Greater Manchester's Museum of Transport

National icon on streets of Manchester

14 April 2008

One of Britain’s national icons, the famous London Routemaster bus, will bring capital transport to the streets of Manchester this weekend.

After 50 years’ service in the capital city, the Routemaster has only recently come out of service in London, ousted by Ken Livingstone’s bendy buses and government rules. But Mancunians can get a chance to ride on this red symbol of the city this weekend, as Manchester’s Museum of Transport gears up to hold a London Bus Day this Sunday [20 April] at the Museum in Boyle Street, Cheetham. For one day only, buses to Trafalgar Square will mingle with buses to Trafford, and from Piccadilly to, er… Piccadilly. The whole history of the London bus will be there, from old London buses to even older London buses, from all over the country – including London buses driving all the way from London to take part.

Buses from London will also run a free shuttle service between the Museum of Transport in Boyle Street, Cheetham, Manchester and Manchester’s Victoria railway and Metrolink station all day from 1000 to 1700, with other excursions happening too, and inside the Museum the memories will carry on with everything from staff outing snapshots to timetables, posters and other reminders of London’s red buses.

“We’re really looking forward to this event” said Museum spokesman Paul Williams “Anyone who has been to London remembers the old London Transport buses. There’ll be lots to see and do, and most of all families will get the chance to ride on buses you would see on the road thirty or forty years ago. Many children have never seen a bus with the door at the back and the engine at the front, or a bus conductor collecting fares - so we hope lots of families will come and take a ride back in time”

Ends

Notes to Editors

The Museum of Transport is in Boyle Street, Cheetham, Manchester and is open to the public every Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday. An admission charge applies. The Museum is a partnership between the volunteers and the Greater Manchester Transport Society and GMPTE, the public body which supports and co-ordinates public transport in Greater Manchester. Telephone 0161 205 2122 or visit www.gmts.co.uk.