First Greater Manchester is a bus operator in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

. It is a subsidiary of the

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Bee Network bus services on contract to

Transport for Greater Manchester Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is a local government body responsible for co-ordinating transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England. It is an executive arm of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), ...

(TfGM). The operator was once dominant in the northern areas of Greater Manchester, competing against

Stagecoach Manchester Stagecoach ManchesterCompanies House extract company no 2818654

, which was dominant in southern areas of the county; however in recent years it has scaled back its operations, now primarily serving the

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of districts of England, local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan distr ...

s of

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

History

GM Buses North

Before

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

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

, but were at arms' length from the local town halls. In December 1993, GM Buses was split in two companies: GM Buses North and GM Buses South. It was planned that the two companies would compete against one another, however they operated without doing so through to their respective buyouts. GM Buses North was eventually sold in March 1994 by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority to a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

team for £27.1 million ().

FirstGroup ownership

In March 1996, GM Buses North was sold to FirstBus for £47 million () and rebranded First Manchester. After a period of experimentation with the livery, a deep orange livery featuring a blue stripe was adopted. First Manchester soon ended up managing two other FirstBus subsidiaries, First Potteries and First Pennine. Eventually the First Pennine and Manchester subsidiaries were merged, adding a number of routes in the

Tameside Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, named after the River Tame, Greater Manchester, River Tame, which flows through it, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Greater Manchester, Denton, D ...

area to First Manchester. A new management team was put in place and First Manchester was relieved of its responsibility for the Potteries subsidiary. By September 2010, First Manchester had 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 June 2012, it was announced that the FirstGroup were looking at selling off some of its operations, which included First Manchester's Wigan depot. On 2 December 2012,

Stagecoach Manchester Stagecoach ManchesterCompanies House extract company no 2818654

purchased the

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

operation. The transaction saw 300 employees, 120 vehicles (although 20 were owned by TfGM) and the Wigan depot purchased by Stagecoach, with these being operated under the former A Mayne & Son legal entity. On 1 August 2013, the FirstGroup announced that subject to regulatory approval by the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...

, it had agreed to purchase the bus operations of south Manchester based company Finglands Coachways from its parent, the EYMS Group. The purchase included the lease of Finglands's depot in

Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England, two miles south of the Manchester city centre, city centre. The population of the ward at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorl ...

, South Manchester routes and approximately 100 members of staff, but did not include the fleet of 41 buses, most of which were retained within the EYMS Group. The deal was approved on 27 January 2014, with First taking over Finglands services under a joint ticketing scheme on 9 February 2014.

Downsizing

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

Dukinfield Dukinfield is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, on the south bank of the River Tame, Greater Manchester, River Tame opposite Ashton-under-Lyne, east of Manchester. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the built up ar ...

depots, with buses and operations transferring to its remaining four garages in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

, Queens Road, Oldham and Rusholme. Rusholme depot would later close in January 2019, bringing the company down to only three garages across Greater Manchester. In February 2019, it was announced that the Queens Road depot in

Cheetham Hill Cheetham is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, which in 2011 had a population of 22,562. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, north of Manchester city centre, close to the boundary with Salford, bounded by Cru ...

had been purchased by the

Go-Ahead Group Go-Ahead Group Limited is a Multinational corporation, multi-national transport group based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. While the majority of its operations are within Great Britain, it also operates services in Ireland, Australia, Singapo ...

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. First's

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; this depot was also planned to be sold by the FirstGroup, which would have seen the operator cease operations, however the depot was announced to have been retained in August 2019 after no offers were accepted to buy it.

Bee Network franchises

In June 2023, it was announced by Transport for Greater Manchester that as part of Tranche 2 of Bee Network bus franchising, First Manchester would lose its Oldham depot, staff and services to Stagecoach Manchester. However, First Manchester also acquired the franchise to operate Bee Network services in

, based from

Transdev Blazefield Transdev Blazefield is a bus group, which operates local and regional bus services across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. Formed in August 1991, the group has been a subsidiary of French-based operato ...

subsidiary

Rosso Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza Region, Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakc ...

