ABOVE: Bee Network - Metroline VMD 384 (BU25 YVH), a Volvo BZL DD, turns out of Whitworth Street into Oxford Street, Manchester, working route 250 from Piccadilly Gardens to the Trafford Centre. All photos in this article were taken on Sunday 4 May 2025.
Picture Gallery:
On My Way into Manchester
13 June 2026
A Sunday afternoon, prior to an epic two-day circuit of Greater Manchester (that story starts here). I have arrived at my hotel for the next three nights, near The Trafford Centre, with a few hours in hand. So I'm going into town...
Specifically, I'm catching Bee Network route 250 to Manchester Piccadilly, from where I will find an alternative route to ride back. Here are a few of the things to be seen on the way in:
The Trafford Centre itself is quite a destination in its own right. Either the second-largest or third-largest shopping mall in the UK (depending what you read), its 280 stores sit within a "neoclassical Las-Vegas-meets-Versailles style with a central dome, marble columns, gilded statuary, and a 1,600-seat food court done up like the upper deck of an ocean liner" (so says World Atlas). Judge the Food Court for yourself:
The Bus Station, sitting at one end of this huge site, is at least big enough for the job, unlike some others (yes, I'm looking at you, Brent Cross)... There are 16 stands, and most are nowadays occupied with yellow Bee Network buses. In May 2025, the final Tranche of services transferring into the Network (Tranche Three) has only done so four months previously, so not all buses are yet in their new colours.
In the view below, there are six Bee Network buses present in the Bus Station - five in full colours and one still in Stagecoach livery. Heading away on route 248 to Eccles (centre right) is Metroline DEM 475 (YX74 OFD), a 9.75m ADL Enviro200 MMC. What looks like a similar, but longer, Enviro200 MMC can be seen on the left in Stand 6, with a Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora next to it. (All buses pictured in this article are Bee Network vehicles, so take that bit as read.)
Moving round to the stands themselves, I find Stagecoach Manchester 12124 (MX12 ENW), an ADL Enviro400, awaiting departure to Stockport on route 23 (left), with the tell-tale Bee Network stickers to show that the service is "under new management". Just pulling out is Metroline ADE 535 (SK74 BKX), an ADL Enviro400EV, heading for Manchester Piccadilly on route X50, a route which no longer operates.
My 250 turns up a moment later. It's an ADL Enviro400EV, almost brand-new. Disappointingly, once again, the view out of the front window is partly obscured by the "Next Stop" display, which is both bigger than it needs to be (although at least it's not a full-size screen) and not optimally placed - six inches higher would have made a huge difference.
It's not long afterwards, in Trafford Park, that I find a tiger on the side of a building. Not a real tiger, obviously, but an image of Tony the Tiger, a Kellogg's mascot since 1952.
Tony is here because this is the Manchester Plant, which Kellogg’s chose for its first factory outside the United States. Opened in 1938, it was, during World War II, the largest food factory in Europe. Currently, about one million boxes of cereals, including Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, and Coco Pops are made there every day. Sadly, the factory is earmarked for closure at the end of 2026.
At the junction where Chester Road meets Talbot Road, two busy roads merge, before splitting off again as Chester Road and Stretford Road. That must be a bottleneck at times! This is where I find Stagecoach Manchester 21423 (BV24 LSE), a Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora, on route 53 (Cheetham Hill to Salford Shopping Centre). Behind is Metroline VMD 458 (BD74 WKF), a Volvo BZL DD, on route 250.
The bus is supposed to take the right fork and head down Stretford Road, but there's a diversion so we head down the left-hand fork, Chester Road. We find our way back to line of route by the time we get to Hulme, and pass a rather striking arch. This is the Hulme Arch Bridge, which supports Stretford Road as it passes over Princess Road, a major trunk road linking central Manchester with the M56 and M60 motorways to the south. The bridge was opened by football legend Sir Alex Ferguson in 1997.
We pass the Royal Northern College of Music, at the junction of Oxford Road. Here, Metroline VMD 425 (BD74 WHN), another Volvo BZL DD, passes by. So many routes use this road that, with the side display having not come out in my photograph, there's no way of knowing what route this might be on. A moment from now, we will turn left and follow!
Oxford Road becomes Oxford Street as we reach the railway bridge that carries the line to Manchester Oxford Road station (the platforms themselves are a couple of hundred yards to the west). Opened in 1849, the station stands on a viaduct and utilises laminated wood structures as opposed to masonry, concrete, iron or steel. Grade-II listed, English Heritage describes it as "a building of outstanding architectural quality and technological interest; one of the most dramatic stations in England."
Passing under the bridge on Oxford Road are Metroline VMD 394 (BU25 YVW), another Volvo BZL DD, and WDS 327 (MJ74 JOA), a Wrightbus Streetdeck also operated by Metroline. The former is on route 15 to Flixton whilst the latter, on the 143, is one of the many routes to use the Wilmslow Road corridor, possibly the busiest bus corridor in Europe (not a substantiated claim).
And coming up behind them is another Metroline Streetdeck on route 43, which features in my 100 British Bus Routes series (here).
Just yards further up the road I find a Stagecoach AD Enviro400 EV, 80104 (SK74 BJJ), heading for the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Behind it is Go North West 3040 (BW65 DCX), a Wrightbus Gemini 3, working route V1 to Leigh.
The V1 route is / was part of the Vantage operation that uses the Guided Busway Rapid Transit route to the west of the City. Buses lost their distinctive purple livery when they were brought into the Bee Network. Now the Vantage routes look the same as any others in the city.
Indeed, that statement is true! Buses in Manchester aren't even allowed to carry the name of the operator. The only way to distinguish is to know that Metroline is the only operator to use class codes (eg, "VMD"), Go North West buses carry four-digit fleet numbers and Stagecoach and First carry five-digit numbers!
But the range of different types, and the significant modernisation of the fleet as buses have come under Bee Network control, ensures that plenty of variety remains. I'm not complaining! And so many places in the city to explore!
As I reach Piccadilly Gardens, the terminus of route 250, and stare at the magnificence of the 19th century Britannia Hotel, centre - once the largest textile warehouse in the North of England and Grade-II* listed - two more buses demonstrate more variety. Metroline WDS 329 (MJ74 JOU), a Wrightbus Streetdeck, heads for West Didsbury on route 143, whilst Stagecoach 10850 (SN17 MJD), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, is on route 41 to Sale.
The journey into town has taken 42 minutes - two minutes more than scheduled. Now I want to find a different way back to Trafford. But which way to go - there's such a lot of choice...?