Cor, I am feeling rather nostalgic now. Someone (@technicalfault) on twitter posted a picture of an old bus, which in turn made me remember the old orange livery of the GM buses that used to be all over Manchester when, following deregulation in 1986, Greater Manchester Transport was dissolved and GM Buses rose from the ashes.

If you are as geeky as I am, I think you’ll love this website: www.GMBuses.co.uk (visit the pictures section to see some cracking shots of Manchester back in the day, including the old Arndale bus station!)

(the 22 is a special favourite of mine as we used to be able to get from my childhood home directly to my Nana and Grandad’s house on it!)

The buses used to be really old, very musty, and have a faux-wood panel interior with brown/yellow/mustard/orange seat covers. Straight out of the 80s!

The tickets, OH THE TICKETS, how I miss them!!

With such a ‘yuk’ factor in today’s world, you may be surprised to know that they still operate some of these GM buses – they were sold to Magic / Stagecoach and are still heavily used on the student routes across the city.

Oh, and of course you mustn’t forget… you must ALWAYS get your feet off the ground if a Ring-and-Ride comes past…!