Category: Buses
Big Day Out Looms for Greater Manchester Charities
Three Charities to Win Share of £5,000 from System One Travelcards
From Pennington Flash to Werneth Low, or Peel Tower to Dunham Massey, three local charities could win a share of £5,000 towards a ‘Big Day Out’ this summer.
Following a report from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, it was revealed that small voluntary organisations were facing their toughest year yet. Due to our double dip recession, 27% of such bodies are planning to cut paid staff numbers over the coming months. Many of which are cutting expenditure.
With this in mind – and the success of last year’s Big Day Out, System One Travelcards decided to repeat the competition this March. A public appeal from System One for suitable groups led to a shortlist of 18 groups, with representation from each of the ten boroughs which make up Greater Manchester.
Among the eighteen shortlisted (from Manchester) are the Boaz Trust, a charity which supports destitute asylum seekers. Another one, Reclaim, works with young people, offering leadership skills and youth mentoring services. Also shortlisted is Wythenshawe FM, a community radio station.
A further 15 non-profit organisations are facing the public vote. They are: Continue reading
Farewell, Faithful Footbridge…
Disused footbridge to be demolished over two Sundays
A view of Station House photographed with a Kodak Retinette camera, taken from the footbridge of Altrincham Interchange
One of Transport for Greater Manchester’s earliest links with the Greater Manchester Transport era will be severed this month.
The bus section of Altrincham Interchange will be remodelled this year, starting with the footbridge. Its link with the Stamford Quarter shopping centre will be dismantled over two Sundays (or three if the weather’s been dire), starting from the 13th May. Shortly after the remodelling of Stamford New Road, and the installation of a pelican crossing in recent years, the footbridge had fallen into disuse, though still accessible from the precinct. Continue reading
Recycled Bus Shelters and Greener Buses to Follow?
Could Manchester’s schoolchildren usher an age of recycled bus shelters and litter picking buses?
Stagecoach Manchester is calling on Mancunian school pupils to show off their artistic flair and raise awareness of their environment, tying in with its Green Week (21 – 27 May). Their mission, should they choose to accept it, is a poster competition, where pupils could design a poster based around the following four themes: Continue reading
Stagecoach Manchester Chief Elected CPT Chairman
New chairman for North Western area of Confederation of Passenger Transport elected
The managing director of Stagecoach Manchester, Christopher Bowles, has been elected Chairman for the North Western area of the Confederation of Passenger Transport. His position, effective for a two year fixed term, involves the creation of policies and consultations affecting the North West’s bus network, such as regulations, practices, legislature and standards. His role represents the interests of 71 bus operators throughout our region, including 12,000 employees and 4,000 vehicles. Continue reading
Green Champions Launch 13 Hybrid Buses – on Friday the 13th
219 route to benefit from thirteen new electric hybrid buses
Raring to go: members of the Tameside Green Interest Group and David Heyes MP hand over the new buses. Photo © Tangerine PR
Friday the 13th is often associated with technical issues, the horror film, or the awful Commodore 64 game inspired by the film. Thankfully for Stagecoach Manchester, the launch of their hybrid vehicles went without a hitch. Continue reading
In Pictures: Non-Standard GMT and GM Buses Liveries Through the Ages
A photographic look back at some of the non-standard liveries used by Greater Manchester Transport and GM Buses up to 1996
For many persons, the standard Greater Manchester Transport livery is either the Mancunian White and Metropolitan Orange of 1974, or 1981′s mainly orange version with a brown skirt and white upper deck roof. Though most of them sported the standard liveries for their respective periods, there was a small number often due to more specific purpose (i.e. training vehicles or open-top buses), or route branding (as seen on the Express routes and 200 services).
Here’s a small number of them. Continue reading
Go Cheapway… to Heaton Park
A cheap and cheerful wander around Manchester’s finest open spaces.
The splendid Heaton Hall, sadly no longer open at present thanks to Coalition Government funding cuts. Photograph by Fussy Onion (Creative Commons Attribution License)
I first discovered the joys of Heaton Park as a nine year old in the spring of 1989. Immediately, I fell in love with its wide spaces, and the view of central Manchester from the hall. Since 1989, I have visited the park on several occasions, often for the Trans-Lancs Vehicle Rally in September. Besides old buses, I have ventured into Heaton Hall, rode on its tramway and devoured a bacon burger in the lakeside café. Continue reading
An Easter Surprise for Oldham Schoolchildren
New Optare Versas set to whisk Oldham schoolchildren to class in style
New to Oldham Depot: First Manchester/TfGM Optare Versas. (Photo by Bungle666)
An easter egg in the form of new hybrid vehicles will be heading towards Oldham and Tameside. First Manchester has received a number of low carbon Optare Versas for TfGM’s Yellow School Bus services. Each vehicle will seat 57 pupils, the equivalent of two form groups including three teachers.
Rear view of Optare Versa. (Photo by Bungle666)
Everything’s Gone Green – in Dukinfield!
I can confirm that Dukinfield garage’s latest batch of hybrid Optare Solo SRs will be operational from the 15 April. The lucky recipients of these new vehicles will be passengers of the 41 route from Crowhill to Ashton-under-Lyne and Dukinfield (Tennyson Avenue). They will also be seen on the 419 route from Middleton to Ashton-under-Lyne. The new Solos will be allocated FirstGroup national fleet numbers 59010, 59011 and 59014 to 59016.
First’s new buses are part-funded by Transport for Greater Manchester via the Green Bus Fund and will be seen in TfGM’s yellow and green liveries respectively.
S.V., 06 April 2012.
Kind thanks go to Alan Siddall (Bungle666) for supplying the photographs.
Whose Nine Is It Anyway? Bus Numbering Identity Crises
“You’re always out there running/And I see that lost look in your eyes…” – ‘Confusion’, Electric Light Orchestra (1979)
Since the dawn of bus deregulation, the duplicity of service numbers, by means of commercial and subsidised services has been far from unique. Sometimes, Company A may operate Service Number A to a different route to that of Company B’s version of Service Number A. Continue reading
Tameside Bus Service Changes, Spring 2012: A Very High Peak Practice
Changes to former SpeedwellBus services and electric hybrids the order of the day
Prior to the middle of this April, Stott's of Oldham's only presence in Mossley have been on school services and the 353/354 routes. From then on, their low floor buses (one third smaller and tidier than this double decker above), seen on the 41 route will be a regular feature of the 343 route on weekdays.
Spring 2012′s raft of changes [16 April 2012] will be the first ones to take effect after the Coalition Government’s cut in the Bus Service Operators’ Grant. At the moment, nothing too catastrophic (yet) in the way of service cuts have reached Tameside. Operator changes and the introduction of electric hybrid buses set the agenda. Continue reading
