Oldham Bus Station

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Oldham Bus Station

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 GMPTE.

In the past, there were three terminuses 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) at the new bus station.

When the station opened, there are 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 built a smaller bus station, based on the one on Cheapside for West Street. This opened in September 2006. Now, there are, in total, 12 stands, from A to M.

[edit] 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, JP Travel, Speedwellbus, Stagecoach Manchester and Swans Travel.

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, The Trafford Centre 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	Mon-Sat Daytime Stand	Evenings & Sundays Stand
52	First Manchester	Pendleton via Limeside, Failsworth and Cheetham Hill	M	-
58	First Manchester	Trafford Centre via Chadderton and Middleton	B	-
58	First Manchester	Rochdale via Shaw and Milnrow	L	-
59	First Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Chadderton, Middleton and Cheetham Hill	B	B
59	First Manchester	Rushcroft via Shaw	L	L
76	Stagecoach Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Limeside, Failsworth and Brookdale Park	M	-
78	Bluebird	Manchester Piccadilly via Limeside, Hollinwood, Failsworth and Brookdale Park	-	M
79	First Manchester	Moston via Werneth and Broadgate	D¹	-
81	First Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Werneth, Moston and Collyhurst	D	D²
81	First Manchester	Derker	L	L
82	First Manchester	Waterhead	G	G
82	First Manchester	Uppermill via Waterhead and Delph	G³	-
82	First Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Hollinwood, Failsworth and Newton Heath	H	H
83	First Manchester	Sholver via Moorside	G	G
83	First Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Hollinwood, Failsworth and Newton Heath	H	H
149	First Manchester	Holts Estate via Glodwick, Alt and Abbeyhills	-	A
149	First Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Hollinwood, Moston and Cheetham Hill	M	M
159	Bluebird	Middleton via Chadderton, Hollinwood, Woodhouses and New Moston	D	-
180	First Manchester	Greenfield via Lees and Grotton	E	E
180	First Manchester	Manchester Piccadilly via Hollinwood, Failsworth and Newton Heath	F	F
183	First Manchester	Grotton via Lees	E⁴	-
183	First Manchester	Limeside via Garden Suburb	M⁴	-
184	First Manchester First Calderdale & Huddersfield	Huddersfield via Uppermill, Diggle and Marsden	E⁵	E⁵
184	First Manchester First Calderdale & Huddersfield	Manchester Piccadilly via Hollinwood, Failsworth and Newton Heath	F	F
343	Mon-Sat Daytime: Speedwellbus Eve/Sun: First Manchester	Hyde via Greenacres (Eve/Sun only), Lees, Mossley and Stalybridge	G	G
344	Speedwellbus	Hyde via Waterhead, Lees, Mossley and Stalybridge	G¹	-
350	First Manchester	Ashton-under-Lyne via Delph, Uppermill, Greenfield, Hey Farm and Mossley	G	G
402	Bluebird	Royton via Royal Oldham Hospital	D	-
406	Stagecoach Manchester	Mills Hill via Royal Oldham Hospital and Parkway	D	-
406	JP Travel	Middleton via Parkway and Mills Hill	-	D⁶
407	Swans Travel	Denshaw via Moorside and Pennine Meadows	C	C⁶
408	First Manchester	Buckstones via Royton, High Crompton and Shaw (Eve/Sun journeys continue to Shaw, Wren's Nest)	C	C
408	First Manchester	Stalybridge via Abbeyhills and Hurst Cross	J	J
409	First Manchester	Ashton-under-Lyne via Hathershaw	J	J
409	First Manchester	Rochdale via Royton and Thornham	K	K
410	Bluebird	Waterhead Circular via Glodwick, Clarksfield, Derker and Higginshaw	C	-
411	Bluebird	Waterhead Circuar via Higginshaw, Derker, Clarksfield and Glodwick	C	-
412	First Manchester	Middleton via Royton, Stottfield, Mills Hill and Boarshaw	C	C
415	Mon-Sat: First Manchester Sundays: JP Travel	Middleton via Butler Green and Alkrington	B	B
415	First Manchester	Holts Estate via Greenacre and Lees	C	-
418	Checkmate	Chadderton via Royal Oldham Hospital	D	-
418	Checkmate	Austerlands via Lees and Springhead	G	-
425	First Manchester	Holts Estate via Glodwick, Alt (Not Eve/Sun) and Abbeyhills	A	A
425	First Manchester	Fitton Hill via Hathershaw	F	F
428	First Manchester	Buckstones Circular via Royton & High Crompton	C⁴	-
Coaches	National Express	National Express services	C	C
Ring&Ride	GMPTE	Ring & Ride services	M	-

Notes:

1	One Monday-Friday morning journey only
2	Sunday daytime journeys to Manchester; all evening journeys terminate at Moston
3	Afternoon peak time journeys only
4	Monday-Friday off-peak only
5	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)
6	Sunday daytime only

[edit] Safety Concerns

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 ^[1] 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.