Manchester Buses

Mosely Street closed... and all is surprisingly calm

You'd think that the closure of one of the of the main roads for buses in Manchester city centre would cause havoc but as Metrolink track replacement work resumed today the city centre was an oasis of surprising calm.

All buses that normally approach Piccadilly Gardens via Mosely Street are rerouted via Portland Street and city centre Metrolink stops are closed for the duration of the works. However, as rush hour began everything was running smoothly, as our video below shows (click the 'HD' button in the player to view it in HD). We reckon the Easter school holidays had something to do with that.

You can find out more about the Metrolink work here.

Videoshow part 7: Early 90s bus wars at Piccadilly Gardens

It's been a whole ten months since we last did a 'Videoshow' post so what better way to revive an old series than with some vintage home movie footage posted to Youtube just this week? A Youtube user with the catchy name of '1000791549' has posted a reel of film from (presumably) his personal home video collection.

Following a couple of minutes of some kind of party on a hired bus and what looks like some London bus footage we're on to a few minutes of footage of early 90s bus wars at Piccadilly Gardens. MyBus, BeeLine and Dennis's are among the operators featured.

It's amazing how what is basically just some footage of buses picking up passengers actually stands up as an interesting historical document of a period of transition in the city centre. If the date that appears briefly on the film (5th June 1992) is correct Metrolink services had already been introduced between Victoria and Bury and between G-Mex and Altrincham.

Just ten days after this footage was shot trams began running through the city centre. In the footage you can see buses queuing past Debenhams on Market Street, driving over the as-yet non-operational tram tracks there.

Spot the rather un-PC 'people watching' too!

Students take an in-depth look at Oxford Road services

Back in December, Manchester Buses editor Martin Bryant was asked to take part in a film being put together by students at Manchester Metropolitan University. Originally the documentary was to be about TIF and the proposed Congestion Charge. That story was out of date by the time they edited and submitted the film so they decided to just make it a look at the background story of the busy Oxford Road corridor.

Martin really doesn't say much of interest (all his views on TIF were cut out for obvious reasons) but Stagecoach Manchester Managing Director Mark Threapleton gives some interesting facts and figures about their Manchester operations, such as:

In University holidays Stagecoach and Magic Bus services carry 203,000 passenger trips per week on the corridor, going up to an astonishing 338,000 trips during University term times. He also discusses their deliberate segmentation of the market through use of the Magic Bus brand.

The Oxford Road Bus Service
Uploaded by dbostock

The 3 Minute Journey - Manchester to Huddersfield on the 184

There are some spectacular views to be had from some of Greater Manchester's bus routes. Obviously, the majority of inner-city routes have pretty dull scenery but if you travel out to the edges of the region there are some great journeys to enjoy. We're going to be showcasing some of these in a new series of videos called The 3 Minute Journey.

First up is the 184. Co-run by First's Manchester and West Yorkshire divisions this route runs from Oldham Street in Manchester city centre through Oldham and Saddleworth, over the Pennines and down into Huddersfield via the Colne Valley. Most journeys run between Manchester and Uppermill or Diggle only but once an hour daily during daytimes a journey runs the full route through to Huddersfield.

We traveled the length of the route on the 31st of October taking short video clips along the way and tracing the whole route via Nokia Sports Tracker on our Nokia N82 phone. You can see the whole route, including some of the full video clips we took here. Unfortunately all the videos didn't upload properly so are missing. However, the whole route has been compressed into the following video.

We'd just like to point out that we know there's not enough of the scenic bits in the video but the next one will be much more picturesque. So, without any further ado, here's The 3 Minute Journey!

The 3 Minute Journey - Manchester to Huddersfield from Martin Bryant on Vimeo.

Manchester buses get the Top Gear treatment

Jeremy Clarkson is a 'Marmite' presenter. Either you think he's right about everything and should be Prime Minister or you think he's a reprehensible, reactionary boarish bore who should be ignored at every opportunity. No matter which way you sway on the Clarkson issue chances are you enjoy Top Gear, the BBC show he presents with James May and Richard Hammond.

The best bit of Top Gear each week is the challenge and this week they weren't driving across Japan, Africa or America; they were on a racetrack in Britain with a load of buses.  The show is always keen to stick a driving glove-covered fist in the stomach of the country's bus services.  We missed the programme but a couple of commenters to a recent post here at Manchester Buses drew our attention to the fact that two Manchester buses were among those being raced.

So, if you want to see a Stagecoach Manchester driver training vehicle and a GB Coaches Dart put through their paces and getting rather smashed up in the process look no further.  The full episode is available in the UK until Sunday on the BBC iPlayer.

Videoshow part 6: "Pick you up tomorrow as usual"

Many thanks to regular reader and commenter Jimmymac, who has found this classic advert.  It dates from 1986's 'D-Day', when deregulation saw Greater Manchester Transport become GM Buses.  Jimmymac, from Warrington originally, comments that: "I was six years old when I first saw it on Granada TV, and the jist of the theme tune has stuck in my head ever since!

"We had a leaflet through the post as well, explaining all the changes and the great things that GM Buses were going to do. Twenty years later and the only remnant of them in Warrington is the hourly (slow) daytime service to Manchester provided by First".

Here at Manchester Buses we were living across the Pennines at the time and we're pretty sure Metro never ran a 'We're changing our name to Yorkshire Rider' ad.  Anyway, if you were in Granada country back in '86, enjoy this trip down memory lane.

Videoshow part 5: Bus Blocking

Manchester Buses reader Marek has been recording his experiences on Manchester's buses again.  This time, he's filmed an incident at Piccadilly Gardens in which a youth, annoyed at not being allowed on a Finglands 41 service, decided to block the bus from leaving.  A you can see, he succeeded in causing a bit of a scene.  It's never dull on the buses!  Thanks, Marek.

If you see anything interesting on the buses while you're out and about in Greater Manchester take a photo, video or audio recording and send it to us.

Videoshow part 4: Last day on the buses

In this week's Videoshow, here's a driver's eye view of the start and end of a shift from Stagecoach's Princess Road depot.  These were filmed on the driver's last day at Stagecoach in 2006.

Videoshow Part 3: Bus Jammin'

Time for the latest in our series looking at Manchester bus footage on the internet.  Now, we've heard of 'bus jams' at Piccadilly Gardens, but this brings a whole new meaning to the concept!

Videoshow Part 2: A driver's downtime

What do bus drivers do when they park up, set the display to 'Sorry Not In Service' and wait for their next departure?  They shoot videos, apparently.

Yes it's time for part two of our weekly look at Manchester bus-related videos online.  This week we have a video shot by a driver on his downtime at (as far as we can make out) Stockport bus station.  Okay, this won't win any awards but it's good to know some drivers like to use their spare time creatively.