Greater Manchester bus route 42

42
	300px
Overview
Operator	Stagecoach Manchester; (Manchester-East Didsbury-Stockport); First Greater Manchester; (Middleton-NMGH-Manchester-East Didsbury)
Vehicle	Alexander Dennis Enviro400 (Diesel & Hybrid); Volvo B7RLE / Wright Eclipse Gemini
Route
Start	Middleton; (some First); North Manchester General Hospital; (some First); Manchester Piccadilly bus station; (some First, all Stagecoach)
Via	Crumpsall (some First); North Manchester General Hospital (some First); Cheetham Hill (some First); Shudehill Interchange (some First); Manchester city centre; University of Manchester; Rusholme; Fallowfield; Withington; Didsbury; East Didsbury; Heaton Mersey (some Stagecoach)
End	East Didsbury; (all First, some Stagecoach); Stockport bus station; (some Stagecoach)
Service
Frequency	Middleton-East Didsbury:; 10-20 minutes (Mon-Sat daytime); 20-30 minutes (evenings, Sundays); Manchester-Stockport:; 20 minutes (Mon-Sat daytime); 30 minutes (evenings, Sundays); Manchester-East Didsbury combined:; 5 minutes (Mon-Sat daytime); 10-15 minutes (evenings, Sundays)
Operates	Middleton-East Didsbury: 05:00-00:00; Manchester-Stockport: 06:00-23:00; Manchester-East Didsbury: 24 hours

Greater Manchester bus route 42 operates in Greater Manchester. It is operated by First Greater Manchester and Stagecoach Manchester on a common section between Manchester Piccadilly bus station and East Didsbury. First Greater Manchester operate an extension at its northern end from Manchester Piccadilly to North Manchester General Hospital^[1] and Stagecoach Manchester an extension at the southern end from East Didsbury to Stockport bus station.^[2]

History

Route 42 was historically operated by Finglands Coachways and Stagecoach Manchester between Manchester Piccadilly bus station and East Didsbury. UK North also operated services in the mid-2000s. Following the sale of the Finglands business to First Greater Manchester on 9 February 2014,^[3]^[4]^[5] the new operator extended its route 42 services to become a cross city service from North Manchester General Hospital under the Cross Connect banner on 26 April 2014.^[6]^[7] This service further extended to Middleton on 12 April 2015.^[8]

Route 42 serves the busy Wilmslow Road bus corridor, which includes universities and hospitals operating via these primary locations:

First			Stagecoach		Location
●					Middleton (some First services only)
●					Crumpsall (some First services only)
●	●				North Manchester General Hospital (some First services only)
●	●				Abraham Moss tram stop 10px (some First services only)
●	●				Cheetham Hill (some First services only)
●	●				Shudehill Interchange 10px for Manchester Victoria station (some First services only)
●	●	●	●	●	Manchester Piccadilly bus station for Piccadilly Gardens tram stop 10px and Manchester Piccadilly station
●	●	●	●	●	Oxford Road station
●	●	●	●	●	University of Manchester
●	●	●	●	●	Rusholme
●	●	●	●	●	Fallowfield
●	●	●	●	●	Withington
●	●	●	●	●	East Didsbury, Parrs Wood for East Didsbury tram stop 10px and East Didsbury station
				●	Heaton Mersey (some Stagecoach services only)
				●	Stockport bus station for Stockport railway station (some Stagecoach services only)