Greater Manchester bus route 18 (Stagecoach Manchester)

Not to be confused with Greater Manchester bus route 18 (Arriva North West).

Greater Manchester Bus route 18 is a Bee Network bus route operating between Manchester Royal Infirmary and Langley. It is operated by Stagecoach Manchester on contract from Transport for Greater Manchester and shares the same intermediate stops between Shudehill Interchange and Middleton bus station with route 17.

18
Stagecoach Manchester Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC at Manchester Royal Infirmary at July 2024
Overview
Operator	Stagecoach Manchester
Garage	Middleton
Vehicle	Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC
Route
Start	Manchester Royal Infirmary
Via	Shudehill Interchange Harpurhey Blackley Middleton bus station
End	Langley
Service
Frequency	every 10-30 minutes
Operates	Daily

History

First Greater Manchester Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TL at Shudehill Interchange in March 2011

Main article: Greater Manchester bus route 17

The history of the 18 can be traced back into the 1930s, when SELNEC purchased the tram route from High Street to Middleton from Manchester Corporation Tramways and retained its route number 17.

In the 1980/90s it was run by GM Buses before First Greater Manchester took over the company. Meanwhile, this route, was introduced, sharing same intermediate stops between Shudehill Interchange and Middleton bus station with the 17.

Route 18 is one of the few Manchester routes still using its original number from the original 1914 numbering system. On 2 June 2019, it was taken over by Go North West, followed by Stagecoach Manchester in 2024 prior to Trenche 2 of Bee Network.

Current route

Full route

Full route operates half hourly throughout the day. It starts from Manchester Royal Infirmary, via Shudehill Interchange, Collyhurst, Harpurhey, Blackley and Middleton bus station before teminating at Langley.

Part routes

Along with the full route, there are 2-4 buses per hour operating between Shudehill Interchange and Langley, making the route operates every 10–15 minutes on this section throughout the daytime. There are also limited part services operating between Queens Park and Langley. At weekdays and Saturday midnight, there is also a service only operates one way between Langley and Middleton bus station.

Primary destinations

The 18 serves the following locations:

• Manchester Royal Infirmary
• Shudehill Interchange
• Sandhills
• Queen's Park
• Harpurhey
• Blackley
• Boggart Hole Clough
• Alkrington
• Middleton bus station
• Langley

Trivia

There's also a route operating between Manchester Airport and Eccles by Arriva North West which bears the same number with this route.