(07 Apr 2016, 4:05 pm)BusLoverMum And now the A181 is closed!

Need gin.

Thank cap it all off, despite having someone giving him directions, the driver missed the turn he. Needed.

Home and stressed. Boys ready to explode at each other.

(07 Apr 2016, 6:16 pm)Jimmi Tried planning a trip round Manchester for photos but got nowhere!

(07 Apr 2016, 6:16 pm)Jimmi Tried planning a trip round Manchester for photos but got nowhere!

(08 Apr 2016, 12:19 am)GMitchelhill Manchester is a difficult area to do, and almost impossible to do in a day without a car (actually it's also just as difficult as you have to decided North or South). Best thing to do is group the areas you want to focus on.

Usually I aim for Central Manchester (plus Eccles, Trafford Centre, Middleton and Salford) then either North East (Bury / Rochdale / Oldham), North West (Bolton / Wigan / Leigh), South West (Altringham, Wythenshawe, Airport), South East (Stockport, Hyde, Ashton). If you do areas that are close together you can easily link them all up.

Though years ago, it used to be a lot difficult because there was so more choice with vehicles in Manchester, but I mainly focused on Southern Manchester as that was where all the bus wars were.

I'm actually planning a trip to Manchester within the next few months (with Half Pint and Ray Parnaby), prob June time, you of course are welcome to join us. Means you can go to Manchester without worrying about the times of buses / train home. Just a contribution towards fuel. What I'm thinking that we could do is get a Metrolink and Bus day ticket, and try out the vantage.

(08 Apr 2016, 7:24 am)LeeCalder When I went to Manchester on Monday, it was a case of parking in Rochdale and buying a tram/bus day ticket which allows travel on ALL bus and train services after 0930.

We travelled with Rosso to Bury, First to Bolton and then again First to Leigh.


Once we got to Leigh we used the shambles of a service that was Vantage to Bolton. On the way back it was a simple case of First Bus 135 to Bury then Rosso to Rochdale.

Plenty of opportunity for photos throughout the day for photos, especially with so many high frequency services.

(08 Apr 2016, 7:24 am)LeeCalder When I went to Manchester on Monday, it was a case of parking in Rochdale and buying a tram/bus day ticket which allows travel on ALL bus and train services after 0930.

We travelled with Rosso to Bury, First to Bolton and then again First to Leigh.


Once we got to Leigh we used the shambles of a service that was Vantage to Bolton. On the way back it was a simple case of First Bus 135 to Bury then Rosso to Rochdale.

Plenty of opportunity for photos throughout the day for photos, especially with so many high frequency services.

(07 Apr 2016, 6:16 pm)Jimmi Tried planning a trip round Manchester for photos but got nowhere!

(08 Apr 2016, 1:00 pm)James101 Deffo stick within the tfgm area. Compare them to nexus with providing clear bus stop information and many great interchange points across the city. Within the city centre a general rule is anything from Piccadilly Gardens heads south, anything from Shudehill heads west, and the on street stops along the far side of Piccadilly by Nandos, Zizzi and Travelodge head North or East. 

If you got a bus/train/tram System One it's a tad more expensive at £8.70 but having the option of the train to quickly zip between urban areas to catch up with something interesting bus wise. A sample could be:

Any Train Piccadilly Train Station - Stockport Frequent service on the WCML takes 10 mins to get to Stockport. VTWC, XC, Northern, Arriva and East Mids all operate. 

X5 Stockport - Trafford Centre Bus Station right by train station. Interesting as route goes via M60 and often throughs up an ex Bluebird Solo from Stagecoach. Stockport Bus station good for photos with viaduct in background.

126 Trafford Centre - Leigh Bus Sation Interesting as operated by Diamond North West and route is another mix of urban and motorway.

V1 Leigh Bus Station - Manchester Piccadilly Try the infamous busway! Recommend hopping off at the shared V1/V2 stops for photos of the Streetdecks coming over the hilly route. 

Obviously from the city theres's loads of options according the what interests you - I could help with any specifics, I like the following:

135 Manchester Piccadilly - Heaton Park Operated by First using Scania bendies. I appreciate getting off at Heaton Park which is not a major interchange may be daunting but the bus stop is at the very visible tram stop and 99% of the time I'd say there's someone else getting off. 

90 Heaton Park - Prestwich High Street  Chance to ride something by Rosso to the upmarket and busy area of Prestwich. The High Street is the the main stop so easy to know where to get off

X43 Prestwich High Street - Manchester Chorlton Street Theres many options to get to the city from this stop every few minutes but it may be of interest to catch the Transdev Witch Way into town.

Back in the City Centre it may be a safe bat to bash the hyper-frequent routes for photos. Could include:

41/42/43/142/143/147 Piccadilly - University  Every few seconds(!) the 147 from Bullocks runs from the train station rather than the main Picc Gardens.

Metroshuttle 1/2/3 Piccadilly - Piccadilly shuttles Every few minutes in loops around the city centre, all have on board route maps to see if it's useful to hop-off if stuck in traffic. 

10/50/36/37 Manchester - Salford Centres Options of Arriva, Stagecoach and First. Depart from different places in Manchester but all stop at Salford Shopping Centre. Maybe don't wander from the bus stops in Salford!

85/86 Manchester Piccadilly - Chortlon One of many routes now to host 'standard stagecoach' spec MMC 400s. Benefit of 85/86 is they're not too long end-to-end and terminate in bus stations either end.

(08 Apr 2016, 1:05 pm)Ambassador I was working in Ashton last month, nice old style bus station (soon to be redeveloped)

Decent mix of Stagecoach, First and indies around there , plus you get to scratch off a terminating tram stop. You could catch a local train back to Picadilly too.

Edited to add...for some reason I can't explain, I couldn't resist a ride on a First Marshall Dart up to Hazelhurst!

(08 Apr 2016, 1:04 pm)Andreos1 Just to add - the tram network is ideal for getting out and about too.
Mind the lack of ticket machines at stations is a pain.

(08 Apr 2016, 1:10 pm)James101 Metrolink is very handy, I think all stops now have machines which even issue System One and you can pay by card. At least all the ones I've used have. Could incorporate tram into return journeys such as back from Chorlton after grabbing and 85/86 or between Heaton Park-Prestwich if you didn't want to go on the less frequent 90 bus. 

For planning, I find the timetable issued by tfgm online are very clear and feature useful maps showing interchange points. Many paper copies are available on the vast racks in tfgm's travelshop by Piccadilly Gardens tram stop.

(08 Apr 2016, 10:20 pm)GMitchelhill Oh yes I've made the mistake of reading the destination but not actually checking on how it gets there. Hasn't happened in the North East, but happened once in South Yorkshire when I hopped on a Volvo B6 heading to Rotherham from Meadowhall (think it was the first one for Mainline), turns out it wasn't the quick way to Rotherham and it ended up going around several estates before reaching the Town Centre.

(08 Apr 2016, 10:25 pm)South Tyne Lad I arrived in Florida around 3 hours ago but the jet lags getting to me now!