First Manchester

[Polo Mint]

RE: First Manchester
I am not sure how First will go about operating on Oxford Road.

On one hand if Stagecoach flood the market then First may be able to hit back on the ex-Bluebird routes, however Stagecoach have more of a niche as opposed to Finglands duplicated services.

I'd personally like to see services 41 and 42 both every 10 minutes, with a 5 minute headway to Piccadilly, perhaps with them extending from Piccadilly to Shudehill to connect with the network. This may rile Stagecoach up a bit though.

I wouldn't mind seeing cross city route down Oxford Rd, but I am not sure of which services and whether it could be juggled about by the depots, perhaps some 135 services extended to Sale as 41 replacement. I am getting a bit carried away, but maybe over time.

I hope this doesn't mean that route 18 will be curtailed at Shudehill, the route seems to be a fair bit busier these days, and often gets very crowded at rush hour.