# Wilmslow Road bus corridor

53°25′44″N 2°13′37″W﻿ / ﻿53.429°N 2.227°W﻿ / 53.429; -2.227
The Wilmslow Road bus corridor is a 5.5 miles (8.9 km)-long section of road in Manchester that is served by a large number of bus services. The corridor runs from Parrs Wood to Manchester city centre along Wilmslow and Oxford Roads, serving Didsbury, Withington, Fallowfield and Rusholme.
Several frequent routes combine to operate along the northern section, providing access to the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) and Christie Hospital.

## 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 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.
Three competing bus companies are the major providers of services along the corridor: Stagecoach Manchester, Metroline Manchester and Go North West. Frequent services were run in the corridor. 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. They were soon followed by other coach operators such as Wall's and Bullocks Coaches.
GM Buses fought back by reintroducing conductor-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 Holdings 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 Coachways offering a £2 student weekly ticket in 2001. Competition eventually reduced by the end of the 2000s: 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 Manchester introduced 30 new Alexander Dennis Enviro400H hybrid electric 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 were also awarded similar funding for the delivery of four Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LHs for use on Oxford Road Link route 147 in collaboration with the University of Manchester.
On 1 August 2013, First Greater Manchester announced that it had agreed to purchase Finglands Coachways. The deal was concluded on 9 February 2014. 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, Stagecoach Manchester and the Manchester Metropolitan University introduced Magic Bus route 141 along the corridor, serving the university's Birley campus and East Didsbury. Vehicles used on the 141 were branded with green Manchester Metropolitan University branding alongside their Magic Bus liveries. From September 2015, the service was amended to terminate in West Didsbury.

### Future plans

Transport for Greater Manchester has developed bus priority 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 carriages only; it also includes a new section of bus lane in Withington and a revised layout at Parrs Wood terminus. The first stage of the bus priority work was completed in June 2016, with the project officially completed in September 2017.

## Bus routes
### Major routes
#### Route 41

Route 41 is operated by Stagecoach Manchester, running on Mondays to Saturdays up to every 20 minutes and every 30 minutes on Sundays between Middleton, North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester, Northenden and Sale. The evening 41 service runs every hour. The service was once served by First, Finglands Coachways and Go North West, as well as Stagecoach on its X41 (Altrincham – Manchester) and 143 (West Didsbury – Manchester) services respectively.

#### Routes 42/42A

These services run for the entire length of the corridor and beyond. Service 42, operated by Metroline Manchester, serves the busy Wilmslow Road bus corridor, which includes universities and hospitals, operating via Manchester city centre, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Withington, Didsbury and Stockport. Service 42A operates from Reddish to Manchester every 30 minutes, via East Didsbury, Rusholme and to Manchester; on Sundays and evenings on Mondays to Saturdays, it runs hourly between Reddish and East Didsbury only.
Route 42 was historically operated by Finglands Coachways and Stagecoach Manchester between Manchester Piccadilly Gardens bus station and East Didsbury. UK North also operated services in the mid-2000s during its bus war with Stagecoach. 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 under the Cross Connect banner on 26 April 2014, operated using a fleet of new Alexander Dennis Enviro400 double-decker buses and Wright StreetLite single-deck buses. This service further extended to Middleton bus station on 12 April 2015, additionally extending to start at East Didsbury.
First Greater Manchester withdrew their operations on route 42 in July 2018 as a result of the closure of Rusholme depot, leaving Stagecoach Manchester as the sole operator of the route. From 5 January 2025, the route began to be operated by Metroline Manchester as part of Tranche 3 of Bee Network.

#### Route 42B/42C

Route 42B operates every 60 minutes along the entire route from Manchester to East Didsbury and continues on to Woodford via Bramhall. It is operated by Metroline Manchester. Route 42C follows the 42B route from Manchester to East Didsbury before continuing to Handforth Dean 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 Metroline Manchester, running every 10 to 30 minutes. It operates from Manchester to Withington, then on to Manchester Airport via Northenden and Wythenshawe. 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 route 42, it was the first Stagecoach routes to use hybrid Alexander Dennis Enviro400H double-deckers.

#### Routes 142/143/147

Metroline Manchester 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. Before the rollout of Tranche 3 of the Bee Network, these high-frequency services were operated by Stagecoach Manchester under the Magic Bus brand, using older buses operating with ticket prices cheaper than commercial Stagecoach services; this was maintained until the £2 bus fare cap scheme was introduced in 2022, resulting in the same flat fare with other bus services operating within Greater Manchester.
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 Go North West. 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 Ellenbrook and Manchester Royal Infirmary using standard Bee Network vehicles.

### Minor routes
#### Route 18

Route 18 is operated by Stagecoach Manchester, running every 30 minutes from Manchester Royal Infirmary to Manchester city centre, then continuing to Langley via Collyhurst and Middleton.

#### Routes 23/171/172

Route 23 is operated by Stagecoach Manchester every 20 minutes, and runs from Stockport to the Trafford Centre 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 Stagecoach Manchester and runs from Cheetham Hill to Pendleton every 30 minutes via Gorton, Rusholme, Old Trafford and Salford Quays.

#### 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

* Finglands Coachways Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TL on route 41 in July 2008
* Stagecoach Manchester Northern Counties Palatine bodied Volvo Olympian on route 41 in July 2008
* Bullocks Northern Counties Palatine bodied Leyland Olympian on route 42 in July 2008
* Magic Bus Northern Counties Palatine bodied Scania N113DRB on route 142 in July 2008
* Magic bus branded Alexander Dennis Enviro400H on route 50 in November 2024
* Another Magic bus branded Alexander Dennis Enviro400H on route 142 in November 2024
* Stagecoach Manchester buses awaiting for departure in October 2024
* Magic Bus route 142 Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC at Parrs Wood in November 2024
* Stagecoach Manchester Alexander Dennis Enviro400 on route 42 at East Didsbury in October 2024
* Metroline Manchester Wright StreetDeck Ultroliner on route 43 at Manchester Metropolitan University in January 2025
* Metroline Manchester Wright StreetDeck Ultroliner on route 50 at Parrs Wood in February 2025