Bluebird Bus and Coach


 * ''Not to be confused with Blue Bird Corporation, an American manufacturer of buses.

Bluebird Bus and Coach was a bus operator based in Greengate near Middleton in Greater Manchester. The company was formed in 1988 by three members of the Dunstan family and sold in 2013 to Stagecoach Manchester. It operated a number of commercial and supported routes in the Middleton, Higher Blackley, Moston and North Manchester area.

The company's most popular route was the 112 service, providing Bluebird's main service from Middleton to Manchester. Several of their services ran from Middleton bus station.

A Bluebird bus was also used by the University of Salford as a free service for staff and students to and from University Campus's and university halls of residences. This ran during weekdays from university opening hours till late in the evening.

History
The company was formed in 1988 when Tom Dunstan, a former Greater Manchester PTE area manager, bought a small coach company called Bluebird of Middleton. Tom Dunstan died in 2004 and the company is now run by his son Michael. The first route operated was commercial service 112, which was followed by a number of contracted routes. In 2006 and 2007, Bluebird expanded its operating area to Oldham introducing buses on the 181, 182, 402, 410 and 411 routes.

In November 2008, Bluebird was the first operator to run the Bolton Metroshuttle service before being replaced by Maytree Travel in January 2010, although the company would resume running a Metroshuttle service later that year, when they took the operation of the Stockport Metroshuttle service from Swan's Travel, although their Metroshuttle operation ended in March 2011, when the Stockport Metroshuttle service was taken over by Stagecoach Manchester.

On 7 November 2012, it was announced that Stagecoach Manchester had agreed to acquire the business and assets of Bluebird for £2m, although the deal is subject to clearance from the Office of Fair Trading and was approved on 22 February 2013. The purchase will include Bluebird's 40 vehicles, 80 staff members and its lease on the depot at Greengate, near Middleton and will be completed on 3 March 2013.

Routes
This is a summary of Bluebird services at the time of the take-over