First Manchester

[SF07]

RE: First Manchester
Bit of a confusion going on tonight on the Oldham Road services.

First posted on their website and on Twitter that diversions would be put in place on the 83, 180, 184, X80 and X84 services between 1400 and 1900 with the 83 being split into two sections, both terminating at Oldham bus station, while the 180/184, X80 and X84 would be diverted via Thorp Road, Nuthurst Road and Broadway, having also considered splitting the service at Hollinwood.

However, travelling home tonight, the 83s were running to Sholver and the 184, X80 and X84 were running normal routes, although did see a B7RLE travelling down Hollins Road from Oldham operating on a 184 to Hollinwood.

Probably a case of First coming up with back-up plan in case the traffic was as bad as last night, although doesn't help passengers if they keep tweeting about a diversion that isn't in place.

From First's website:

Quote:We are sorry that our services along the Oldham Road corridor suffered extreme delays yesterday evening, which were due in part to ongoing road works on Oldham Road as well as increased traffic coming in and out of the City Centre.

To avoid a situation like yesterday, we feel we have no option but to take the following action between 1400 and 1900 today:

83 " The service will be split from Manchester to Oldham Bus Station, and from Oldham Bus Station to Sholver, and the same going Oldham to Manchester/Sholver to Oldham.

184/180/X80/X84 " diverted off Oldham Road.
Services will operate from Manchester via Thorp Road, right onto Lightbowne Road, right on to Nuthurst Road, right on to Broadway and then left back on to Oldham Road and normal route, doing the reverse going into Manchester.

We had considered splitting these services at Hollins but taking the diversion should mean delays are kept to a minimum to Mumps, where we can split services if necessary and keep drivers on stand-by if delays are bad.

Although this will mean the 184/180/X84/X80 services missing a large number of stops, the 83 will still serve those stops. We understand this will cause inconvenience to some of our customers, and we are sorry about this. We feel we have no choice but to implement the above plans in order to operate the services as reliably as we possibly can under the circumstances.

All drivers will be briefed and we will have staff on the ground throughout, coordinating services.

http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/greater_...851&conf=1