The History of the 346
From Tram to Stagecoach [Manchester] (Page 2)
Contents:
Beginnings
The year 1905 saw the Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Joint Board's realisation of connecting Stalybridge with Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield complete. The last section to be completed was the Ashton - Dukinfield (Albion Hotel) route. This was complete by February of 1905, after protracted negotiations over the fare stages of the route. With the service proposed to terminate at the Pitt and Nelson, 700 yards of the route up to Scotland Street fell within Ashton Corporation territory. This was resolved by July of 1905.
The Ashton (Pitt and Nelson) to Dukinfield (Albion Hotel) service was operated with single deck trams due to the low height of County Bridge at the time. They also interworked with its sister route between Ashton (Pitt and Nelson) and Stalybridge (Acres Lane). This served the Tame Valley area of Dukinfield, continuing to Park Road depot, thus passing the depot and power station.
Motor bus conversion
With motorbuses offering more flexibility, both the Park Road and Albion Hotel routes were converted to motor bus operation in August 1928.
By 1948, the Government's nationalisation of the electricity companies into bigger area boards saw a change of premises for SHMD. With the power station having moved to Hartshead, the depot was almost surplus to requirements for SHMD. The new Hartshead Power Station became part of the newly created Central Electricity Generating Board. New premises were sought for the buses on Tame Street, opposite the Victor and Ray cotton mills.
The tram depot and former power station was sold to the North West Electricity Board as a vehicle and storage depot before moving to new premises on Oldham Road, Ashton-under-Lyne in 1985.
By the early 1950s, with the trams now scrapped, numbers were allocated to its bus routes. Both the Park Road and Crescent Road came under numbers 11 and 11A. At Stalybridge, its Acres Lane terminus was extended to Grey Street, with some journeys continuing to the then new Brushes Estate. At the Dukinfield end of the route, some journeys continued to the new houses on Yew Tree Lane built by Dukinfield Urban District Council. The remainder continued to Newton (Lodge Street), where it would meet up with the 15 and 15A Hyde - Newton (Shaw Hall Estate) services.
Reorganisation and rationalisation
November 1969 saw the municipal companies and joint transport boards of South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire become part of SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive. Formed under the 1968 Transport Act, the PTE's aim was the integration of public transport undertakings. SELNEC was one of the first four such bodies (the other four were West Midlands PTE, Merseyside PTE, Tyneside PTE and Trans Clyde PTE, later Strathclyde PTE following local government reorganisation in Scotland).
The original intention was to have the PTE bus operations as quasi-autonomous from the PTE itself. SELNEC's operations were split into three divisions: Northern, Central and Southern. The latter took in Ashton Corporation, Stockport Corporation and SHMD. A fourth division, Cheshire, was created after the acquisition of North Western Road Car Company's bus operations within the SELNEC area.
In preparation for local government reorganisation, the four divisions were known as plain SELNEC, rather than for example Southern being prefixed in timetables with SELNEC. The 1973 Local Government Act saw the formation of Metropolitan Counties for urban areas on similar lines to London's GLC. Among their responsibilities was public transport provision., which resulted in SELNEC changing to Greater Manchester Transport on the 1 April 1974.
In order to reduce duplication of numbers throughout the SELNEC area, a standard numbering system was created between 1973 - 1974. The 11 and 11A was allocated the number '346'. Its sister route in Newton was allocated the numbers 350 and 351. The Ashton - Dukinfield (Park Road) - Stalybridge (Grey Street) section was split and given the route number 341.
This arrangement was short lived as by 1978 the 350 and 351 routes were no more. They were absorbed by the 346 (Ashton - Newton) route, offering an alternative direct route to Newton and Hyde from Dukinfield. This also coincided with the opening of Greater Manchester Transport's new Tameside Depot off Whitelands, replacing facilities at Tame Street, Stalybridge and Mossley Road, Ashton-under-Lyne.
The 341 was renumbered the 351, leaving number 350 free till the 20th July 1980, (the date which saw radical restructuring of bus routes in Mossley and Saddleworth). By 1978 - 1979, the 346 ran a 20 minute frequency between Ashton - Hyde via Shaw Hall Estate (which in 1972 was blessed with buses every 10 minutes).
Into the 1980s
May 1979 saw one journey per hour of the 346 extended to Droylsden via Littlemoss and Crowhill. Absorbing part of former Ashton Corporation service 6 (Droylsden - Ashton - Smallshaw), it provided a direct link to Droylsden from Dukinfield without a need to change at Ashton.
By 1980 - 1981, Greater Manchester Transport was hit hard not only by the previous decade's rise in fuel prices, but also high unemployment. The recession saw Greater Manchester's unemployment figures soar with traditional manufacturing industries going to the wall - industries where heavy bus use was legion. Inevitably, this led to cutbacks affecting Greater Manchester Transport, from works buses to less profitable local services. The 346's short journeys to Yew Tree Lane was one example. This became part of a new service, the 342, serving Ashton and Hyde via Stalybridge (Ridge Hill estate) and Yew Tree estate.
By 1985 - 1986, the 342 was withdrawn and replaced by the 388, this time continuing to Gee Cross and Marple, interworking with the 389, which also started at Ashton as a result of the changes. In the same period, the Droylsden - Ashton link on the 346 was severed.
By the end of 1986, more change came, and this was to be more tumultous than severing the 346's link with Droylsden.
In the words of the then head of GMPTE, the conurbation, by government edict was forced to undo 50 years of integration and coordination in a matter of months.
The 1985 Transport Act was sold on the belief that competition would drive down prices and improve customer choice. Before the 26 October 1986, Greater Manchester saw a modest increase in patronage between 1982 - 1986 (the Labour controlled Greater Manchester Council held fares at 1981 - 1982 levels). Their efforts were to be undone, as choice was seemingly another word for confusion. To adapt to the free market madness cheerfully known as deregulation, the 346 saw its evening and Sunday frequency reduced to once an hour.
The early years saw service changes emerge at a rapid rate. New companies tried to compete with the PTE owned one with often substandard vehicles. The chaos also included several fare stages and ticket validity conditions to learn. Unthreatened by competition the 346 had a charmed life in the first few years of deregulation. This however was a lull before the storm.
