESS RELEASE - First given OFT approval to acquire Finglands bus operations in Manchester". First Group. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  19. ↑ "First take over Finglands bus services". Transport for Greater Manchester. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  20. ↑ Cox, Charlotte (5 December 2016). "First to close two bus depots in Greater Manchester". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  21. ↑ First Manchester announces proposal to close Rusholme depot FleetPoint 29 October 2018
  22. ↑ First to close Rusholme, gives up Turners route Buses January 2019 page 9
  23. ↑ "First Manchester sells Queens Road depot to Go-Ahead". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough: Emap. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  24. ↑ Bucki, Alexandra (19 February 2019). "First Manchester are selling 160 buses and their Cheetham Hill depot for £11.2 million". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  25. ↑ "Diamond Bus North West takes over First Manchester depot this Sunday". Coach & Bus Week. No. 1405. Peterborough: Emap. 6 August 2019. p. 6. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  26. ↑ McDonnell, Seamus (11 August 2019). "Diamond North West: New bus firm takes over 18 services". Bury Times. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  27. 1 2 Britton, Paul (4 February 2015). "Weekend bus services taken off road due to budget cuts". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  28. ↑ Proctor, Ian (17 March 2016). "End of the night bus: late evening services between Bolton and Manchester to be withdrawn". Bolton News. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  29. ↑ Guided busway on track for first passengers Archived 17 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Transport for Greater Manchester 15 February 2016
  30. ↑ North West's first guided busway welcomes first passengers FirstGroup 29 March 2016
  31. ↑ Britton, Paul (20 February 2019). "What does the First Manchester sale of buses and depot mean for passengers?". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  32. ↑ Millar, Alan (19 September 2019). "Diamond's opportunity". Buses. Stamford: Key Publishing. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  33. ↑ Peat, Chris (15 March 2023). "First Manchester trialling Mellor Sigma 10". Bus & Coach Buyer. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  34. ↑ "FIRST GROUP HERITAGE BUS LIVERIES IN MANCHESTER". Focus Transport. Focus Transport. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
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