Diamond North West are the new kids on the block on the Bolton bus scene after the purchase of First Manchester's Bolton depot - meaning they now cover services running from Bolton as well as their existing base in Atherton/Wigan - they are owned by Rotala who also run bus services in other parts of the country and are based in Birmingham, however, Diamond North West's communication is based around Atherton. They have taken over multiple routes now serving the city centre including the 163 from Bury to Manchester Piccadilly via Middleton, the 8 services from Manchester to Bolton via Spinningfields and Bolton as well as many other services connecting Manchester and Bolton and the X39. One thing which impressed me is how they've set out to have brand new buses which just aren't converted buses from their predecessor on their new routes from day one - the new buses are multiple tones of blue with 2019 registration plates and from the outside do look pretty good. While they are still running some of the old First buses rebranded with their logo stickers over First - it still is a slow process which could take a while as they have a large number of buses to either completely re-design or replace - this is compared to GO North West who taken over First Manchester's depot based in Cheetham Hill who spent a while introducing some of the newly branded buses and those are still converted First buses and not brand new. As well as looking good from the outside, the new buses look pretty decent from the inside with USB sockets everywhere however especially on the 19 models they've really missed a chance to improve technology on the bus for people with disabilities. 1. Why not announce bus stops like London which can help tourists or people who struggle with sight 2. The wheelchair designated space is not big enough to support a wheelchair as it is split into two areas, the other designed for a buggy, this green pole gets in the way meaning the wheelchair has to turn to block part of the aisle into an illegal position. The ramp to get onto the bus remains manual. Services are starting to run more on time which is good but to be fair even a tortoise could beat First and there are still improvements which need to be done on that front with some services still running late or not turning up at all, which isn't a good impression to be starting off with - this does mean however sometimes having to wait at stops if they are running early to make the difference two minutes or less - it is annoying especially when the driver doesn't announce anything which causes confusion but still running on time is pretty fair for everyone. Drivers again are mixed, some coming from the company existing based in Atherton, some being brand new or coming over from First - On most occasions, I've found the bus drivers to be rude and ignorant -one of them even overcharged me costing £4.40 for a single journey: 1. In London, this would have been £1.50 or £4.50 for a whole day of bus travel or £7 for zones 1 and 2 if you want to combine the tube and DLR - which shows the expense 2. I could have got a "night" ticket for the same price, rather than charging this for a whole journey, which was just £0.40 less than a day ticket to use any service from First, Diamond or GNW in Manchester - there was also a ticket much cheaper for £3.80 - it seems unless you know prices beforehand drivers love to overcharge you with Diamond. Is Diamond an improvement on First? Yes. Overall - other than two major issues for disabled people and ticketing they are pretty solid. 3* read more

Diamond North West - New buses ahead of takeover of First Manchester's Bury and Bolton routes including 8,163,X39 Website photo - Buses Near Me - Atherton, XGM

Joke of a company, calling them a company is a push! Terrible services by poorly organised middle management who are more interested in micro management and getting one over on their colleagues than providing a good service! read more

Every weekdays i get on the 132 diamond bus, and I gotta say that the bus takes a f**king piss everytime. It is always late, as in ALWAYS and speaking of the fact the bus comes every hour. No matter how many people complained about it, they never do anything to make it better. Today, 5.45pm the bus was supposed to arrive in Wigan. The bus goes from Wigan to Trafford centre. After almost half an hour waiting I called the company asking what happened and where is the bus. They told me that the bus was still in atherton and that their was an accident which made it got stuck in traffic. Alright I was willing to wait a bit longer. Half an hour later I called the company again and they told me that the bus has stopped running from Wigan to Trafford centre. SERIOUSLY? I just couldn't believe the service they offer at diamond for it is ALWAYS LATE and they decided to stop running because they were an hour late. If anything I seriously do not recommend getting the diamond bus. I would rather get on more than one bus that arrives on time gets me to my destination on time without making stupid excuses everyday. Diamond has to really provide better service to their customers or they are going to lose them. read more

Bunch of cowboys expect drivers to sit on a bench for an hour at Trafford centre bus station and salford while on their dinner in any weather not facilities for toilet treat drivers like animals 90 percent of the buses are faulty have engine light on or worse abs brake light on but are told they got to use it something has to be done they won't recognize a union read more