GM Buses

Preserved GM Buses in September 2011
Parent	Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Founded	1986
Ceased operation	1994
Service area	Greater Manchester
Service type	Bus operator

GM Buses was the main bus company serving the ten metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester in North West England. The company was formed in 1986 by Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive. In December 1993, it was split into GM Buses North and GM Buses South in order to increase competition for services in the area, before they were sold to FirstGroup and Stagecoach respectively.

See here for a timeline overview of transport in Manchester.

The Transport Act 1968 resulted in several bus companies run by local authorities around Greater Manchester merging to create a central organisation. It consisted of companies operating in the following areas:

The new central organisation was named SELNEC, the South East Lancashire North East Cheshire Passenger Transport Executive. The SELNEC catchment area would eventually become Greater Manchester. SELNEC introduced a standard livery of orange and white with the company split into three zones, Northern, Central and Southern.

In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 changed the administrative areas, and the county of Greater Manchester was created. As a result, SELNEC was renamed to Greater Manchester Transport. In 1981, a new livery was adopted of orange, brown and white. Also in the same year, Lancashire United Transport, based in Atherton, was absorbed into Greater Manchester Transport.

In 1986, deregulation was introduced to bus services and Greater Manchester Transport was split into two. The management of service information and tendering, bus stations and stops would be run by Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE). The bus operation would be named Greater Manchester Buses or GM Buses as it is commonly known. Deregulation also saw competition introduced on several routes run by GM Buses.