From September 2013 JPT decided to reinstate the route 17 only as far as Middleton, resulting in there being more competition on the route between itself and First Greater Manchester, but with the service running only every 20 minutes, which was not as frequent as before.
Starting in September 2013, JPT reinstated route 17 only to Middleton, causing more competition with First Greater Manchester, but the frequency of the service decreased to every 20 minutes.