PICTURE GALLERY
Is this the Biggest Bus Route in Britain?
31 January 2025
ABOVE: On Saturday 25 January 2025, Stagecoach Manchester / Bee Network 11915 (YX74 OMV), an ADL Enviro400 City, passes the Heaton Road junction in Heaton Chapel, near Stockport. It is working what may be Britain's biggest bus service, the 192 from Manchester to Hazel Grove / Stepping Hill Hospital via Stockport.
Big (adjective)
a) Large or great in ... quantity, number
b) Operating on a large scale
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Which is the biggest single bus route in Britain? I suppose that depends on how one defines "big"... But using the definitions given in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (see above), I reckon it's Route 192 in Greater Manchester.
ABOVE: Stagecoach Manchester / Bee Network 11902 (YX74 OME), an ADL Enviro400 City, passes the Stanley Grove junction with the A6 Stockport Road, on a Hazel Grove service on route 192, on Saturday 25 January 2025.
Route 192 covers about nine-and-a-half miles, on a broadly south-easterly trajectory, from Manchester City Centre to Hazel Grove, a village about a mile north of the southern border of the Greater Manchester region with Cheshire.
The route follows a major artery of the road network; the A6, which runs from Luton, Bedfordshire to Carlisle, Cumbria. As a major road into and out of Manchester, it's no wonder that this service is busy.
But it's the scale of the operation that astounds me. It's greater than any other bus route that I can think of.
The busiest London service is currently route 38 (Victoria to Clapton Pond). The five-minute frequency of the 38 requires 36 buses at the busiest times. Route 192 in Manchester, though, requires 40 buses, and has a peak frequency of 18 buses per hour.
Let's have a look at some of these 40 buses in action...
The southernmost terminus of route 192 is the village of Hazel Grove. It's large for a village, with a population of over 14,000 recorded in the 2021 Census.
The final terminus sees a modest (by the standards of this route) six buses per hour serving a Park & Ride facility, which is probably of most value to those visiting Stockport, about 23 minutes away by the 192.
BELOW: A little north of the terminus, Stagecoach Manchester 11523 (SK20 AVY), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, approaches the Commercial Road stop in the centre of Hazel Grove, on Thursday 22 September 2022. Just visible behind it is High Peak 805 (BF62 JYW), a Mercedes-Benz Citaro O530, working route 199 (Buxton to Manchester Airport).
Six buses per hour (even on Sundays) divert just north of Hazel Grove into the grounds of Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport's major hospital. The first southbound stop after the bifurcation is the stop outside Sainsbury's Hazel Grove, where (BELOW) Stagecoach Manchester / Bee Network 11918 (YX74 OMZ), an ADL Enviro400 City, is calling on Saturday 25 January 2025.
This vehicle is part of a batch of 50 that were delivered in November and December 2024 to help launch the third tranche of the Greater Manchester-franchised Bee Network. Stagecoach Manchester was the previous operator of the 192 in the deregulated environment and, although the company didn't do very well in Tranche Three (four of the five large franchises were awarded to Metroline), it did win the "Stockport Large" franchise that includes the 192.
On Thursday 22 September 2022, Stagecoach Manchester 11543 (SK20 AXB), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, is seen (BELOW) in Heaviley, between Stockport and Hazel Grove. This section sees 12 buses per hour during the daytime, seven days a week. A batch of 20-reg ADL Enviro400 MMCs was the allocation for the 192 at the time of this photograph.
Stockport Town Hall (BELOW) is a Grade-II* listed building dating from 1908. The ballroom served as a hospital during the First World War and was used as a home for refugees from the Channel Islands during the Second World War (Wikipedia).
Of course, such an intensive service as the 192 is going to see some bunching, as is the case here (BELOW) on Thursday 22 September 2022, when 11523 (SK20 AVY) and another ADL Enviro400 MMC pass John Street, just south of Stockport Town Centre.
The front bus is terminating at Stockport College, the very next stop. Short workings terminating in Stockport seem to be extended at certain times of the day only from Stockpot Town Centre (Mersey Square) to Stockport College - presumably times that coincide with the times that students are most likely to need them!
Route 192 does not go into the Stockport Interchange, which opened in 2024, but instead uses Wellington Road South, which is the road (BELOW) that passes over the archway on the right. The main part of the Interchange is on the other side of the road in this view looking broadly south, but the Interchange is so extensive that it passes right under the main road.
Two more ADL Enviro400 MMCs head north on route 192 in this view (BELOW) taken on Thursday 22 September 2022. This bus stop is Mersey Square, the main stop in the centre of Stockport for those heading for Stepping Hill or Hazel Grove on route 192.
This is also the stop where driver changes take place on the southbound service. On the day I took this photo, there was a bit of a delay in the service, after which several buses turned up together. A relief driver headed for the one labelled for Hazel Grove, only to come back sheepishly, declaring that "I'm on the one ten minutes before this one"!
