page_title: Wigan
section_title: Bus and tram
hierarchical_section_title: Wigan / Transport / Bus and tram
caption_attribution_description: English: The redeveloped bus station in Wigan, Opened in October 2018.
context_page_description: Wigan is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on the River Douglas, 10 miles south-west of Bolton, 12 miles north of Warrington and 17 miles west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town has a population of 103,608, whereas the wider borough has a population of 318,100. Wigan is in the historic county of Lancashire.
  During classical antiquity, Wigan was in the territory of the Brigantes, an ancient Celtic tribe that ruled much of what is now northern England. The Brigantes were subjugated in the Roman conquest of Britain during the 1st century and it is asserted that the Roman settlement of Coccium was established where Wigan lies.
  Wigan is believed to have been incorporated as a borough in 1246, following the issue of a charter by King Henry III of England. At the end of the Middle Ages, it was one of four boroughs in Lancashire established by Royal charter.
  During the Industrial Revolution, Wigan experienced dramatic economic expansion and a rapid rise in population.
context_section_description: A horse tramway was built in 1880 by the Wigan Corporation and leased to a succession of private companies to operate services to Pemberton, Aspull and towards Standish. Steam tram operation was introduced quickly, but the network always struggled to pay its way and just after the start of the 20th century Wigan Corporation gradually bought the operating leases and converted the network to electric tramcar operation. However, the network was saddled with a mix of standard gauge and narrow gauge lines, reducing efficiency and increasing costs; the last of the Wigan Corporation Tramways were closed in 1931 to be replaced by buses, which had begun as 'feeder' services to the trams but which had shown themselves to be faster and more flexible. Trolleybuses were operated on a single route from Wigan to Martland Mill from 1925 to 1931.
  The town's tram, trolleybus and bus fleet was always painted in crimson and off-white colours, with ornate gold lining out until the outbreak of World War II. The buses were notable in that they never carried exterior advertisements, with the town's crest occupying the space between decks where other bus operators placed adverts; they carried two green lights on the front, to enable the town's ratepayers to see at night which was one of the town's own buses and not one of those of a competitor. At local government reorganisation in April 1974, the Wigan Corporation Transport Department became part of Greater Manchester Transport. The former Corporation tram/bus garage in Melverley Street is still in use by First Greater Manchester.
  The current network of local buses, coordinated by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and departs from the Wigan bus station in the town centre. The bus station reopened in late 2018 after a £15.7 million, two-year redevelopment. Local buses serve Wigan and district with National Express long-distance coach services. Bus companies operating in the area include Stagecoach Manchester, Arriva North West, Diamond Bus North West, Maytree Travel, Wigan Buses and Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire.
caption: The redeveloped Wigan bus station in 2018
exif: {"Image Tag 0x000B": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image Make": "OnePlus", "Image Model": "ONEPLUS A5010", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image DateTime": "2018:12:20 00:11:34", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2364", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[53, 32, 103617/2000]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[2, 38, 17217/2500]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "44149/500", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[14, 22, 9]", "GPS GPSDate": "2018:12:19", "Image GPSInfo": "4972", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5262", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8811", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/230", "EXIF FNumber": "17/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:12:19 14:22:09", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:12:19 14:22:09", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1569/200", "EXIF ApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "213/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Unidentified", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "4103/1000", "EXIF SubSecTime": "727435", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "727435", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "727435", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "4950", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "24", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4182"}