I chosen Magic Bus to take me from Piccadily Gardens to the central Manchester hospitals, both ways and compared to may previous experiances with Stagecoach, I had a rather pleasant experiance.
I got the 142 service towards East Disbury on the way there, the driver told me that they went near the hospitals, this journey didn't stand out, like the return journey.
My return journey saw a Supervisor who was monitoring the driver and she was very nice and friendly, we shared stories about Manchester City and my pleasant experiance with Magic Bus compared to First buses, where the drivers have sworn at me on numerous occasions and constantly late.
Magic Bus services really do stand out colourwise as they are bright dark blue, similar to Bluebird, whose buses were a lighter blue before being bought out by Stagecoach and converted into Stagecoach style white buses, with a small patten, also similar to first buses.
I don't know if this is all Magic Bus services but they come really regular, they don't appear to be really late, the staff are okay and some of them really do stand out. I feel Magic Bus deserves 4 stars ; the only way they could improve is adding wifi onto their buses, like their parent company Stagecoach have on there hybrid buses. I would say bases on experiances with most of the major bus companies in Greater Manchester (Stagecoach, and first) (as well as JPT and Bluebird before being bought out), Magic Bus is definitely the best.
UPDATE: Due to declining quality of service and the fact the buses lack the modern feel and just feel average, I honestly feel I was being far too generous with my original rating and because of this and declining service from the drivers as well as routes and the buses themselves being average, I feel Magic Bus deserve a two star rating instead. read more