Greater Manchester bus route 42
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The Wilmslow Road bus corridor is a 5.5-mile-long section of road in
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 ...
that is served by a large number of bus services. The corridor runs from Parrs Wood to
Manchester city centre Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...
along
Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population was 24,497 at the 2011 Census. History Toponymy Wilmslow derives its name from Old ...
and Oxford Roads, serving Didsbury,
Withington Withington is a suburb of Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies from Manchester city centre, about south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Withington has a population of just ...
,
Fallowfield Fallowfield is a suburb of Manchester, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 15,211. Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilmslow Road and north–south by Wil ...
and
Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, F ...
. Several frequent routes combine to operate along the northern section, providing access to the
University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...
,
Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...
(MMU), the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM),
Manchester Royal Infirmary Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) is a large NHS teaching hospital in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England. Founded by Charles White in 1752 as part of the voluntary hospital movement of the 18th century, it is now a major regional and nati ...
(MRI) and Christie Hospital. Many services along the route are provided by older vehicles, such as the Magic Bus brand operated by
Stagecoach Manchester Stagecoach ManchesterCompanies House extract company no 2818654
.


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: *No authoritative comparison is available. *The bus frequency on Wilmslow Road varies at different points. This will be true of other corridors and hence the busiest corridor is likely to depend on how short a road can be considered. *Bus frequencies vary over the day so the busiest corridor may depend on whether the peak frequency or average frequency is taken. *No qualifier is given as to what constitutes 'busy' - whether frequency of buses or total passengers carried and when. The 3.7 mile stretch of route between Piccadilly Gardens and
Withington Withington is a suburb of Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies from Manchester city centre, about south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Withington has a population of just ...
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 Stagecoach ManchesterCompanies House extract company no 2818654
(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:


History

Bus deregulation Bus deregulation in Great Britain was the abolition of Road Service Licensing outside of Greater London for bus services. This began in 1980 with the abolition of Road Service Licensing for long-distance bus services and was extended into local ...
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 Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive was the Passenger transport executive, public body responsible for public transport in Greater Manchester between 1974 and 2011, when it became part of Transport for Greater Manchester. SELNEC PTE ...
. In 1986, the bus operation was separated into a stand-alone company,
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 ...
.
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 ...
started operating their own competitive bus services soon after, capitalising on the lack of capacity for students along the route. They 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 Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one ...
s were acquired from
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 ...
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 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 ...
led to lower fares, with Finglands offering a £2 student weekly ticket in 2001. Competition has reduced in recent years: UK North ceased 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 Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
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 had 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 StreetLite The Wright StreetLite is a low-floor midibus introduced by Wrightbus in 2010. It was originally available in only one body style (wheel forward) before the door forward and StreetLite Max variants were introduced in 2011 and 2012 respectively. ...
s. On 27 April 2014, First Greater Manchester increased service levels and extended some route 42 journeys to
North Manchester General Hospital North Manchester General Hospital (NMGH) is a large NHS hospital in Crumpsall, North Manchester, England. It is operated by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. There is an accident and emergency unit, together with a maternity unit, high ...
under the ''Cross Connect'' banner.New bus route to link north and south of Manchester
Manchester Evening News
In response on 19 May 2014, Stagecoach Manchester introduced route 38 from
Farnworth Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4.3 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Historically in Lancashire, Farnworth lies on the River Ir ...
to
Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, F ...
via
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 the city centre. In September 2014, Magic Bus introduced route 141
Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...
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.


Bus routes


Major routes


Route 41 (CrossCity)

Route 41 is operated by
Go North West Go North West is a bus operator in Greater Manchester, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History Go North West commenced operations on 2 June 2019 following the Go-Ahead Group's purchase of First Greater Manchester's Queens Roa ...
, branded as CrossCity, using a dedicated fleet of Mercedes Citaro buses running up to every 15 minutes, Monday to Saturday, and every 30 minutes, on Sundays, running between Middleton, North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester, Northenden and Sale. The evening 41 service is split between Stagecoach, who runs every hour between Middleton and Manchester and Go North West, who runs every hour between Sale and Manchester. The service was once served by First and Finglands, as well as Stagecoach on its X41 (Acrrington – Manchester) and 143 (West Didsbury – Manchester) services respectively.


