Museum kicks off celebrations to mark 200 years of buses

The Museum of Transport Greater Manchester has launched a year of celebrations to mark 200 years of buses in Britain – because it all started not in London, but in Manchester.

In 1824, Salford toll keeper John Greenwood started a horse bus service between Pendleton and Manchester, five years before anything similar happened in London. It was the start of a story that continued all the way to today’s Bee Network, and the Museum plans to spend 2024 telling the story of the region’s buses from yesterday to today and even tomorrow.

Museum spokesman Paul Williams explained further: “Greater Manchester was the cradle of Britain’s public transport, with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway starting in 1830 and John Greenwood starting bus services in 1824. We want to celebrate that Greater Manchester led the way, and we want as many people as possible to see the story of buses over the last 200 years.”

The museum says it’ll hold events during the year, each one looking at a period of the region’s 200-year history of public transport. There’ll be opportunities to take a ride on a piece of history too, with free bus rides from each era at events based on the museum in Cheetham, near Manchester city centre.

The museum has organised events at the museum in Cheetham, near Manchester city centre, on the following dates:

Sat/Sun 20 and 21 April – ‘Omnibus’, celebrating the ancient history of Greater Manchester’s transport from 1824 to 1940

Sat/Sun 1 and 2 June – ‘Fares please!’ celebrating the golden age of sixpenny rides and cheery conductors in the 1940s and 1950s

Sat/Sun 27 and 28 July – ‘Ticket to ride’ celebrating the colourful buses of Greater Manchester’s local buses in the ‘white heat of technology’ era of the 1960s

Sat/Sun 28 and 29 September – ‘Orange Times’ celebrating SELNEC, Greater Manchester Transport, Saver Seven, Clippercard and orange buses

Sat/Sun 9/10 November – ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ bringing the story up to date, from deregulation to Bee Network zero emission buses

Paul says the museum will collaborate with its friends and partners to create a programme that’s educational as well as enjoyable. “We hope to have our 1890 horse bus out on the road, alongside the horse tram from our friends at Heaton Park Tramway; and especially for the last event, we’ll invite our modern bus travel partners to come and help complete the celebrations in style.” Each event will also feature free rides on some of the museum’s fleet of vintage restored buses, with some running in public for the first time in decades.

“We’re excited to tell the story of 200 years of buses, and we’re proud that it all started in Greater Manchester,” said Paul. “And the story hasn’t ended, with Greater Manchester’s buses coming back under public control as the region’s Bee Network – and in 2024 we’re looking forward to showing Greater Manchester’s proud heritage.”