Wilmslow Road bus corridor

Busiest bus corridor in Europe?

Wilmslow Road is often claimed to be the busiest bus corridor in Europe. However, this is difficult to verify because:

The 3.7 mile stretch of route between Piccadilly Gardens and Withington has a timetabled average of at least one bus per minute in each direction on Monday to Friday daytimes during university term. However, particularly during rush hour, there are many buses which do not appear on the timetable and rather repeat the journey as frequently as possible.

Two competing bus companies are the major providers of services along the corridor: Stagecoach Manchester (including the Magic Bus brand) and First Greater Manchester. Both companies run frequent services the whole length of the route. The half mile stretch of route in the city centre between the RNCM and Oxford Road station has a timetabled average of nearly a bus every 30 seconds in each direction.

In 2006, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Transport was told:

The Wilmslow Road corridor, although enjoying a level of service that no other route in England has in terms of the frequency of buses, is chaos. This is because many companies are running the same route and competing for passengers. Various estimations of patronage have been suggested from research, one as low as 3.5 passengers per bus on average. In actual fact the exact figures are not available to us because of commercial sensitivity. Stagecoach prices along this route are high and smaller companies buy up cheaper, older and dirtier buses and carry passengers for as little as a third of the Stagecoach price. Some of them still carry London posters because they are rejected stock from London, where standards are higher. Observations reported to us suggest that they will wait to fill up with as many passengers as possible rather than sticking to a timetable and there have been reports of some companies waiting at a stop until another company's bus is just behind and then pulling off. Although one has to wait literally seconds for a bus, the congestion at certain junctions because of too many buses and the unwillingness of these buses to stick to timetables makes travelling on this route an unpleasant and stressful one.

History

Bus deregulation in 1986 allowed bus companies to run services wherever and whenever they wanted. Prior to this, most bus services along Wilmslow Road had been operated by publicly owned operator Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive.

In 1986 the bus operation was separated into a stand-alone company, GM Buses. Finglands Coachways started operating their own competitive bus services soon after, capitalising on the lack of capacity for students along the route, and were soon followed by other coach operators such as Wall's and Bullocks.

GM Buses fought back by reintroducing crew-operated buses to the route. Ten AEC Routemasters were acquired from London in 1988 and operated on route 143 to West Didsbury, branded as the "Piccadilly Line" after the London Underground line. They operated until June 1990 when they were replaced with standard vehicles. Larger operators also operated competing services along Wilmslow Road during the 1990s, including Bee Line and MTL Manchester.

The southern half of GM Buses was sold to Stagecoach in February 1996, who introduced the "no frills" Magic Bus services along the route in competition with their main routes. Intense competition from a new operator called UK North led to lower fares, with Finglands offering a £2 student weekly ticket in 2001. Competition has reduced in recent years: UK North was to cease operations in 2006 after an investigation into their safety records by the North West Traffic Commissioner, whilst Bullocks sold their bus services to Stagecoach in 2008.

Stagecoach introduced 30 new hybrid double-deck buses on services 42 and 43 in September 2010. The vehicles were funded through the Department for Transport's Green Bus Fund. Bullocks Coaches have also been awarded similar funding for 4 vehicles that are likely to be used on their Oxford Road Link route 147.

On 1 August 2013, First Greater Manchester announced that it had agreed to purchase Finglands. The deal was concluded on 9 February 2014. After initially using a combination of older buses from its own fleet and Finglands, it introduced a fleet of new Alexander Dennis Enviro400s and Wright StreetLites. On 27 April 2014, First Greater Manchester increased service levels and extended some route 42 journeys to North Manchester General Hospital under the Cross Connect banner.

In response on 19 May 2014, Stagecoach Manchester introduced route 38 from Farnworth to Rusholme via Salford and the city centre.

In September 2014, Magic Bus introduced route 141 Manchester Metropolitan University to East Didsbury. From September 2015, the service terminated in West Didsbury.

The first stage of the bus priority work was completed in June 2016.

Route 41

Route 41 is operated by First Manchester every ten minutes, running between Manchester and Sale. An express service, the X41 operated by Stagecoach Manchester, runs every 30 minutes and terminates at Altrincham. The X41 serves limited stops between Manchester and West Didsbury, observing every stop from Northenden onwards. The evening 41 service is operated by First, runs every hour and serves every stop between Manchester and Altrincham.

Routes 42/42A

These services run for the entire route, and beyond. Route 42 is a very frequent service operated by both First Greater Manchester and Stagecoach Manchester between Manchester and Parrs Wood, with some Stagecoach services extending to Stockport. Stagecoach services also use, along with route 43, hybrid bus vehicles, the first such on the Stagecoach Manchester fleet.

