GM Buses was the main bus company serving the ten metropolitan districts of
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
in
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
. The company was formed in 1986 by the
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive was the public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester.
SELNEC PTE
Until 1969, the conurbati ...
. In December 1993, it was split into GM Buses North and GM Buses South in order to increase competition for services in the area, before they were sold to the
FirstGroup
FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.[Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...]
respectively.
History
![GM Buses bus 5320 (D320 LNB), 2010 AMTM Metrobus event](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/GM_Buses_bus_5320_%28D320_LNB%29%2C_2010_AMTM_Metrobus_event.jpg)
The
Transport Act 1968
The Transport Act 1968 (1968 c.73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The main provisions made changes to the structure of nationally owned bus companies, created passenger transport authorities and executives to take over pub ...
resulted in several bus companies run by local authorities around
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
merging to create a central organisation. It consisted of companies operating in the following areas:
*
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...
*
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
*
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...
*
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, Staf ...
*
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 t ...
*
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...
*
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
*
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
*
Stalybridge
Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census.
Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and no ...
,
Hyde,
Mossley
Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, southeast of Oldham and east of Manchester.
The historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshire ...
&
Dukinfield (Operated by the
SHMD Joint Board)
*
Stockport
Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here.
Most of the town is within ...
*
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
The new central organisation was named
SELNEC, the South East Lancashire North East Cheshire Passenger Transport Executive, and commenced operations on 1 October 1969. 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 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
changed many of the UK's administrative areas and the county of Greater Manchester was created. As a result, SELNEC was renamed ''Greater Manchester Transport''. In 1981, a new livery was adopted of orange, brown and white.
[GM Buses Group]
Museum of Transport Greater Manchester Also in the same year,
Lancashire United Transport
Lancashire United Transport (LUT) was a tram, bus and trolleybus operator based at Howe Bridge in Atherton, 10 miles north west of Manchester. It was the largest independent bus operator in the United Kingdom until its acquisition by the Grea ...
, based in
Atherton, was absorbed into Greater Manchester Transport.
Deregulation
In 1986,
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 ...
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 the
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive was the public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester.
SELNEC PTE
Until 1969, the conurbati ...
(GMPTE). The bus operation would be named ''Greater Manchester Buses'' or ''GM Buses'' as it is commonly known, initially being split into North, East, South and West operational areas before these were merged into South, East and West areas in March 1987. Deregulation also saw competition introduced on several routes run by GM Buses; by March 1988, GM Buses was running 361 'Little Gem'
minibus
A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, th ...
es in competition with other operators across Greater Manchester.
The competing operators included
, which ran several services along major routes across the Greater Manchester area;
Wall's and
Finglands Coachways
Finglands Coachways was a bus and coach operator in Rusholme, Manchester.
History
Finglands Coachways was founded in 1907, initially as a coach operator. Bus services competing with GM Buses and other operators would be set up following dereg ...
, which introduced several services along the
Wilmslow Road corridor; and
Bluebird Bus & Coach and
Citibus Tours
Citibus was an English bus operator in Greater Manchester.
History
Citibus was formed as a coach operator in 1979. In 1983 it obtained a road service licence, and began to compete with GM Buses on their Centreline route in Manchester, and on t ...
, which launched several routes in the North Manchester area. Many of the companies that tried to compete with GM Buses failed, with most going out of business and some, such as Citibus Tours, being taken over by GM Buses or its immediate successors. Some companies that did succeed included Bluebird Bus & Coach, who ran several services between
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...
and Manchester, until they were bought out by GM Buses' future incarnation,
, along with
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 ...
, who operated until 2006.
On 11 December 1993, GM Buses was split for sale as two separate companies,
[ 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 GM Buses North and GM Buses South. It had been hoped by splitting the companies up, GM Buses North and GM Buses South would compete against each other. However, as their names would suggest, the two companies would continue to operate mainly in their respective operating areas.
]
Competition with MTL
Prior to the formation of the North/South GM Buses companies, Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...
's dominant bus company MTL 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
Miles Platting is an inner city part of Manchester, England, northeast of Manchester city centre along the
Rochdale Canal and A62 road, bounded by Monsall to the north, Collyhurst to the west, Newton Heath to the east, and Bradford, Holt Tow ...
and added an extensive network of new/copycat services to Manchester's already hotly contested bus market.
In October 1993, the Merseybus depot in St Helens was rebranded ''Lancashire Travel''; a further series of new/copycat services were introduced in the Wigan, Leigh, Bolton, Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
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 further strengthen their position in the town against GM Buses North.
