GM Buses
Encyclopedia
GM Buses was the main bus company serving Greater Manchester
, a metropolitan county
in North West England
. The company was public owned by Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
, which is a public body responsible for helping to co-ordinate public transport services in the Greater Manchester area. The company was split into two—GM Buses North and GM Buses South—in 1993 to increase competition for services in area before they were taken over by First Group and Stagecoach Group
respectively.
In 1968, a new Transport Act was introduced. As part of the new act, several bus companies ran by local authorities around the Manchester area would merge to create a central organisation. They would be made up of companies operating in the following areas:
The new central organisation was named SELNEC, which was the South East Lancashire North East Cheshire Passenger Transport Executive. The SELNEC catchment area would eventually become Greater Manchester. SELNEC introduced a standard livery of orange and white with the company split into three zones, Northern, Central and Southern.
In 1974, The Local Government Act changed the administrative areas and the county of Greater Manchester was created. As a result, SELNEC would rename itself to Greater Manchester Transport. In 1981, a new livery was adopted of orange, brown and white. Also in the same year, Lancashire United Transport
, who were based in Atherton was absorbed into Greater Manchester Transport.
In 1986, deregulation
was introduced to bus services and Greater Manchester Transport was split into two. The management of service information and tendering, bus stations and stops would be run by Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, or GMPTE for short. The bus operation would be named Greater Manchester Buses or GM Buses as it is commonly known. Deregulation also saw competition introduced on several routes run by GM Buses.
The competing companies included Bee Line Buzz Company, which ran several services along routes across the Greater Manchester area; Wall's and Finglands, which introduced several services along the Wilmslow Road corridor; and Bluebird Bus & Coach
and Citibus
, which launched several routes in the North Manchester area. A lot of the companies that tried to compete with GM Buses failed, with most going out of business and some being taken over by GM Buses. Some companies that did succeed included Bluebird, who run several services between Ashton-under-Lyne
and Manchester, and Mayne's, who operated until 2006.
On December 31, 1993, GM Buses were forced to split, as the Government felt that they had a monopoly of bus services in the Greater Manchester area and wanted to increase competition. GM Buses was split into two separate companies, GM Buses North, or GMN, and GM South Buses, or GMS Buses. It had been hoped by spliting the companies up, then GM Buses North and GM South Buses would compete against each other. However, as their names would suggest, the two companies would mainly stay in their respective operating areas.
Prior to the formation of the North/South GM Buses companies Merseyside's
dominant bus company MTL Trust Holdings Ltd was in a phase of expansion and turned its attention to Greater Manchester. In the summer of 1993 MTL Manchester began operations from a depot in Miles Platting and added an extensive network of new/copycat services to Manchester's already hotly contested bus market. In October 1993 the Merseybus depot at St Helens was rebranded Lancashire Travel and a further series of new/copycat services were introduced in the Wigan, Leigh, Bolton, Salford and North Manchester areas that Merseybus/MTL had been gradually increasing its profile in since the late 1980s. Finally around 1993/94 MTL purchased Bolton Coachways and used their fairly substantial minibus network to perhaps further strengthen their position in the town against GM Buses (North).
MTL's incursions into Greater Manchester sparked a bus war with GM Buses and predictably they retaliated with new services on Merseyside. At first route 79 (Croxteth-Liverpool City Centre) - one of Merseybus's most profitable routes, saw high frequency GM Buses operation from September 1993 perhaps as a means to discourage further MTL expansion in Greater Manchester. In the Spring of 1994 GM Buses South began Birkenhead & District from a depot at Cleveland Street in Birkenhead's docklands. The vehicles used a light blue and cream livery that had slight echoes to a darker blue version used by Birkenhead Corporation and many of MTL's profitable services on the Wirral saw competition from Birkenhead & District. GM Buses North almost besieged by MTL's Lancashire Travel operation began further operations in Liverpool, Kirkby, Formby and Southport and also opened a new depot this time in Bootle to assist its Atherton and Wigan depots in the operation of these new services on Merseyside. Furthermore some Greater Manchester PTE "standard" Leyland Atlanteans and Fleetlines originally sold by GM Buses to Yorkshire Rider
in 1987/88 were re-acquired by GM Buses North for use at the new depot at Bootle.
However by the summer of 1995 both MTL and GM Buses North/South were making substantial losses with their incursions into Greater Manchester and Merseyside. A controversial gentleman's agreement was therefore signed between the three companies in June 1995 which saw MTL pull out of much of Greater Manchester - with the exception of services linking St Helens with Leigh and Wigan, along with GM Buses North/South completely withdrawing from Merseyside including the long established GM Buses North Services 34 (Liverpool-St Helens-Leigh-Manchester) and 320 (Liverpool-St Helens-Wigan) which had existed for decades and had origins with the Lancashire United operation.