Routes 42/42A

These services run for the entire route and beyond. Route 42 is not as frequent as similar service 142, operated by Stagecoach Manchester between Manchester and 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 every 30 minutes, via East Didsbury,
Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, F ...
and to Manchester. On Sundays, it runs hourly between Reddish and East Didsbury only. Following their purchase of Finglands, on 27 April 2014, First Greater Manchester extended some route 42 journeys to
North Manchester General Hospital North Manchester General Hospital (NMGH) is a large NHS hospital in Crumpsall, North Manchester, England. It is operated by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. There is an accident and emergency unit, together with a maternity unit, high ...
under the ''Cross Connect'' banner. First later closed its Rusholme depot after withdrawing its services on route 42; its South Manchester services which once operated out of the Rusholme depot are now run by Go North West. Greater Manchester bus route 42 operates 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, Tam ...
. It is operated by between
Manchester city centre Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...
,
Manchester Royal Infirmary Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) is a large NHS teaching hospital in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, England. Founded by Charles White in 1752 as part of the voluntary hospital movement of the 18th century, it is now a major regional and nati ...
,
Withington Withington is a suburb of Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies from Manchester city centre, about south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Withington has a population of just ...
, Didsbury and Stockport. First Greater Manchester previously operated the route, with their buses starting at East Didsbury and running to Manchester; then extending to
North Manchester General Hospital North Manchester General Hospital (NMGH) is a large NHS hospital in Crumpsall, North Manchester, England. It is operated by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. There is an accident and emergency unit, together with a maternity unit, high ...
and Middleton. However, First have since withdrawn their operations on route 42, leaving only Stagecoach. Route 42 was historically operated by
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 ...
and between Manchester Piccadilly Gardens bus station and East Didsbury.
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 ...
also operated services in the mid-2000s. Following the sale of the Finglands business to First Greater Manchester on 9 February 2014, the new operator extended its route 42 services to become a cross city service from
North Manchester General Hospital North Manchester General Hospital (NMGH) is a large NHS hospital in Crumpsall, North Manchester, England. It is operated by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. There is an accident and emergency unit, together with a maternity unit, high ...
under the ''Cross Connect'' banner on 26 April 2014. This service further extended to
Middleton bus station Middleton bus station is a bus station located in the town of Middleton in Greater Manchester. The bus station is found next to the Middleton Shopping Centre on the site of the old bus station. The new bus station was opened on 31 July 2005 and ...
on 12 April 2015. Since 2018, First no longer operate on route 42, with Stagecoach becoming the sole operator. Route 42 serves the busy Wilmslow Road bus corridor, which includes universities and hospitals operating via Manchester city centre, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Withington, Didsbury and Stockport.


Route 42B/42C

Route 42B operates every 60 minutes along the entire route from Manchester to East Didsbury and continues on to
Woodford Woodford may refer to: Places Australia *Woodford, New South Wales *Woodford, Queensland, a town in the Moreton Bay Region *Woodford, Victoria Canada * Woodford, Ontario England *Woodford, Cornwall * Woodford, Gloucestershire *Woodford, Greate ...
via
Bramhall Bramhall is a suburban area in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Cheshire, it had a population of 17,436 at the 2011 Census.Bramhall South and Bramhall North Wards History The Anglo-Saxon m ...
. It is operated by Stagecoach Manchester. Route 42C follows the 42B route from Manchester to East Didsbury before continuing to Handforth via Cheadle. 42B was the updated all-stop replacement for X57/145 which operated morning only Cheadle Hulme to Albert Square one-way.


Route 43

Route 43 is operated by Stagecoach Manchester, every 10 minutes. It operates from Manchester to Withington, then on to Manchester Airport via Northenden 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 ...
. It is the only 24-hour bus route in Greater Manchester and the only bus route the runs every day year round, even on Christmas Day and New Year. Along with Stagecoach Manchester route 42, it was the first Stagecoach routes to use hybrid buses.


Routes 142/143/147

Magic Bus operate route 142 between Manchester and East Didsbury and also its sister routes 143 between Manchester and West Didsbury and also route 147 between Piccadilly Rail Station to 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 Chorlton-on-Medlock 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, however, the route now operates only two journeys a week during college times along this section of the route, with all other services terminating at West Didsbury


Routes V1/V2/V4

Routes V1, V2 and V4 are part of the Vantage Guided Busway network operated by First Greater Manchester. The V1 and V2 use very high spec branded buses and run from the MRI to Leigh (V1) and Atherton (V2) via Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester and Tyldesley. Route V4 provides peak time extras between Ellensbrook and Manchester Royal Infirmary using standard First vehicles.


Minor routes


Route 18

Route 18 is operated by Go North West runs every 15 minutes from Manchester Royal Infirmary to Manchester and continues to
Langley Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfor ...
via
Collyhurst Collyhurst is an inner city area of Manchester, England, northeast of the Manchester city centre, city centre on Rochdale Road (A664) and A62 road, Oldham Road (A62), bounded by Smedley, Manchester, Smedley, Harpurhey and Monsall tram stop, Mons ...
and Middleton.


