Greater Manchester bus route 8

8
Go North West Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid at Shudehill in August 2024
Overview
Operator	Go North West
Garage	Bolton
Vehicle	Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid
Route
Start	Shudehill Interchange
Via	Salford Pendleton Pendlebury Kearsley Burnden
End	Bolton Interchange
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	15-30 mins

Greater Manchester bus route 8 is a Bee Network bus route runs between Shudehill Interchange in the Manchester city centre and Bolton Interchange. It is operated by Go North West on contract from Transport for Greater Manchester.

History

The history of the 8 can be traced back to the 1920s. When opened, it was one of the Manchester Corporation's preposterously long cross-city express routes, running all the way from Bolton to Hyde. From the 1980s, the route is handed over to First Manchester. It was one of the routes to get the articulated buses in operation. In April 1999, a fleet of low-floor Wright Fusion bodied Volvo B10LAs replaced conventional double decker buses on the route, being trialled by the FirstGroup as a 'testbed' for future deliveries across its fleets. These were replaced in 2005 with a fleet of eighteen Scania OmniCity integrally-constructed buses, however in August 2017, these were withdrawn due to maintenance costs and space issues at Queens Road garage, being replaced by conventional buses. The 8 passed to Go North West in June 2019 following the sale of First's Bolton garage to the Go-Ahead Group. In 2023, Go North West received a fleet of Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid from Diamond Bus North West prior to the Tranche 1 of Bee Network to operate this route.

Route

The 8 serves the following primary destinations:

• Salford
• Pendleton
• Pendlebury
• Kearsley
• Burnden