During 1996, both GM Buses companies would be the subject of takeovers. GM Buses North were taken over by First Group. They would re-name the company as Greater Manchester Firstbus, or as Greater Manchester followed by the First logo, and the livery of orange would be re-painted as 'Tomato Soup Red', as it was described. By 1997 they would be re-named as First Manchester
and adopted the standard First Group livery. GM South Buses were taken over by Stagecoach Group and the company was re-named Stagecoach Manchester
.
between Hazel Grove
or Stepping Hill and Manchester. They used a logo previously used by GM Buses in the late 1980s and early 1990s and a picture indicating the depot that the bus is operating from. However, they did not adopt the orange livery, keeping UK North's red and white livery instead.
However, this was to be short lived as in December 2006, UK North and GM Buses services were suspended during the Christmas period, due to safety fears after several buses were involved in accidents a man was killed in an incident involving a UK North bus. The North West Traffic Commissioner, Beverley Bell, launched an investigation into the company and found that 100 of its 130 drivers were Polish, had a poor understanding of English and felt that they weren't properly trained. It had been planned for the company to return to the street in January 2007 but the company went into receivership before this could happen.
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, a metropolitan county
Metropolitan county
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million...
in North West England
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
. The company was public owned by Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Transport for Greater Manchester is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester, in North West England. The organisation traces its origins to the Transport Act 1968, when the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive was established to...
, which is a public body responsible for helping to co-ordinate public transport services in the Greater Manchester area. The company was split into two—GM Buses North and GM Buses South—in 1993 to increase competition for services in area before they were taken over by First Group and Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
respectively.
Original GM Buses
See here for a timeline overview of transport in Manchester.In 1968, a new Transport Act was introduced. As part of the new act, several bus companies ran by local authorities around the Manchester area would merge to create a central organisation. They would be made up of companies operating in the following areas:
- Ashton
- Bolton
- Bury
- Leigh
- Manchester
- Oldham
- Rochdale
- Salford
- Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield (Operated by the SHMD Joint Board)
- Stockport
- Wigan
The new central organisation was named SELNEC, which was the South East Lancashire North East Cheshire Passenger Transport Executive. The SELNEC catchment area would eventually become Greater Manchester. SELNEC introduced a standard livery of orange and white with the company split into three zones, Northern, Central and Southern.
In 1974, The Local Government Act changed the administrative areas and the county of Greater Manchester was created. As a result, SELNEC would rename itself to Greater Manchester Transport. In 1981, a new livery was adopted of orange, brown and white. Also in the same year, Lancashire United Transport
Lancashire United Transport
Lancashire United Transport was a tram, bus and trolleybus operator based at Howe Bridge in Atherton, 10 miles north west of Manchester...
, who were based in Atherton was absorbed into Greater Manchester Transport.
In 1986, deregulation
Bus deregulation
Bus deregulation in Great Britain came into force on 26 October 1986, as part of the Transport Act 1985.The 'Buses' White Paper was the basis of the Transport Act 1985, which provided for the deregulation of local bus services in the whole of the United Kingdom except for Northern Ireland and...
was introduced to bus services and Greater Manchester Transport was split into two. The management of service information and tendering, bus stations and stops would be run by Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, or GMPTE for short. The bus operation would be named Greater Manchester Buses or GM Buses as it is commonly known. Deregulation also saw competition introduced on several routes run by GM Buses.
The competing companies included Bee Line Buzz Company, which ran several services along routes across the Greater Manchester area; Wall's and Finglands, which introduced several services along the Wilmslow Road corridor; and Bluebird Bus & Coach
Bluebird Bus & Coach
Bluebird Bus and Coach is a bus operator based in Middleton in Greater Manchester. The company was formed in 1988 by three members of the Dunstan family)...
and Citibus
Citibus tours
Citibus was a bus operator in Greater Manchester, England. They mainly operated on the north side of Manchester, radiating outwards from their headquarters at Chadderton in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham.-History:...
, which launched several routes in the North Manchester area. A lot of the companies that tried to compete with GM Buses failed, with most going out of business and some being taken over by GM Buses. Some companies that did succeed included Bluebird, who run several services between Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...
and Manchester, and Mayne's, who operated until 2006.
On December 31, 1993, GM Buses were forced to split, as the Government felt that they had a monopoly of bus services in the Greater Manchester area and wanted to increase competition. GM Buses was split into two separate companies, GM Buses North, or GMN, and GM South Buses, or GMS Buses. It had been hoped by spliting the companies up, then GM Buses North and GM South Buses would compete against each other. However, as their names would suggest, the two companies would mainly stay in their respective operating areas.