's former depot, which was sold to TfGM some months prior. These changes, taking effect from 24 March 2024, reduced First Manchester's fleet to over 65 buses.

Former operations

Metroshuttle

First Greater Manchester previously operated the three

Metroshuttle Free bus is a Free public transport, zero-fare bus system that operates in Greater Manchester. The system was first introduced in Manchester city centre in 2002, with three routes linking the city's major thoroughfares and stations with its ma ...

services that operate around Manchester city centre. These services were free for passengers, and were operated using

Optare Versa The Optare Versa is a Low-floor bus, low-floor midibus that was manufactured by Optare at its Sherburn-in-Elmet factory. In total 883 were produced between 2007 and 2018.night bus service Night service, sometimes also known as owl service, is a mode of public transport service operated during the night hours. As an intermediate approach – between providing full service around the clock and stopping services altogether – it p ...

s 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. Until December 2012, First Greater Manchester also operated the Nightbus network in

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

Vantage

On 3 April 2016, First Greater Manchester commenced operating services on the North West Guided busway between

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...

and Ellenbrook. A fleet of 25 Wright Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LH

hybrid bus A hybrid electric bus is a bus that combines a conventional internal combustion engine ground propulsion, propulsion system with an electric power, electric propulsion system. These types of buses normally use a diesel–electric powertrain and ...

es equipped with guidewheels were operated by First on the service, branded in a dark purple Vantage livery. First's operation of Vantage services transferred to Go North West upon commencement of Tranche 1 of Bee Network franchised services, with the Vantage brand being withdrawn in favour of standard Bee Network yellow livery.

Criticism

In the years following the purchase of GM Buses North, First Manchester were routinely criticised for operating an outdated and poorly maintained fleet of buses, many of which were either inherited from the GM Buses era or transferred in from across the FirstGroup; this fleet stood in comparison to more modern fleets operated by competitor Stagecoach Manchester. First Manchester's final ' GM Standard'

Leyland Atlantean The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland Motors between 1958 and 1986. Only 17 Atlantean chassis were bodied as single deck from new. It pioneered the design of rear-engined, front entrance ...

double-decker bus A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They app ...

es, dating back to the late 1970s and early 1980s, were withdrawn on 5 January 2002, and investment between 2002 and 2004 saw 278 new

low-floor bus A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between the ground and the floor of the bus at one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. A bus with a partial low floor may also be referred to as a l ...

es introduced to the fleet. In February 2012, the company were warned by the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

's North West

traffic commissioner The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain are responsible for the licensing and regulation of the operators of heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches, and the registration of local bus services in Great Britain (as opposed to the entire Unit ...

after a performance survey found an average of 26% of First Manchester services were not running on time. The company were fined £285,000 the following March for not improving their service reliability.

Fleet and depots

As of March 2024, the First Greater Manchester fleet consisted of over 65 buses, over half of which are operated on franchsised Bee Network services. Buses are operated from one depot: First's main depot at

, which was acquired from

. 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 Wrightbus is a Northern Irish bus manufacturer and a pioneer of the low-floor bus. The company was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and was later run by his son William Wright, until it was acquired in 2019 by British businessman Jo Bamf ...

-bodied

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

s and

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400 (from which the Enviro400 was developed). In 201 ...

s. Up to 160 buses at Queens Road were sold to Go North West and 125 buses based at Bolton, following a period on lease to Diamond North West, were dispersed around the FirstGroup. Various other GM Buses North garages were closed shortly after the company was purchased by FirstBus. These included Atherton in 1998; Bolton and Rochdale in 2004, the former replaced by a new depot on Weston Street; Trafford Park in 2005, used temporarily for long-term rail replacement services during the West Coast Main Line route modernisation, and Knowsley in 2008. Temporary depots have also been previously set up, with sites at Lowton and Bolton used to temporarily store buses acquired from other operators in 1998, while a site was set up at Manchester Piccadilly in 2002 to store shuttle buses used for the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

References

External links

* {{Transport in Greater Manchester Bus operators in Greater Manchester FirstGroup bus operators in England Transport companies established in 1996 1996 establishments in England