GM Buses Liverpool

[gilesbus1]

RE: GM Buses Liverpool

(19/02/2019 09:05)Brickmill Wrote:  If east Manchester, Wythenshawe (pre Metrolink), Stockport, Tameside (especially the southern half of the borough) etc wasn't great, then where in GM was? I had forgotten about the coincident 192 competition, but I suspect the lack of investment was more to do with paying off the ESOP purchase and choosing the right vehicles to standardise on. Also, MTL may have provided competition, doesn't mean to say they carried many pax. I recall 19yo Atlantean s parked up for 20 minutes plus belching out the equivalent of dozens of Euro6 fumes, but I don't recall any MTL 204s actually carrying anyone.

Yep I don't doubt there would be gaps as there were simply too many buses chasing too few passengers, I have seen photographs though of some MTL buses carrying reasonable loads. The other operator I forgot was North Western/Bee Line which by then was part of British Bus and was competing heavily on the Trafford Area services, but by then had started to cut back there network elsewhere in Manchester selling its Rochdale and Oldham opps along with the Miall Street base which GM North then mothballed until Pioneer was taken over. In exchange services between Wigan/Leigh and Warrington passed to North Western/Bee Line who used Leigh Line to operate the one time Leigh Corporation services between Leigh and Warrington, when it first started there was some issues as some journeys failed to operate so Leigh Line was suspended from the route, this then past back to GMN using Minibuses for an extra period of time, I thing something like a month or something but I know Brickmill, you may know exactly what the situation was there. Leigh Line used various Mini's and Leyland Nationals picked up from within the British Bus Group, not just locally, as there was a Maidstone & District National involved, the former Heatons Travel Business as they had, had their operators licence revoked for poor maintenance.

It can't have been that profitable as within twelve months it had been closed down and the former Heatons depot on Holden Road, opposite the ex GMT site had been demolished and sold for housing.

A manager from British Bus had told me they had considered buying the old Marshalls Haulage depot at one time on Holden Road but didn't proceed as it became obvious the site was to be flattened for redevelopment, presume if this had gone ahead it would of also of replaced the North Western depot at Wigan.