Prior to the formation of the North/South GM Buses companies Merseyside's
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
dominant bus company MTL Trust Holdings Ltd was in a phase of expansion and turned its attention to Greater Manchester. In the summer of 1993 MTL Manchester began operations from a depot in Miles Platting and added an extensive network of new/copycat services to Manchester's already hotly contested bus market. In October 1993 the Merseybus depot at St Helens was rebranded Lancashire Travel and a further series of new/copycat services were introduced in the Wigan, Leigh, Bolton, Salford and North Manchester areas that Merseybus/MTL had been gradually increasing its profile in since the late 1980s. Finally around 1993/94 MTL purchased Bolton Coachways and used their fairly substantial minibus network to perhaps further strengthen their position in the town against GM Buses (North).
MTL's incursions into Greater Manchester sparked a bus war with GM Buses and predictably they retaliated with new services on Merseyside. At first route 79 (Croxteth-Liverpool City Centre) - one of Merseybus's most profitable routes, saw high frequency GM Buses operation from September 1993 perhaps as a means to discourage further MTL expansion in Greater Manchester. In the Spring of 1994 GM Buses South began Birkenhead & District from a depot at Cleveland Street in Birkenhead's docklands. The vehicles used a light blue and cream livery that had slight echoes to a darker blue version used by Birkenhead Corporation and many of MTL's profitable services on the Wirral saw competition from Birkenhead & District. GM Buses North almost besieged by MTL's Lancashire Travel operation began further operations in Liverpool, Kirkby, Formby and Southport and also opened a new depot this time in Bootle to assist its Atherton and Wigan depots in the operation of these new services on Merseyside. Furthermore some Greater Manchester PTE "standard" Leyland Atlanteans and Fleetlines originally sold by GM Buses to Yorkshire Rider
Yorkshire Rider
-History:Yorkshire Rider was formed in 1986, as a result of deregulation of bus services in the UK. The West Yorkshire PTE was no longer allowed to operate buses itself, so an arm's length operating company was created. In 1988 the undertaking became fully privatised when it was subject to an...
in 1987/88 were re-acquired by GM Buses North for use at the new depot at Bootle.
However by the summer of 1995 both MTL and GM Buses North/South were making substantial losses with their incursions into Greater Manchester and Merseyside. A controversial gentleman's agreement was therefore signed between the three companies in June 1995 which saw MTL pull out of much of Greater Manchester - with the exception of services linking St Helens with Leigh and Wigan, along with GM Buses North/South completely withdrawing from Merseyside including the long established GM Buses North Services 34 (Liverpool-St Helens-Leigh-Manchester) and 320 (Liverpool-St Helens-Wigan) which had existed for decades and had origins with the Lancashire United operation.
During 1996, both GM Buses companies would be the subject of takeovers. GM Buses North were taken over by First Group. They would re-name the company as Greater Manchester Firstbus, or as Greater Manchester followed by the First logo, and the livery of orange would be re-painted as 'Tomato Soup Red', as it was described. By 1997 they would be re-named as First Manchester
First Manchester
First Manchester is one of the bus companies serving Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. It forms part of FirstGroup, a company operating transport services across the British Isles and in North America...
and adopted the standard First Group livery. GM South Buses were taken over by Stagecoach Group and the company was re-named Stagecoach Manchester
Stagecoach in Manchester
Stagecoach in Manchester is the trading name of Greater Manchester Buses South Limited, and is a major operator of bus services in Greater Manchester....
.
New GM Buses
In early 2005, the GM Buses name reappeared on the side of buses in Greater Manchester when UK North decided to rename some of their bus services as GM Buses, including the 192 serviceGreater Manchester bus route 192
Greater Manchester bus route 192 is a frequent and popular bus route running between Manchester city centre and Stockport, operated by Stagecoach Manchester. It carries over nine million passengers each year, and is often considered to be the busiest bus route in the country...
between Hazel Grove
Hazel Grove
-Education:Hazel Grove has a number of primary schools and Hazel Grove High School, the local high school. Some do decide to go to other local high schools, such as local Marple Hall, in neighbouring village Marple. The main primary schools in the area are, Hazel Grove Primary School, Torkington...
or Stepping Hill and Manchester. They used a logo previously used by GM Buses in the late 1980s and early 1990s and a picture indicating the depot that the bus is operating from. However, they did not adopt the orange livery, keeping UK North's red and white livery instead.
However, this was to be short lived as in December 2006, UK North and GM Buses services were suspended during the Christmas period, due to safety fears after several buses were involved in accidents a man was killed in an incident involving a UK North bus. The North West Traffic Commissioner, Beverley Bell, launched an investigation into the company and found that 100 of its 130 drivers were Polish, had a poor understanding of English and felt that they weren't properly trained. It had been planned for the company to return to the street in January 2007 but the company went into receivership before this could happen.