GM Buses North was eventually sold in March 1994 by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority to a management buyout team for £27.1 million (equivalent to £68,083,164 in 2023).

[8] The transaction saw 300 employees, 120 vehicles (although 20 were owned by TfGM) and the Wigan depot purchased by Stagecoach, with these being operated under the former A Mayne & Son legal entity.

[9] On 1 August 2013, the FirstGroup announced that subject to regulatory approval by the Office of Fair Trading, it had agreed to purchase the bus operations of south Manchester based company Finglands Coachways from its parent, the EYMS Group.

[17][18][19] In February 2019, it was announced that the Queens Road depot in Cheetham Hill had been purchased by the Go-Ahead Group to form Go North West, which commenced operations on 2 June 2019, having acquired 25 bus routes and a fleet of over 160 buses from First.

However, First Manchester also acquired the franchise to operate Bee Network services in Rochdale, based from Transdev Blazefield subsidiary Rosso's former depot, which was sold to TfGM some months prior.

The Nightbus services, mainly originating from Piccadilly Gardens bus station, ran to a frequency of either every 30 minutes or every hour from midnight to 3:30am and offered a flat fare ticketing system.

[29] On 3 April 2016, First Greater Manchester commenced operating services on the 4.5 miles (7.2 km) North West Guided busway between Leigh and Ellenbrook.

A fleet of 25 Wright Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5LH hybrid buses equipped with guidewheels were operated by First on the service, branded in a dark purple Vantage livery.

[34] In February 2012, the company were warned by the Department for Transport's North West traffic commissioner after a performance survey found an average of 26% of First Manchester services were not running on time.

Prior to the sale of the Bolton and Queens Road depots in 2019, First Greater Manchester operated a fleet of 583 buses, consisting mainly of Wrightbus-bodied Volvos and Alexander Dennis Enviro400s.