Sunday marked a new dawn in the history of bus services in Greater Manchester - another chapter in a story dating back almost 200 years to 1824.
At times it's been a wild ride, with decades of boom then bust, so-called 'pirate' bus firms and bus 'wars' sparked by Margaret Thatcher's privatisation model of the '80s.
And it all began just a few years before the onset of the Victorian era - with a horse-drawn carriage slowing winding its way into the city centre from Salford.
Political changes and social conscience have altered the landscape in terms of buses as much as advances in transport technology have, with the launch of franchising this weekend marking the biggest shake-up in almost 40 years.
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