The 82N night bus set to be scrapped

Date published: 28 February 2018


The 82N night bus from Manchester city centre to Oldham is to be scrapped after operators said it only carries an average of five people per trip.

For many years, the 82N has ferried passengers between Piccadilly Gardens and Oldham Mumps from midnight to 3am on Saturday nights.

However, transport chiefs have said passenger numbers have fallen on the weekly service and it is ‘no longer sustainable’ - so they will scrap it altogether in six weeks’ time.

The service will stop on April 8, this year.

Night staff who work in the city centre and live in Oldham will now have to find other ways of getting home.

A Stagecoach Manchester spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, due to falling passenger numbers it has become no longer sustainable for us to continue to run this service.

"With increased competition alongside changes in licensing laws night bus services have seen a drop in popularity.

“Over the last eight weeks the 82N has carried on average just 4.6 passengers per journey.

“We constantly monitor our network and where there is demand we continue to invest in new and improved commercial services within Greater Manchester.”

The spokesperson added that since January 2013, £60m has been invested in new vehicles and facilities for Greater Manchester.

They added: “We look forward to sharing plans for additional commercial services within Greater Manchester later this year.”

This comes as new figures from the BBC’s shared data unit reveal that over the past four years, Greater Manchester has lost a staggering eight million miles of bus routes - a reduction of a tenth.

Buses remain by far the most popular form of public transport in Greater Manchester.