MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE BUSES

Though the city has two main competing bus services, First Manchester and Stagecoach, (with rare input from Bluebird, Magic Bus other minor company players in the field) which in principle should increase the chances of getting buses quickly, the two services rarely intrude onto each other’s routes. Stagecoach deal with South Manchester routes such as from the City Centre to Didsbury and Stockport, while First Manchester covers the Northern trails such as routes from the city to Oldham and Blackley. The effect is that of a duopoly rather than any sense of healthy competition.

For commuters with daily, weekly monthly and even yearly bus saver tickets, the tickets usually cover one of the companies or the other – though special, more expensive tickets can be bought to cover both.

Stagecoach services run pretty well 24 hours a day and have a steady night service on most major routes while First Manchester have a minimalist night bus service at weekends forcing most night travellers to use taxis, which are themselves an endangered species judging from how hard it is to catch one at peak times.

An improved public transport system is essential to cutting the number of cars on the roads, and from the conspirational worsening of the transport networks, I can only assume the opposite plan – forcing us to drive – is what the authorities have in mind.

Catching a bus in Oldham Street, the main bus terminus I use is an event straight out of Dante’s Inferno. The one-way street has about three bus stops at the top end, near Piccadilly Gardens, which about 40 different buses with varying routes try to release passengers and pick up new passengers at. Many of the buses, rarely for the route you wish to travel, compete for space – the queue disintegrates as any new bus arriving is behind at least two others and travellers have to break from the queue lines to see the numbers.

When a bus arrives that you can get onto the people-waiting move like a cattle stampede. The driver lets a few on, but then spots a gap letting him get closer to his official stop than before so he insists on moving the bus ten feet forward before letting the exasperated remaining passengers on. The passengers move parallel to the bus trying to second guess where he will stop next – people who arrived first, often end up a/. Getting on last and having you stand as all the seats are taken b/. Wait for the next bus, as this one is full.

Sometimes, the inspectors arrive to herd passengers, which is like herding cats. The solution is usually to let those passengers with saver tickets on first and hold back those occasional commuters using cash for a one off journey. As a weekly saver user most weeks this at least works in my favour, but a saver ticket is purchased to save money, not to allow queue-jumping privilege.

Another non-joy is when the bus congestion is so intense that buses will drop passengers off at the terminus, (or as close to it as possible) often forcing them to risk being run over by other buses before reaching a pavement and then heading off without stopping to pick up in the city centre as it is just too difficult to park safely. A few drivers have hit on driving round the block hoping to come back to find a gap on returning, which has buses wasting fuel circling a bus stop in the way planes circle an airport. Such transport planning amounts to sheer insanity.

BUS SHELTER QUEUES – The first person to arrive at a bus stop decides that the centre of the shelter is a better spot than the front end of it. This forces the later users to stand behind them, or risk being accused of jumping the queue. Later arrivals will find themselves standing out of the shelter entirely, in the full glare of the elements, rain and howling gale (when the shelter itself is not designed to afford zero protection from such forces of nature) I usually insist that the people at the front move up or take a place ahead of them anyway, though accepting that they will have to step round me to get to the bus first.