Oldham bus station

Oldham
Oldham West Street bus station in 2008
Location
Locale	Cheapside, Oldham
Local authority	Oldham
Coordinates	53.5431°N 2.1162°W / 53.5431; -2.1162
Operation
Opened	2001 (Cheapside), 2006 (West Street)
Managed by	Transport for Greater Manchester
No. of stands	12
Operators	First Manchester, Stagecoach Manchester, First West Yorkshire, Bluebird, Checkmate Transport, JPT, Stotts
Travel centre	Yes
Rail connection	No

Oldham bus station is a bus station located in the town of Oldham in Greater Manchester. The bus station is found on Cheapside at the junction of West Street. The bus station opened in January 2001 and replaced the previous bus station at Town Square and the bus stops on Cheapside and West Street. The bus station is run by Transport for Greater Manchester.

History

In the past, there were three termini in Oldham, West Street, Town Square and Mumps Bridge with services terminating in Oldham, arriving from western areas, at West Street and services arriving from eastern areas terminating at Town Square. Mumps Bridge is used as a terminus for First Manchester (formerly GM Buses/GM Buses North) services, as the depot is located at Mumps Bridge. When the bus station opened, all services terminating in the town (with the exception of some First service which terminate at Mumps Bridge) would terminate at the new bus station.

Inside Cheapside bus station in 2007

The new station opened in January 2001 and within the first two years of opening, it won two awards. Originally, there were eight stands in the bus station, A to H. Due to the number of buses arriving in Oldham every hour, plus National Express coaches which also uses the bus station as a stopping place, it was decided, to avoid congestion, that some services would use bus stops on West Street, which is around the corner from the bus station. After complaints from passengers waiting for buses on West Street of suffering from the elements, GMPTE decided to build a smaller bus station, based on the one on Cheapside for West Street. This opened in September 2006 at a cost of £2.2m. Now, there are, in total, 12 stands, from A to H and J to M.

Services

There are plenty of buses that use Oldham Bus Station. The majority of services are run by First Manchester with the remainder of services run by Bluebird, Checkmate Transport, First West Yorkshire, JPT, Stagecoach Manchester and Stotts.

There are frequent buses running to Manchester, Rochdale, Ashton-under-Lyne and Middleton plus several parts of the Oldham area including Shaw, Royton, Chadderton, Saddleworth, Rushcroft, Holts Estate, Fitton Hill, Waterhead, Sholver, Lees, Grotton, Hollinwood and Failsworth. Buses also run from Oldham to Stalybridge, Hyde and Huddersfield.

The bus services that use Oldham Bus Station and its Stand Letter are: (Places in bold are where services terminate)

