First Group Ltd

No wonder they are given out free passes because they are losing money. No proper service always out of service. Thank God for the Metro link.
May consider a name change as First implies a premier service

Out of all the bus companies I have travelled with, First are probably the worst. I have used First buses for years as they are the main bus company in my local area of Middleton — so if I want to get to Oldham, Rochdale or central Manchester, the chances are my journey will be on a First bus.
They is nothing worse waiting in the cold and the rain especially when your bus is late and First, I feel are late on purpose. When it is dark, cold, and bad weather it always seems they do the mischievous act of delaying the bus,
First drivers have previously sworn at me, for doing nothing in return. Gone past my bus stop, flying past when they was more than enough room and I signalled at them to stop, even stopping at my stop, letting a good amount of people on and telling me That they is no room, when more people have got off than the people in my party, then they will be room.
I hate their new Hybrid buses to, I know this is to be environmentally friendly but they is literally no room, they is 2 seats faced far apart from each other, at the front near the stairs and after that, they is literally little seats so when you are on those buses, prepared to be really squashed due to a large amount of people (That happens most of the time anyway), be prepared to be turned down for the bus and be prepared to stand.
One time I did get a seat on a hybrid bus, I was right at the front, near the bin and they was 2 seats at a small step all crammed together, I swear they wasn’t even enough leg room for a child, which is appalling really, the seats are not very wide either and some people can take up more than 1 seat, so on one journey I had to sit sideways, because they was no room for my legs, and I only had ½ of a chair, which if you are are always travelling with First like me, you will know is very narrow indeed
I always dread having to get the bus, because 97% of my journeys are with First, the company with rude drivers and love to be late, lack of legroom and seat room and wish Stagecoach (I am not a big fan of them either), would take some of their journey’s off them, as they have bought out quite a few Manchester bus firms so far and taken control of their routes, like Bluebird and JPT.

My experience of the First Bus Group has been hit and miss since starting in my current position last August. However, this has actually been more hit than miss. Even getting on the lines which predominantly transport college students from the city centre to Salford Universities are a gazillion times nicer than my experiences on the Magic Bus during my 3 years of University.
Yes yes, it costs me £2.10 to get from the city centre to Salford, something some people might seem as a wee bit pricey when compared to the £1.00 travel you can steal on Finglands but everything is on the up in this economy. Boo government etc etc. On the whole my daily trips with First are on time and pretty efficent. Drivers are neither super friendly nor the grizzly bears who are sick of ferrying drunk students from bar to bar. The real thing First seems to have going for it is customer service. Point one — I didn’t get my monthly card delivered within the usual waiting time, complained, then received a new card (with updated date so as to not steal my hard earned money) within a week. Done! Point two — one day I had to trek 20 minutes to work in Salford from an unknown bus stop due to a late/​completely unrunning bus, got to work super mad (and sweaty, classy) and wrote a quick complaint to First explaining that nothing turned up, nothing was on the bus stop, and nothing was on their website. Wah! Today, I have arrived home to a letter apologising for the lack of service and listing the issues the buses were facing that day and why the bus didn’t turn up; they’re supporting my complaint! I was right! Hate to say I told you so. (Not really, I love it.)

If First calls itself a bus company they should be sued under The Trade Description Act. Laurel and Hardy could run a better service than these clowns.

went to help my friend move in her new home in feb 2011. Waited for a First Bus for 40mins it was supposed to be there at 7.10pm arrived at 7.50pm it cost me £4.10 for a day saver (i aksed for an any bus saver — got given the wrong ticket) made me late for work and had an hours wage docked because of them!

First buses are the main reason I hate coming to work.
There are several reasons for this. The first thing has to be the price, it’s ridiculous! The cheapest journey costs £1.70. £1.70! Even if you’re only going three stops! A weekly pass costs over £15!
The second reason has to be how ridiculously unreliable they are. Today I waited 35 minutes for one!
The drivers are rude, they seem to be the most miserable people on earth.
I will honestly try and get to a destination any other way before getting on a First bus. Avoid if you can!

First Group are a large and highly successful multinational public transportation company. It is therefore a shame that First Manchester, a bus company that has a virtual monopoly on services across the north of the city, should provide such an awful service.
Call me old-​fashioned, but I thought bus timetables were there as some kind of guide as to when buses turn up, but having waited for 45 minutes in central Manchester for one of SEVEN scheduled buses to turn up a couple of weeks back, I realise that these timetables are just a suggestion rather than an actual guide.
I would like to say this is an isolated incident but delays to the service are something I have experienced with First time and again, waiting 20 minutes plus for buses that are supposed to be arriving every 5 minutes is something of a regular occurence.
It’s pretty bad price-​wise as well, but as they’ve got no competition in north Manchester, they can charge whatever they want. Return tickets were scrapped some time ago, meaning a 3-​mile return trip from central Salford costs £3.60. Day tickets are £3.70, weekly tickets a ludicrous £14 (compared to £10 for a Stagecoach Megarider) and monthly tickets an unbelievable £50!
Could and should be a lot better, but to be fair I’m not holding my breath