(Ad)Vantage Leigh and Manchester bus passengers

10 May 2016

Passengers must be reeling! Great new buses in the north west with not only sockets, but tables upstairs. I can see why passengers are piling on the new, somewhat oddly named, V1 and V2, Vantage bus service between Leigh and other towns in Lancashire and Manchester, via Salford.

My colleague David Sidebottom and I recently tried out the new service, getting the view from the top deck. New buses with slick leather seats, wooden floors and jazzy paint look really good.

But the real winner is the concrete – from Leigh the bus runs part of the way into Manchester on a guided track – paid for and delivered by Transport for Greater Manchester. First Group bid for and won an exclusive right to run on the track for a number of years. So reliable, predictable journeys are on offer. Quality bus stops and information complete the package.

New Park and Ride along the way makes access easy and everyone seems very pleased with the walking and cycling path alongside. As the bus pulls away from Salford you can see the traffic coming into the centre in the other direction – grim.

Would be really good to see more dramatic changes like this – makes it easy to choose the bus.