No.	Operator	Destination	Stand
			Monday-Saturday Daytime	Evenings & Sundays
58	First Manchester	Middleton via Chadderton and Mills Hill	B	Service 59
		Rochdale via Shaw and Milnrow	E	Service 59 to Shaw
59	First Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Chadderton, Middleton and Cheetham Hill	B	B
		Rushcroft via Shaw	E	E
64	First Manchester	Manchester Shudehill via Royton, Stottfield, Mills Hill, Boarshaw, Middleton and Dam Head	F	-
		Middleton via Royton, Stottfield, Mills Hill and Boarshaw	-	F
76	Stagecoach Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Limeside, Failsworth and Brookdale Park	J	Service 78
78	Bluebird	Manchester Piccadilly via Limeside, Hollinwood, Failsworth and Brookdale Park	Service 76	J
81	First Manchester	Derker	C	C
		Manchester Piccadilly via Werneth, Moston and Collyhurst	M	M
81A	First Manchester	Waterhead	C	C1
82	First Manchester	Waterhead	C2	C3
		Uppermill via Waterhead and Delph	C2	Service 350
		Manchester Piccadilly via Hollinwood, Failsworth and Newton Heath	H2	H3
83	First Manchester	Sholver via Moorside	G	G
		Manchester Piccadilly via Hollinwood, Failsworth and Newton Heath	H	H
149	First Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Hollinwood, Moston and Cheetham Hill	K	K
		Holts Estate via Glodwick, Alt and Abbeyhills	-	L
159	Bluebird	Middleton via Chadderton, Hollinwood, Woodhouses, Failsworth and New Moston	B	-
180	First Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Hollinwood, Failsworth and Newton Heath	F	F
		Greenfield via Lees and Grotton	G	G
183	First Manchester	Limeside via Chamber Road	J	Service 78
184	First Manchester First West Yorkshire	Manchester Piccadilly via Hollinwood, Failsworth and Newton Heath	F	F
		Huddersfield via Uppermill, Diggle and Marsden	G4	G4
343	Weekday daytime:Stagecoach Manchester Saturday daytime: JPT	Hyde via Lees, Mossley and Stalybridge	G	-
	First Manchester		-	G
344	Stagecoach Manchester	Hyde via Waterhead, Lees, Mossley and Stalybridge	G5	Service 343
350	First Manchester	Ashton-under-Lyne via Delph, Uppermill, Greenfield, Hey Farm and Mossley	C	C
402	Bluebird	Royton via Royal Oldham Hospital	C	-
406	Bluebird	Mills Hill via Royal Oldham Hospital and Parkway	C	-
	JPT	Middleton via Parkway and Mills Hill	-	C3
407	Stotts	Denshaw via Moorside and Pennine Meadows	C	C3
408	First Manchester	Buckstones via Royton, High Crompton and Shaw centre	E	-
		Shaw, Wren's Nest via Royton, High Crompton, Shaw centre and Buckstones	-	E
		Stalybridge via Abbeyhills and Hurst Cross	F	F
409	First Manchester JPT	Rochdale via Royton and Thornham	A	A
		Ashton-under-Lyne via Hathershaw	D	D
410	First Manchester	Waterhead Circular via Glodwick, Clarksfield, Derker and Higginshaw	K	-
411	First Manchester	Waterhead Circuar via Higginshaw, Derker, Clarksfield and Glodwick	K	-
415	First Manchester	Middleton via Butler Green and Alkrington	B	B
	Not Sunday evenings: First Manchester Sunday evenings: JPT	Holts Estate via Greenacre and Lees	L	L
418	Checkmate Coaches	Heyside via Royal Oldham Hospital	K	Service 409 to Hospital
		Austerlands via Lees and Springhead	L	Service 180/184 to Springhead
425	First Manchester	Fitton Hill via Hathershaw	M	M
		Holts Estate via Glodwick, Alt (Not Evenings/Sundays) and Abbeyhills	L	L
428	First Manchester	Buckstones Circular via Royton & High Crompton	E6	Service 408
Coaches	National Express	National Express services	C	C
Ring & Ride	TfGM	Ring & Ride services	M	-

Notes:

1	Monday-Saturday evenings
2	Peak time journeys only
3	Sunday daytime only
4	184 terminates at three different places:
	Uppermill: 4 journeys per hour (Monday-Saturday daytime); Hourly (Evenings and Sundays)
	Diggle, via Dobcross: Hourly (Monday-Saturday daytime) plus daily journey at 2251
	Huddersfield: Hourly (Monday-Saturday daytime); Every 2 hours (Sunday daytime)
5	One weekday morning journey
6	Monday-Friday off-peak only

Safety Concerns

One of the crossing points at the bus station

One problem with Oldham bus station is the safety of the crossings. In January 2007, 56 year old Ann Kerridge was killed after being knocked down by a bus on a crossing at the bus station with husband Brian dying shortly afterwards, which the family believed was caused by a broken heart. Following another accident at the same crossing in September 2007 and a report by GMPTE obtained by the Oldham Evening Chronicle newspaper that shows potentally fatal flaws at the two crossings at the ends of the bus station, one being near the entrance to the Travelshop and the other near the junction of St Mary's Way, it had led to the family of Ann Kerridge to demand that the crossing should be closed.

The problem with the two crossings is that bus drivers approach the crossing on a 90 degree bend, which would restrict the view of both the driver and the pedestrian, sometimes approaching the crossing slightly too fast. Also some drivers have been known to have stopped at the junction waiting to turn right out of the bus station, blocking the crossing, making it harder and more dangerous for pedestrians to cross over. Following the report from GMPTE, the pedestrian crossings have been re-allocated to the sides of the bus station next to stands G and H.

External links

• Oldham bus station departures - Transport for Greater Manchester