Service 42A operates from Reddish to Manchester during the weekday morning peak period, via Heaton Chapel, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Parrs Wood and to Manchester. In the late afternoon peak period it operates the reverse to Reddish. On Sundays it runs hourly between Reddish and East Didsbury only. It is operated by Stagecoach Manchester, and Arriva North West on Sundays.

Following their purchase of Finglands, on 27 April 2014 First Greater Manchester extended some route 42 journeys to North Manchester General Hospital under the Cross Connect banner.

Route 43

Route 43 is operated by Stagecoach Manchester, every 10 minutes. It operates from Piccadilly bus station to West Didsbury, then on to Manchester Airport via Northenden, Benchill, Wythenshawe and Woodhouse Park. It is the only 24-hour bus route in Greater Manchester and, along with Stagecoach Manchester route 42, was the first Stagecoach route to use hybrid buses.

Routes 141/142/143

Magic Bus operate route 142 between Manchester and East Didsbury and also its sister routes 141 between MMU Birley Campus and West Didsbury; and 143 between Manchester and Sale (with some services terminating in West Didsbury). These high frequency services are operated by Stagecoach Manchester under the Magic Bus brand. Stagecoach use slightly older buses on these routes and ticket prices are cheaper than commercial Stagecoach services. Route 142 operates short journeys between Universities and Withington and extra journeys at peak times to cater specifically for students. The 143 service to Sale replaced the limited stop X41 which had a much higher demand.

Route 42b

Route 42b operates every 30 minutes along the entire route to from Manchester to Parrs Wood and continues on to Woodford via Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme and Bramhall. It is operated by Stagecoach Manchester. Evening journeys operate between Parrs Wood and Woodford only without using the Wilmslow Road corridor. 42b is the updated all-stop replacement for X57/145 which operated morning only Cheadle Hulme to Albert Square one-way.

Route 18

Route 18 is operated by First Greater Manchester runs every ten minutes from Rusholme to Manchester via the hospitals and universities, then crosses the city centre and continues to Langley via Harpurhey and Middleton.

Route 38

Stagecoach Manchester introduced route 38 on 19 May 2014 from Farnworth to Rusholme via Salford and the city centre.

Routes 23/23A/24/171/172/370

Routes 23, 23A and 24 are operated by Stagecoach Manchester every 10 minutes, and run from Stockport to the Trafford Centre MediaCityUK via Heaton Mersey, Didsbury, Chorlton, Stretford, Urmston (23), Lostock (23A) and Davyhulme, Trafford Park(24). . Routes 171 and 172 are operated by Stagecoach Manchester, running every 30 minutes to Newton Heath from West Didsbury bus 171 goes via Didsbury, East Didsbury, Burnage, Levenshulme, Gorton and Clayton while bus 172 goes via fog lane instead of wilmslow road (didsbry only) Route 370, operated by Arriva North West and Stagecoach Manchester, runs every 30 minutes from Altrincham to Stockport, via Timperley, Baguley, Northenden, Didsbury, East Didsbury and Heaton Mersey.

Routes 44/45/130

Routes 44 and 45 are operated by Manchester Community Transport every 60 minutes, and run from Manchester Airport to Manchester, via Gatley, Cheadle, East Didsbury, Burnage, Fallowfield, Moss Side and the Dental Hospital route 130 runs from Manchester to Macclesfield run by arriva north west only running this route on Sundays and public holidays while running on kinqsway on Mondays to Saturdays ..

Route 53/178/179

Route 53 is operated by First Greater Manchester every 30 minutes, and runs from Cheetham Hill to Pendleton, via North Manchester General Hospital, Harpurhey, Gorton, Belle Vue, Rusholme, University of Manchester and Old Trafford. Route 178, operated by Arriva North West, runs every 30 minutes from Reddish to Timperley via Levenshulme, Burnage, Withington, West Didsbury, Northenden, Benchill, Wythenshawe and Wythenshawe Hospital. Route 179, operated by Stagecoach Manchester, runs every 60 minutes from Wythenshawe Hospital to Stockport, via Baguley, Northenden, Southern Cemetery, West Didsbury, Withington, Ladybarn, Parrs Wood Road, Burnage and Heaton Mersey.

Route 111

Service 111 is operated by Stagecoach Manchester and runs every 7 and a half minutes during the day from the Southern Cemetery to Manchester, via Withington, Yew Tree Road, Rusholme, and then the rest of the route.

Other routes

Several other routes operate on the route, such as school services, which are unmarked. There are also withdrawn routes 84 145 and x57

Future plans

Transport for Greater Manchester plans to further develop bus priority measures along Wilmslow Road in order to enable the provision of cross city bus services. This scheme will include the section of Oxford Road in the vicinity of the University and Hospitals becoming limited to buses, cycles and hackney carriages only, as well as a new section of bus lane in Withington and a revised layout at Parrs Wood terminus.