First Greater Manchester facts for kids
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Bee Network branded Mellor Strata bodied Mercedes-Benz Sprinter at Rochdale Interchange in July 2025
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| Parent | FirstGroup |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Rochdale |
| Service area | Greater Manchester |
| Service type | Bus services |
| Hubs | Bury Middleton Rochdale |
| Depot(s) | 1 |
| Fleet | 67 (August 2024) |
First Greater Manchester is a bus company that runs bus services in Greater Manchester, England. It is part of a bigger company called FirstGroup. First Greater Manchester operates buses for the Bee Network, which is a public transport system managed by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM).
This bus company used to be very big in the northern parts of Greater Manchester. It competed with another large bus company, Stagecoach Manchester, which was bigger in the southern areas. However, First Greater Manchester has become smaller over the years. Now, it mainly serves the areas of Oldham and Rochdale.
Contents
History of First Greater Manchester
How GM Buses North Started
Before 1986, all buses in Greater Manchester were run by the government and were called Greater Manchester Transport. In 1986, the rules for buses changed, and bus companies became private. Greater Manchester Transport then became GM Buses. This company was owned by the local councils in Greater Manchester.
In December 1993, GM Buses was split into two separate companies: GM Buses North and GM Buses South. The idea was for them to compete, but they mostly operated in different areas. In March 1994, GM Buses North was sold to a group of its own managers for about £27.1 million.
Becoming Part of FirstGroup
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In March 1996, GM Buses North was sold again, this time to a company called FirstBus for £47 million. After this, it was renamed First Manchester. The company tried out different colours for its buses before settling on a deep orange with a blue stripe.
First Manchester also managed other bus companies that were part of FirstBus, like First Potteries and First Pennine. Eventually, First Pennine and First Manchester joined together. This added more bus routes in the Tameside area to First Manchester's services.
In June 2012, FirstGroup announced that it might sell some of its bus operations, including First Manchester's depot in Wigan. On December 2, 2012, Stagecoach Manchester bought the Wigan operations. This deal included 300 employees, 120 buses, and the Wigan depot.
On August 1, 2013, FirstGroup also agreed to buy the bus services of Finglands Coachways, a company based in south Manchester. This purchase included Finglands' depot in Rusholme and about 100 staff members. The deal was approved in January 2014, and First took over Finglands' services in February 2014.
Reducing Operations
Starting in 2017, FirstGroup began to make its operations in Greater Manchester smaller. This was to help with financial losses. They closed their depots in Bury and Dukinfield. The buses and services from these depots moved to their other garages in Bolton, Queens Road, Oldham, and Rusholme. The Rusholme depot also closed in January 2019, leaving First Greater Manchester with only three garages.
In February 2019, the Queens Road depot in Cheetham Hill was sold to the Go-Ahead Group. This new company started operating as Go North West on June 2, 2019. They took over 25 bus routes and more than 160 buses from First. First's Bolton depot was then bought by Rotala on August 11, 2019. This expanded the operations of Diamond North West. After these sales, First Greater Manchester was left with only its Oldham depot. There were plans to sell the Oldham depot too, which would have meant First Greater Manchester stopped operating completely. However, in August 2019, it was announced that the depot would be kept because no suitable offers were received.
Bee Network Franchises
In June 2023, Transport for Greater Manchester announced changes as part of the Bee Network bus franchising plan. First Manchester lost its Oldham depot, staff, and services to Stagecoach Manchester. However, First Manchester also won the contract to operate Bee Network services in Rochdale. These services are based out of a former depot of Rosso, which TfGM had bought earlier. These changes happened on March 24, 2024, and reduced First Manchester's fleet to over 65 buses.
Past Services
Metroshuttle Buses
First Greater Manchester used to operate three Metroshuttle services around Manchester city centre. These buses were free for passengers. They used Optare Versa buses from the Queens Road garage. When the Queens Road garage was sold to Go North West in June 2019, the Metroshuttle service and its buses also transferred to Go North West.
Night Buses
First Greater Manchester also operated several night bus services on Friday and Saturday nights. These routes mostly followed the same paths as the daytime buses. The night buses usually ran every 30 minutes or every hour from midnight until 3:30 AM. They had a simple flat fare system.
Until December 2012, First Greater Manchester also ran the Nightbus network in Wigan town centre. These services provided late-night transport to various areas across Wigan. When First sold its Wigan operations in December 2012, the Wigan Nightbus network moved to Stagecoach Manchester.
In January 2015, First stopped six night bus journeys that served Rochdale, Bury, and Eccles. In Spring 2016, First stopped its remaining night bus services on routes 8, 36, and 39 because not enough people were using them.
Vantage Buses
On April 3, 2016, First Greater Manchester started operating services on the North West Guided busway. This special busway is about 4.5 miles long and runs between Leigh and Ellenbrook. First used a fleet of 25 special Wright Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LH hybrid buses for this service. These buses had guidewheels and were branded in a dark purple "Vantage" colour.
First's operation of Vantage services transferred to Go North West when the Bee Network franchised services began. The Vantage brand was then replaced with the standard Bee Network yellow colours.
Bus Fleet and Depots
As of March 2024, First Greater Manchester has over 65 buses. More than half of these buses are used for the franchised Bee Network services. All of First Greater Manchester's buses operate from one depot in Rochdale. This depot was acquired from the Rosso bus company.
Before the Bolton and Queens Road depots were sold in 2019, First Greater Manchester had a much larger fleet of 583 buses. These buses were mainly Wrightbus-bodied Volvos and Alexander Dennis Enviro400s. About 160 buses from Queens Road were sold to Go North West. The 125 buses from Bolton were moved to other parts of the FirstGroup.
Several other GM Buses North garages closed shortly after FirstBus bought the company. These included depots in Atherton (1998), Bolton and Rochdale (2004), Trafford Park (2005), and Knowsley (2008). Temporary depots were also set up at times, for example, in Lowton and Bolton in 1998 to store buses from other companies. A site was also set up at Manchester Piccadilly in 2002 for shuttle buses used during the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
See also
- Timeline of public passenger transport operations in Manchester
