Metroline Manchester is a bus operator in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tamesid ...

, England. It is a subsidiary of

ComfortDelGro ComfortDelGro Corporation is a multi-national land transport company listed on the Singapore Exchange, operating about 35,000 vehicles in seven countries. It was formed on 29 March 2003 through a merger of Singapore-based land transport compa ...

, operating franchised Bee Network bus services under contract to

Transport for Greater Manchester Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services throughout Greater Manchester in North West England. TfGM is responsible for investments in improving transport services and facilities. ...

(TfGM).

History

, through its

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

based

Metroline Metroline is a bus company operating services in Greater London and south Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation and operates services under contract to Transport for London. As at March 2021, the fleet consisted of 1, ...

subsidiary, took an early interest in

franchised Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

Bee Network bus services, recruiting former

Arriva Yorkshire Arriva Yorkshire is a major bus operator providing services primarily within and across West Yorkshire, although it also provides service in some parts of South Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and southern areas of North Yorkshire. It is a ...

regional manager Patrick Sibley in September 2022 to help in its bidding for Tranches 2 and 3 of franchises. With no pre-existing presence in Greater Manchester, the operator aimed to secure large franchise contracts from TfGM so it would inherit depot facilities from existing operators; winning smaller contracts would have resulted in Metroline having to establish new depot facilities within the region. Initially, Metroline was unsuccessful in bidding for Tranches 1 and 2 of Bee Network contracts, which went to existing operators in the area. In March 2024, however, it was announced that Metroline had won four of five Tranche 3 contracts, taking on bus services in the south side of the

City of Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

operated from

Ashton Ashton may refer to: Names *Ashton (given name) *Ashton (surname) Places Australia * Ashton, Elizabeth Bay, a heritage-listed house in Sydney, New South Wales *Ashton, South Australia Canada *Ashton, Ontario New Zealand * Ashton, New Zealand ...

, Hyde Road,

Sharston Sharston is an area of Wythenshawe, south Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 16,754. History Built on former farming land (as was most of Wythenshawe when the estate was first being built in the 1920s), the area was in ...

and

Wythenshawe Wythenshawe () is a district of the city of Manchester, England. Historically in Cheshire, Wythenshawe was transferred in 1931 to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the 1920s. With an area of approx ...

depots for a five year period, with options to extend the contract for a further two years. Metroline Manchester commenced operations on Bee Network services on 5 January 2025, with Patrick Sibley taking on the position of Managing Director for the new operator.

Depots

Metroline Manchester operates buses from four depots across Greater Manchester, with a total of 1,350 driving staff required. A majority of staff from existing operators are able to transfer employment to Metroline Manchester through a

TUPE The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 known colloquially as TUPE and pronounced , are the United Kingdom's implementation of the European Union Transfer of Undertakings Directive. It is an important part of UK lab ...

transfer.

Ashton

bus depot was taken over from

Stagecoach Manchester Stagecoach ManchesterCompanies House extract company no 2818654

to operate services in

Tameside The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after the River Tame, which flows through the borough, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Duk ...

. Located in an industrial estate off Clarence Street, the depot was established by Stagecoach in 2008 to replace a former

Mayne Coaches Mayne Coaches is a coach operator with depots in Manchester and Warrington. Administrators were appointed to the business, following an insolvency notice issued on 14 February 2022. Mayne Coaches now operates under the Go Goodwins Group of Eccle ...

bus depot located on Ashton New Road.

Hyde Road

Hyde Road bus depot is the head office and largest depot of Metroline Manchester following the commencement of operations, having been taken over from Stagecoach Manchester. The depot was originally opened by

Manchester Corporation Tramways Between 1901 and 1949 Manchester Corporation Tramways (known as Manchester Corporation Transport Department from 1929 onwards) was the municipal operator of electric tram services in Manchester, England. At its peak in 1928, the organisation ca ...

in 1902, being considerably redeveloped during the 1920s ahead of the running of

trolleybuses A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

and motorbuses from the late 1930s respectively. Hyde Road was redeveloped again during the 1960s, with parts of the old tram sheds demolished and a new entrance and frontage being constructed along Hyde Road itself.

