![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2_392A8490.jpg\")
‘…It’s Magic!’ It really was(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\nA sighting these days is rare, but not impossible.‘…It’s Magic!’ It really was(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n
Like huge moving sheds, they traversed Europe\u2019s busiest bus corridor for decades.<\/p>\n
Officially, the last Magic Bus made its final journey in January<\/a> – taking \u00a31 fares, a colourful paintjob and an indescribable late-night energy with it.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s still possible to see one in the wild as transport bosses work to dress each of Greater Manchester\u2019s buses with the Bee Network livery.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s exactly what happened as I chatted to students in Fallowfield<\/a> on a sunny afternoon this week.<\/p>\n Like some rare bird of prey it appeared out of nowhere (or Rusholme<\/a>). Very large, vibrantly blue, magnificent. The lesser-spotted Magic Bus.<\/p>\n \u201cOoh look,\u201d I said, pointing it out to the marked bewilderment of two teenagers who had kindly agreed to speak to me about something else entirely. They seemed unimpressed.<\/p>\n Really, it is impossible to explain to a Manchester newcomer why these giant blue and yellow chariots became part of south Manchester lore.<\/p>\n Like Bowie at the Free Trade Hall – you just had to be there.<\/p>\n A fixture of south Manchester life, Magic Buses ferried the city’s students and those on a tight budget between Northenden, Didsbury<\/a> and the city centre for almost 30 years.<\/p>\n And the iconic double-deckers were the go-to mode of transport for fresh-faced undergraduates.<\/p>\n Of course, it wasn\u2019t always an enchanting experience.<\/p>\n As a perpetually tardy schoolgirl I would watch with extreme irritation every September as student after student boarded at Owens Park each with a \u00a310 note and no clue as to where they were going.<\/p>\n \u201cGet a weekly pass and sit down,\u201d I would say, assertively, under my breath.<\/p>\n The magic of the Magic Bus was not sourced merely from its name, but from its essence and, most certainly, its smell. There was sorcery at play in that heady mix of damp umbrella, fried chicken and diesel fumes.<\/p>\n There are some who will tell you the Magic Bus did not deserve its moniker. That there was in fact nothing magical about them at all. That they were, in fact, just buses with a big wizard on the side.<\/p>\n Those naysayers must never have known the joy of being abandoned in town with only \u00a31 to your name, knowing you would make it home safely.<\/p>\n They can never have experienced a late-night chat with a tanked up group of students who turned out to be really nice people.<\/p>\n They must never have known what it was to ride at the top and front of the huge double-deckers and marvel at the resplendent sights of Toastrack, the old BBC<\/a> building and Cine City like a tourist.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_IMG_3960-1.jpg\")
A Magic Bus spotted in Fallowfield on Wednesday<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1_Magic-bus-old.jpg\")
How the Magic Bus looked in the early 2000s<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_392A8558.jpg\")
(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2_100521magicbuses7.jpg\")
Goodbye, faithful friend(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n