Greater Manchester bus route 216

216
Stagecoach Manchester route 216 Enviro 400 at Piccadilly Gardens in August 2024
Overview
Operator	Stagecoach Manchester
Garage	Ashton
Vehicle	Alexander Dennis Enviro400 Alexander Dennis Enviro400MMC
Route
Start	Piccadilly Gardens
Via	Etihad Stadium VeloPark Droylsden Ashton Moss Ashton
End	Stalybridge
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	8-20 mins
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Greater Manchester bus route 216 is a bus route runs between Piccadilly Gardens in the Manchester city centre and Stalybridge. Despite it shares the same termini with route 219 and they are operated by Stagecoach Manchester, areas served are more similar to routes 230 and 231.

History

The history of route 216 dates back to the days of trolleybus in the 1950s. The route was launched with an express service, the 216x, which operates at rush hours. Both were operated by Greater Manchester buses. The trolleybuses lived until the 1980s, services are replaced by conventional buses till now. In February 1996, GM South Buses was bought by Stagecoach and rebranded as Stagecoach Manchester..

Services

Full route

The route begins at Piccadilly Gardens, operate via Etihad Stadium, VeloPark, Droylsden, Ashton Moss and Ashton before terminating at Stalybridge. Full route only operates half hourly on non-bank holiday weekdays between 6:33 and 7:30 from Stalybridge and 18:00 and 18:22 from Piccadilly Gardens. The full route does not operate on weekends and bank holidays.

Part route

Outside the full route operation hours, part route services are provided between Piccadilly Gardens and Ashton every 8–20 minutes.

Current route

The 216 serves the following primary locations:

• Etihad Stadium
• VeloPark
• Droylsden
• Ashton Moss
• Ashton