Worst bus

Big thanks to the driver of this 135 bendy bus who thought it would be fun to stop on the 216 stand. I did mention that he would probably have plenty to moan about if we parked two 216s on thier stand. He mumbled something and then moved it.

Nice ride

was on the 192s in piccadilly today and so was this trident. Great to drive these buses and the bench seats are nicer too for the punters. Well i think so anyway. Was quiet in town today. On a couple of late duties now so i get a nice lie in tomorrow.

Something unusual

Just noticed this 216 come into ashton. The destination blinds appear to be all in capital letters. It does stick out more and i think it looks better although i have not seen any other bus with the same style. Working in the bus station today. I'm expecting a tough day as Manchester city are playing everton at home.

Taking the trash out.

This fire damaged Trident has been in the back of Hyde Road for a good few
years now. I took this as PVS were taking it away yesterday.
I'm off today so catching up on a few things.
Also managed to scan more old Little Gem leaflets so might upload some of
them this weekend if I get chance.
Looking like a good day today so tempted to get the bike out later.
Last night was so busy at Owens park. Freshers week is totally manic. It was
more like a Manchester derby the way they tried boarding the buses at 1030.
Not too enjoyable at all.

Somewhere different

Today is something very different. I'm at the freshers event at owens park in fallowfield. This is our stall where we are selling uniriders to the students and telling the new people what buses we would like them to catch. Very different to my normal day indeed.

The vision

This is the vision that was the Metrolink. It's interesting to see the design of the tram on the leaflet compared with how it actually turned out.

This next leaflet is the introduction of the 757 Airport shuttle from Piccadilly. I remember this very well from my youth, as  i would often jump on this bus whilst out on my bus rides to get to the airport quicker.The seats were like the normal express seats downstairs but blue and had a larger luggage area.

Going cold

Today has changed a little to the plan. I was supposed to be in a training session but that was cancelled. Instead i'm doing a survey on the 219 service at grey mare lane. It basically tells us if the buses are on time and how many are travelling. Its not the nicest part of the job especilly since it's a cold wet day but it has to be done now and again.

More Gems

This one is another Little Gem leaflet but this time its the A1.

Another one

This leaflet is obviousley the information for the Little Gem service when it started up in Ashton.
These buses arrived in Greater Manchester in the late 80s and promoted a frequent service connecting estates with town centres and went where the bigger buses had never been before.
I remember the O service around Oldham but this one is the A2 and A3 services which ran around the Tameside area. Don't remember seeing any MCW minibuses like the one on the picture. I think they had Ivecos at Tameside depot.

Blast From The Past

A colleague of mine has been kind enough to lend me some old literature from the Ashton area from the late 80s and 90s so i thought i would scan a few things and post them on here.
Sadly i don't get chance to post much with the current job i do, so it's nice to be able to share stuff like this instead. Although i have no doubts a few readers will already have these lol.
Today is the leaflet which was advertising the 153 Express route which went from Mossley to Manchester via Stalybridge. Hope you enjoy. One thing i did notice though was the bus on the poster is 3258! If memory serves right this was actualy a Bolton bus often seen on the 401 service.

Somewhere different.

Not been here in a while. I'm currently at Southern Cemetery watching the small but busy bus station. Whilst the passengers around here are relatively small, sharston drivers take meal breaks here and today i'm making sure the buses are back on the road on time. Hoping the rain stays away too. Although i think i might be getting the waterproofs out of my car sometime today. Back in Ashton on monday.