MTL's incursions into Greater Manchester sparked a bus war
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for ...
with GM Buses and predictably they retaliated with new services on Merseyside. At first, route 79 ( Croxteth-Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
City Centre), one of Merseybus's most profitable routes, saw high frequency GM Buses operation from September 1993 as a means to discourage further MTL expansion in Greater Manchester.
In the spring of 1994, GM Buses South formed Birkenhead & District from a depot at Cleveland Street in Birkenhead
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...
's docklands. The vehicles used a light blue and cream livery, that had slight echoes to a darker blue version used by Birkenhead Transport, 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
Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...
, Formby
Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 22,419 at the 2011 Census.
Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under "For ...
and Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish ...
; it also opened a new depot, this time in Bootle
Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449.
Histo ...
, to assist its Atherton and Wigan depots in the operation of these new services on Merseyside. Furthermore, some standard GMPTE Leyland Atlantean
The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus
A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. They are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Asi ...
s and Daimler Fleetline
The Daimler Fleetline (known as the Leyland Fleetline from circa 1975) is a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis which was built between 1960 and 1983.
It was the second of three bus models to have a marque name as well as an alphanumeric i ...
s, originally sold by GM Buses to Yorkshire Rider
Yorkshire Rider was a bus company in West Yorkshire, England.
History
To comply with the Transport Act 1985, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive transferred its bus operations to an arms length company named Yorkshire Rider on 26 ...
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. A controversial gentleman's agreement was therefore signed between the three companies in June 1995. This saw MTL pull out of much of Greater Manchester, with the exception of services linking St Helens with 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, Staf ...
and Wigan. GM Buses North/South withdrew completely from Merseyside, including the long established GM Buses North routes 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.
Demise
In the first quarter of 1996, both GM Buses companies were sold by their employee shareholders. GM Buses South was purchased by Stagecoach Holdings for £40.7 million on 25 February, despite criticism from the Labour Party and protests from pensioners outside the Free Trade Hall
The Free Trade Hall on Peter Street, Manchester, England, was constructed in 1853–56 on St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre. It is now a Radisson hotel.
The hall was built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. T ...
. GM Buses South were rebranded as shortly after the sale, despite Stagecoach claiming that the GM Buses South brand would be retained. GM Buses North was then purchased in March by and the corporate FirstGroup livery adopted.
While GM Buses South had only purchased 36 new Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
-bodied Mercedes-Benz 811D minibus
A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, th ...
es and were leasing 20 Volvo B6
The Volvo B6 was a engined midibus chassis manufactured by Volvo between 1991 and 1999. It was also available as the low-entry Volvo B6LE.
History
In the United Kingdom, the B6 competed in the midibus market with the Dennis Dart, and with the ...
Alexander Dashes from Stagecoach at the time of their purchase, by comparison, GM Buses North had invested in 55 'Superbus'-branded Volvo B10B
The Volvo B10B was a rear-engined step deck single-decker bus chassis manufactured by Volvo between 1992 and 2001. The first prototype were built in 1990, but the B10B wasn't launched until the 1992 Geneva Motor Show. It superseded the Leyland Ly ...
Wright Endurance
The Wright Endurance was a step-entrance single-decker bus body on Mercedes-Benz, Scania N113 and on Volvo B10B chassis by Wrightbus between 1993 and 1997.
The Endurance was built on 26 Scania N113 chassis for Midland Bluebird. Of the 292 Endu ...
s, subsequently followed by five Volvo B10L
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; 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, distributio ...
Wright Liberator
The Wright Liberator was a low-floor single-deck bus body built on Volvo B10L chassis by Wrightbus between 1996 and 1999.
Of the 146 built, 103 were purchased by National Express' Travel Dundee and Travel West Midlands subsidiaries. Eleven we ...
s, delivered shortly after the company had been taken over by FirstBus.
In 2005, the GM Buses name was revived by UK North
UK North was an English bus operator in Manchester. In early 2005, it revived the 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 ...
for use in its Manchester operations. The operator engaged in a bus war with Stagecoach Manchester on route 192, with excessive numbers of competing UK North and Stagecoach buses causing major congestion around Piccadilly Gardens bus station. Following several incidents, culminating in a UK North bus being involved in a fatal accident, the operator was banned from operating bus services in Manchester in December 2006. The directors of UK North were sentenced to 15 months in prison following an inquiry into the company's business practices, including overworking and poorly training their 130 drivers, a majority of whom had a limited understanding of English.
References
External links
Greater Manchester Transport & Beyond Selnec Preservation Society
Greater Manchester's Museum of Transport
*
*
{{Defunct British Bus Companies
Former PTE bus operators
History of Manchester
Buses, GM Buses
Transport in Manchester
Transport companies established in 1986
Transport companies disestablished in 1994
1986 establishments in England
1994 disestablishments in England
British companies disestablished in 1994
British companies established in 1986