The equivalent stop in the other direction, for Manchester, is where the further of the two buses is standing - you may just be able to make out the stop flag.
Three weeks into Tranche Three of the Bee Network, Saturday 25 January 2025, and many buses have yet to receive the new livery, including (BELOW) these two ADL Enviro400s. The only clue to the change of regulatory control is the addition of yellow "Bee Network" stickers on the front (below the windscreen, just visible), the sides and the back. The buses will presumably be repainted (or transferred out) in due course.
This is taken from the northbound Mersey Square stop in Stockport. From this point (and from Stockport College when extended there), an additional six buses per hour run into Manchester on weekdays, making 18 buses per hour in total from here. There are no short workings on Sundays - just a basic five-minute interval service alternating between Hazel Grove and Stepping Hill.
At the time of this photograph, 1536 on a Saturday, no buses are scheduled to turn at Stockport Town Centre - they all run to at least the College. So the bus on the right may be a late-runner being turned short.
I first rode the 192 on Tuesday 10 August 2021. That's probably the day that this article was conceived, although I hadn't even launched the blog then! On that day (BELOW), two ADL Enviro400 MMCs head for Hazel Grove and Stepping Hill respectively. This is the Cotswold Road junction between Stockport and Heaton Norris.
In Heaton Norris can be found the remains of this redundant Anglican church, Christ Church (BELOW). Though looking substantially intact from this angle, only the tower and part of the walls of the aisles survive. Built in the 1840s, it was already in very poor condition before it was badly damaged by a fire in 1977. Much of it was then demolished (see Church Conservation Trust). Curiously, the remains are now Grade-II listed.
Another vehicle that has yet to be repainted (BELOW) is Stagecoach Manchester / Bee Network 10448 (SN65 NZD), another ADL Enviro400 MMC. It is seen in Heaton Norris on Saturday 25 January 2025. The bridge in the background carries a branch off the Stockport to Manchester railway which diverts to Denton and Guide Bridge. The route has just one "Parliamentary" passenger train service each way per week.
A little further north-west brings us to Heaton Chapel (BELOW), where we find Stagecoach Manchester / Bee Network 11881 (YX74 OLA) at the Wellington Road North / Manchester Road junction, also on Saturday 25 January 2025.
BELOW: On Thursday 22 September 2022, a convoy is forming as Stagecoach Manchester 11511 (SK20 AVJ), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, passes my 192 at St Thomas the Apostle, Parish Church of Heaton Chapel (the church is just out of view to the left).
The 192 continues north-west, into the suburb of Levenshulme, which is classified as the half-way point between Stockport and Manchester. The actress Gwyneth Powell (1946-2022) was born here, and inspired / terrified a generation of schoolchildren as their 'other' Headteacher, by playing Mrs McClusky, the Head of (BBC Children's school drama) Grange Hill for 11 years.
BELOW: A pair of new ADL Enviro400 City buses, both on route 192, are led by 11923 (YX74 ONG), on Saturday 25 January 2025.
At Longsight, the main London to Manchester railway line crosses the A6. About to pass under the railway (BELOW) on Saturday 25 January 2025 is 10049 (MX12 LWP), an ADL Enviro400. The Bee Network sticker is clearly visible on the back of this bus.
BELOW: Also on Saturday 25 January 2025, two more ADL Enviro400 City vehicles pass through the centre of Longsight, on their way south-east.
Now just a mile from the City Centre, this (BELOW) is Ardwick, where, on Thursday 22 September 2022, what I believe to be Stagecoach Manchester 11516 (SK20 AVP), passes Winterford Avenue, en route for Stockport.
Journey's end for route 192 is Piccadilly Gardens, in the heart of the City Centre of Manchester.
BELOW: This very busy pre-Bee Network scene, taken on Tuesday 10 August 2021, is typical. Three Stagecoach Manchester buses jostle for stand space, alongside a Metrolink tram which gives a preview of the yellow colours that will take over the city's buses in the years to come!
BELOW: A short stroll from the terminus of the 192 brings us to Manchester Piccadilly railway station itself. The vast majority of services are housed at 12 platforms in the main building (just visible on the left), which dates back to 1842. Through services, however, use Platforms 13 & 14, which stand separately and, as can be deduced here, are much more exposed to the elements. In this view from Thursday 22 September 2022, a Northern train calls into Platform 13, whilst a Stagecoach Manchester ADL Enviro400 passes underneath.
And finally...
With such a large, busy bus service, it is inevitable that buses will bunch up regularly. But this screenshot (BELOW) from BusTimes.org, taken on Wednesday 29 January 2025, implies that no fewer than six buses on the southbound service are all heading along this 400-yard stretch between Stitch Lane and the bus stop at Belmont Way (just below the edge of the screenshot), south of Heaton Norris.
So there we have it... Probably the biggest bus route in the country, unless / until I find an even bigger one!
All being well, I'll be back in Manchester later in 2025 to see how the Bee Network is getting on, and I wouldn't rule out another trip on the 192 as part of that...