[citation needed] Throughout 1994, GMBS bought a large number of second hand buses, mainly Atlanteans and Leyland Nationals.

By the end of 1994, everything turned peaceful; Stagecoach agreed to no further competition on route 192 and hired 20 Alexander Dash bodied Volvo B6s to GMBS,[5] eventually selling the Stagecoach Manchester operation, as well as the 13 buses based at its Bredbury depot, to EYMS Group subsidiary Finglands Coachways in November 1995.

[6] On 25 February 1996, GM Buses South was sold to Stagecoach for £40.7 million (equivalent to £96,496,000 in 2023), despite criticism from the Labour Party and protests from pensioners outside the Free Trade Hall.

The existing Charterplan Travel coaching arm and commercial driver training company GMS Training remained unaffected by the rebranding,[9] however Charterplan was later sold to the EYMS Group the following May, being integrated into the operator's East Yorkshire Travel coaching arm.

[10] On 21 January 2008, Stagecoach Manchester purchased the bus operations of A Mayne & Son, with 38 buses all transferred to Hyde Road garage.

[15][16] The transaction saw 300 employees, 120 vehicles (although 20 were owned by Transport for Greater Manchester) and the Wigan depot purchased by the former Mayne legal entity.

OneBus proposed operators could instead work with the GMCA and TfGM to make private sector investments into the local bus network.

[26] The Stagecoach Group, alongside Rotala, launched a judicial review in March 2021 at the Royal Courts of Justice of a GMCA public consultation that recommended council leaders and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham approve plans to adopt bus franchising, with both parties criticising the consultation as "unlawful" and "flawed" for having not taken into account modal shifts in transport use brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Stagecoach is to maintain a significantly reduced presence in south Manchester with the awarding of the franchise for Bee Network services in Stockport.

Since the start of Tranche 1 of Bee Network from 24 September 2023, the Wigan depot was acquired by Go Ahead Group and is currently operated under Go North West.

It offered lower fares than on regular Stagecoach liveried services by using older bus type fleets.

Prior to its withdrawal on 5 January 2025 following the transfer of Magic Bus services 142, 143 and 147 to Metroline Manchester, the fleet consisted of older Alexander Dennis Enviro 400Hs transferred from the regular fleet branded in a blue and white livery featuring yellow star graphics.

[40] These also include a range of Hybrid variants: Most Stagecoach Manchester vehicles are branded in yellow Bee Network livery.

This order, funded by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's successful application to the UK government's Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, represents the largest zero-emissions bus fleet purchase so far by the Stagecoach Group as of April 2023.