Sharston

bus depot was taken over from Stagecoach Manchester, with a fleet of 32 BYD

Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2018, produced as an alternative to the standard Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC bodywork. The Enviro400 City is ...

s coming with this depot. This depot is located within the Sharston Industrial Estate, capable of holding over 200 buses and equipped with rainwater recycling systems and motion-activated lighting to minimise environmental impact, and was opened by Stagecoach in 2010 to replace the former

GM Buses GM Buses was the main bus company serving the ten metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester in North West England. The company was formed in 1986 by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive. In December 1993, it was split into GM ...

Princess Road depot in

Moss Side Moss Side is an inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the city centre, It had a population of 20,745 at the 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Rusholme and Fallowfield to the east, Whalle ...

Wythenshawe

depot was taken over from

Arriva North West Arriva North WestCompanies House extract company no 1990871

, with no vehicles coming with this transfer. Located on the Southmoor Industrial Estate, it is planned for Metroline to operate this depot using solely single decker diesel-powered vehicles. Prior to the commencement of franchised services, Metroline used this depot to operate a fleet of

Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the third-generatio ...

bodied

Volvo B9TL The Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo from 2002 until 2018. It superseded the Volvo Super Olympian and the Volvo B7TL. The 2-axle version has been superseded by the Volvo B5TL in 2014 and the 3-axle version has been ...

s on driver training duties.

Fleet

As of October 2024, Metroline Manchester are set to operate a fleet of 420 buses upon the commencement of operations on 5 January 2025. The company's operating license was provisionally approved to allow a fleet of over 500 buses to be potentially operated by the company. Metroline Manchester is set to use a mixture of diesel and

battery electric bus A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source. In 2018, the National Renewable Energy Laborator ...

es, with new deliveries primarily including 110

MCV MCV may refer to: Business * Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles, an Egyptian commercial vehicle manufacturer owned by Daimler AG * MCV Broadband, former name of Docomo Pacific, a telecommunications company in Guam * MCV Bus and Coach, a bus body b ...

bodied

Volvo BZL The Volvo BZL is a full-size zero-emission battery electric bus chassis for both single-decker buses and double-decker buses manufactured by Volvo since 2021. The BZL Electric range was launched in September 2021, with the first right-hand dri ...

s, 135 Wright StreetDeck Ultroliners, 24

s and 50

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro200) is a single-decker city bus produced by Alexander Dennis since 2014, as the successor to the Enviro200 midibus and Enviro300 full-size bus. The first Enviro200 MMC ...

s. Up to 125 buses, including 32 BYD

s based at Sharston and 52

Wright Eclipse Gemini The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the third-generat ...

bodied

s based at Queens Road, are also inherited from Stagecoach Manchester via the TfGM fleet Residual Value Mechanism. Metroline Manchester also inherited a fleet of

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, Dennis Trident (from which the Enviro400 was ...

s and

Alexander Dennis Enviro400H 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, Dennis Trident (from which the Enviro400 was de ...

s from Stagecoach Manchester and

Stagecoach Yorkshire Stagecoach Yorkshire is an operating division of Stagecoach Group. It was formed in 2005 to take over the former Traction Group fleets in Yorkshire by Stagecoach Group, which took over Traction from Frank Carter on 14 December 2005; Yorkshir ...

, including most of the existing Magic Bus fleet. While a fleet of

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro400) is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2014, replacing the Alexander Dennis Enviro400. The Enviro400 MMC is pr ...

bodied

Volvo B5LH The Volvo B5LH (initially known as the Volvo B5L Hybrid, also known as the Volvo BRLH) is a low-floor hybrid electric bus chassis for both single-decker buses and double-decker buses manufactured by Volvo since 2008. It is the basis for Volv ...

s were also purchased second hand from

Stagecoach East Scotland Stagecoach East Scotland (legally incorporated as Fife Scottish Omnibuses Ltd) ( gd, Stagecoach an Ear na h-Alba) is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, with its regional base in Dunfermline, Scotland. The company operators under six ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Transport in Greater Manchester Bus operators in Greater Manchester ComfortDelGro companies Transport companies established in 2025 2025 establishments in England