Routes 23/171/172

Route 23 is operated by Stagecoach Manchester every 15 minutes, and runs from Stockport to the
Trafford Centre The Trafford Centre is a large indoor shopping centre and entertainment complex in Greater Manchester, England. It opened in 1998 and is third largest in the United Kingdom by retail space. Originally developed by the Peel Group, the Trafford C ...
via Didsbury, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Stretford and Urmston. The 23 route once operated alongside sister routes 24 and 23A, which operated the same route between Stockport and Stretford but then on to MediaCity (24) and via Lostock instead of Urmston (23A) at a combined frequency of every 10 minutes, route 24 was withdrawn in 2017 due to much lower than expected patronage, most likely due to Metrolink connectivity in the areas it served, lowering the combined frequency to every 15 minutes and long running service 23A was withdrawn in April 2019 and the section in Lostock is now served by the 25. Routes 171 and 172 are operated by Stagecoach Manchester, running every 30 minutes to Newton Heath from Chorlton-cum-Hardy (172) and Withington Hospital (171) bus 171 goes via Gorton, Levenshulme and East Didsbury while bus 172 goes via Gorton, Levenshulme and West Didsbury.


Route 53

Route 53 is operated by
Go North West Go North West is a bus operator in Greater Manchester, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History Go North West commenced operations on 2 June 2019 following the Go-Ahead Group's purchase of First Greater Manchester's Queens Roa ...
every 30 minutes, and runs from Cheetham Hill to Pendleton, via
Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century Hig ...
,
Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, F ...
, Old Trafford and
Salford Quays Salford Quays is an area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, near the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Previously the site of Manchester Docks, it became one of the first and largest urban regeneration projects in the United Kingdom fol ...
.


Other routes

Several other routes operate on the route, such as school services, which are unmarked. There are also withdrawn routes 16, 23A, 24, 45, 46, 47, 48, 84, 141, 145, 157, 178, 270, 278, 370, X41 and X57. Routes that have been altered to no longer serve Wilmslow Road include services 17, 130 and 179.


Gallery

File:Finglands of Manchester bus YX08 FWG.jpg, Finglands
Wright Eclipse Gemini The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a Low-floor bus, 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 ...
bodied Volvo B7TL on route 41 in July 2008 File:Stagecoach in Manchester bus 16087 (R87 XNO), 25 July 2008.jpg,
Northern Counties Palatine The Northern Counties Palatine was a High-floor bus, step-entrance 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus body built by Northern Counties Motor & Engineering Company, Northern Counties from 1988 to 1999 in Wigan, England. The Palatine was built ...
bodied
Volvo Olympian The Volvo Olympian was a rear-engined 2-axle and 3-axle double decker bus chassis manufactured by Volvo at its Irvine, Scotland factory. The first was built in 1992 and entered production in March 1993, replacing the Leyland Olympian. History ...
on route 41 in July 2008 File:R Bullock bus (F238 YTJ) 1989 Leyland Olympian Alexander RH, Manchester Piccadilly, route 42, 25 July 2008 (1).jpg, Bullocks
Northern Counties Palatine The Northern Counties Palatine was a High-floor bus, step-entrance 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus body built by Northern Counties Motor & Engineering Company, Northern Counties from 1988 to 1999 in Wigan, England. The Palatine was built ...
bodied
Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian was a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear as t ...
on route 42 in July 2008 File:Stagecoach Magic Bus (Manchester) bus 15316 (H466 GVM), 25 July 2008.jpg, Magic Bus
Northern Counties Palatine The Northern Counties Palatine was a High-floor bus, step-entrance 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus body built by Northern Counties Motor & Engineering Company, Northern Counties from 1988 to 1999 in Wigan, England. The Palatine was built ...
bodied
Scania N113 The Scania N113 was a transverse-engined step-entrance and low-floor city bus chassis manufactured by Scania between 1988 and 2000. History The Scania N113 was designed as a successor to the N112. Most of the single-decker buses and the ...
DRB on route 142 in July 2008


Future plans

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 ...
has developed
bus priority Bus priority or transit signal priority (TSP) is a name for various techniques to improve service and reduce delay for mass transit vehicles at intersections (or junctions) controlled by traffic signals. TSP techniques are most commonly associat ...
measures along Wilmslow Road, in order to enable the provision of cross-city bus services. This scheme includes the section of Oxford Road in the vicinity of the university and Hospitals becoming limited to buses, cycles and
hackney carriage A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or London taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common s ...
s only; it also includes a new section of bus lane in Withington and a revised layout at Parrs Wood terminus.


References


Bibliography

* * *


External links

*{{commons category-inline Bus routes in Greater Manchester Streets in Manchester Bus transport in Greater Manchester Bus wars