Greater Manchester bus route 184

184
First Greater Manchester Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TL in February 2011 in Oldham
Overview
Operator	First Greater Manchester
Route
Start	Huddersfield bus station
Via	Cowlersley Linthwaite Slaithwaite Marsden Standedge Diggle Dobcross Uppermill Grasscroft Grotton Lees Greenacres
End	Oldham bus station
Service
Frequency	Monday-Saturday daytime: Every 60 minutes Sunday daytime: Route covered by service 84
Journey time	82 minutes
Operates	05:00-19:30 (Monday-Saturday)
Route map Legend Legend Huddersfield bus station Cowlersley Linthwaite Slaithwaite Marsden Standedge West Yorkshire Greater Manchester boundary Diggle Uppermill Greenfield railway station Grasscroft Grotton Lees Greenacres Oldham Mumps Oldham town centre Oldham bus station This diagram: view talk edit This diagram: view talk edit ← {{{previous_line}}}  {{{system_nav}}}  {{{next_line}}} →

Greater Manchester bus route 184 is operated by First Greater Manchester. ^[1] The service runs hourly Monday-Saturday daytime on its full route between Oldham and Huddersfield.

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 (later re-numbered 183) was introduced running between Uppermill and Manchester via Delph, with journeys running as a 13 changing into a 14 at Uppermill and vice versa. ^[2] 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 (during which was re-numbered to 184), 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. ^[3]

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. ^[2]

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. ^[2] 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 (First Greater Manchester ran the first two journeys to Huddersfield, First West Yorkshire ran the first two journeys from Huddersfield).

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. ^[2] 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 (combined with two 180 journeys) 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. ^[4] 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. ^[5] 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 (especially the fact there would only be two buses an hour from Uppermill).

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 ^{[6] [7]} and would disrupts links between bus and train at Greenfield railway station. ^[8]

In October 2019, the route was split into two sections with the Huddersfield to Oldham section covered by service 184, while buses between Uppermill, Grotton, Oldham and Manchester were re-numbered to 84. ^[9] Sunday journeys would continue to run to Manchester Piccadilly bus would run as service 84 instead of 184. In March 2020, the service was suspended during the Coronavirus lockdown and was covered by a reduced timetable on service 84. In September 2020, service 184 was re-introduced between Huddersfield and Oldham but re-routed between Lees and Oldham to run via Greenacres instead of Lees Road. ^[10]

Route

The service begins bus station before continuing via Greenacres, Lees, Grotton, Grasscroft into Uppermill. From there, he 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, while Sunday daytime journeys, which runs every two hours, runs as service 84. ^[11]

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 ^[12] 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. ^[13]

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, ^[14] 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. ^[15] Previously, Volvo B7RLEs, ^[16] Volvo Olympians ^[17] and Dennis Lances ^[18] were used by First West Yorkshire on the 184.

References

1. FirstGroup. "Manchester High Frequency Network map" (PDF). Retrieved 16 October 2011.
2. Saddleworth Buses. "14 & 184 - Manchester to Uppermill, Diggle and Huddersfield" . Retrieved 3 November 2012.
3. "Greater Manchester Transport And Beyond". The SELNEC Preservation Society. Retrieved 8 May 2009.
4. "First bus passengers get more choice to travel between Oldham and Manchester". FirstGroup. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
5. "Item 07 Forthcoming Changes to the Bus Network". Transport for Greater Manchester Committee. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
6. "Villages victims of bus changes". Oldham Chronicle. 2 October 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
7. Heywood, Erin (30 October 2012). "Bus changes will have impact on villages". Oldham Chronicle. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
8. "Bus cuts a 'transport disaster'". Oldham Chronicle. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
9. "84, 180, 184, X84 timetable" (PDF). Transport for Greater Manchester. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
10. "Coronavirus - COVID19: Service information". First Group. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
11. Transport for Greater Manchester. "184 Huddersfield to Manchester bus route" . Retrieved 2 January 2021.
12. Saddleworth Buses. "14 & 184 - Manchester to Uppermill, Diggle and Huddersfield - 184095_29577.jpg" . Retrieved 3 November 2012.
13. Saddleworth Buses. "14 & 184 - Manchester to Uppermill, Diggle and Huddersfield - 184261_50076" . Retrieved 3 November 2012.
14. Saddleworth Buses. "14 & 184 - Manchester to Uppermill, Diggle and Huddersfield - 184760_26818.jpg" . Retrieved 3 November 2012.
15. Saddleworth Buses. "14 & 184 - Manchester to Uppermill, Diggle and Huddersfield - 184805_30092.jpg" . Retrieved 3 November 2012.
16. Saddleworth Buses. "14 & 184 - Manchester to Uppermill, Diggle and Huddersfield - 184147_50001.jpg" . Retrieved 3 November 2012.
17. Saddleworth Buses. "14 & 184 - Manchester to Uppermill, Diggle and Huddersfield - 184045_16234.jpg" . Retrieved 3 November 2012.
18. Saddleworth Buses. "14 & 184 - Manchester to Uppermill, Diggle and Huddersfield - 184005_50009.jpg" . Retrieved 3 November 2012.