Greater Manchester bus route 184


Greater Manchester bus route 184 is operated by First Greater Manchester. The service runs hourly Monday-Saturday daytime on its full route between Manchester and Huddersfield via Oldham.
The one hourly journey is complemented by an additional two journeys an hour between Uppermill and Manchester and one an hour between Grotton and Manchester. Combined with its sister service, route 180, which runs between Greenfield and Manchester, there are six buses an hour with a bus running every 10 minutes between Grotton and Manchester. During evenings, route 184 runs an hourly service between Uppermill and Manchester and during the day on Sundays, the service runs its full route every two hours. Some journeys run between Uppermill and Manchester

History

The service started as route 14 on 15 May 1929, running between Uppermill and Manchester and was operated by Oldham, Manchester & North Western. A couple of months later, route 13 was introduced running between Uppermill and Manchester via Delph, with journeys running as a 13 changing into a 14 at Uppermill and vice versa. Over the years, the service did not go through many changes to the service, with its only changes being the terminus in Manchester, using Lower Mosley Street, Parker Street, Chorlton Street and Piccadilly Gardens, and the name of the operator, which changed from North Western to SELNEC, and then to Greater Manchester Transport and to Greater Manchester Buses.
Following bus deregulation on 26 October 1986, the route was taken over by GM Buses. On 31 December 1993, GM Buses was split into two, GM Buses North and GM South Buses, the former of which became the main operator of route 184.
In March 1996, GM Buses North was bought by FirstBus and renamed Greater Manchester Firstbus, later becoming First Manchester and First Greater Manchester. In 2001, the service was extended from Uppermill to Diggle via Dobcross, replacing route 427, which was an all-stopping equivalent to route 184. The extension saw the end of the workings with route 183, which was extended to Greenfield to compensate for the loss.
In October 2004, route 184 underwent its biggest change, changing from an hourly express service, to an all-stopping service, running four buses an hour between Uppermill and Manchester, with one bus an hour extending to Diggle via Dobcross, while one bus an hour extended to Huddersfield via Marsden, replacing the First West Yorkshire route 365. Due to the length of the route, First Greater Manchester would jointly run the Huddersfield service with First West Yorkshire, alternating between the two operators every two hours.
The Huddersfield route ran slightly differently from route 365 route, as route 184 ran into Diggle village instead of by-passing it via Standedge Road and also originally diverted via Hard End in Marsden. The Hard End diversion stayed in place until January 2005. A Sunday service to Huddersfield was introduced in April 2006, replacing Speedwellbus's 365 Sunday service. This meant in an 18-month period, the Huddersfield-Oldham route had changed from route 365 to route 184.
The timetable underwent a major change in October 2012, which resulted in the end of the shared operation of the Huddersfield route between First Greater Manchester and First West Yorkshire on its eighth anniversary of its cross-county service. As a result, First introduced additional morning journeys towards Huddersfield and later afternoon/early evening journeys from Huddersfield to keep the main timetable in place. The additional frequency of services between Grotton and Manchester came as a result of a boost to the bus service in general as it felt that the original timetable of six buses an hour between Grotton and Manchester was too infrequent and was poorly managed in terms of timekeeping. It became appropriate to introduce the increase in services because the densely populated settlements of Clarksfield, Lees, Springhead and Grotton were receiving a poor service on the 180/184 especially compared to other services in the area which are heavily frequent such as the 83 serving Watersheddings, Moorside and Sholver. The altered timetable now means a total of seven 184's an hour serve Grotton, with four buses terminating at Grotton.
Other timetable changes saw a reduction of buses running to Uppermill and Greenfield on its sister service 180. Another change originally planned was to reduce the number of buses per hour to Diggle by terminating one of the buses at nearby Dobcross, leaving Diggle to be served by the Huddersfield journeys. This decision was later reversed and the planned change was not implemented after local residents felt the changes would mean the services are too infrequent.
However, the reduction of service in Saddleworth was met by criticisms by local residents and councillors, who felt it was encourage more people to use the car instead of buses and would disrupts links between bus and train at Greenfield railway station.

Route

Manchester - Uppermill

The service begins near to Piccadilly Gardens on Oldham Street. From here, it runs out along the A62, travelling through Newton Heath, Failsworth and Hollinwood. The service then turns off the road onto Hollins Road into Oldham town centre and bus station before continuing via Lees, Grotton, Grasscroft into Uppermill.
Route 184 terminates outside the Commercial Hotel and using the nearby turning circle to return to Manchester.

Manchester - Grotton

The route is the same as the other journeys only this one terminates at Grotton station road.

Manchester - Huddersfield

Services to Huddersfield follow the same route to Uppermill and a different route into Diggle that terminates there. The route runs via Wool Road and through Diggle before returning onto the A62 Manchester Road into West Yorkshire via Marsden, Slaithwaite, Linthwaite and Cowlersley before terminating at Huddersfield bus station. The service runs hourly Monday-Saturday daytime and every two hours Sunday daytime.

Vehicles

The main type of vehicle used on First Greater Manchester journeys on route 184 are Alexander Dennis Enviro400s, which were acquired in 2012 and originally used for shuttle services at the London 2012 Olympics. They entered service in September 2012 with some being branded for the 180/184.
Volvo B9TL's, which were acquired in summer 2008, were previously the regular bus vehicle used on the route and its sister service, the 180 and sometimes may be used in place of Enviro400s. The other alternative vehicle used by First Greater Manchester on the route is Volvo B7RLE's, which were the previous prominent vehicle on the route and also had route branding.
In the latter years of First West Yorkshire's time on the service, B9TL's were also used on their workings of the 184, as two buses were obtained from First Greater Manchester to be primarily used on the 184, so that double deckers are used on all journeys, when possible. When either of both of the B9TLs are not available, then Volvo B7TLs were used on the route instead. Previously, Volvo B7RLEs, Volvo Olympians and Dennis Lances were used by First West Yorkshire on the 184.