City leaders plan to reduce the number of buses idling in near a popular plaza.
Manchester City Council wants to re-route the vehicles to other parts of the city centre.
Leader Bev Craig said: “Is Piccadilly Gardens our plaza – or is it our bus station? At the minute, it tries to do both and that doesn’t quite work.”
The pledge comes before a £25m redevelopment of the square, and the final stage of buses being taken back into local control in January.
The re-regulation will mean regional transport bosses will have the say on fares, timetables and routes.
Ms Craig added: “We need to get our timings right. So we will be looking to change how buses currently use Piccadilly Gardens.
“But we will be doing that properly over a period of time.”
She said she had been told by Transport for Greater Manchester) TfGM that “routing a bus network was complicated” but that she thought it was possible to ensure fewer idling buses in the Gardens.
The 10-acre site that is earmarked for regeneration includes the Parker Street bus station, which opened in 1931.
Work is already underway to redevelop the concrete pavilion in Piccadilly Gardens, diving the structure into two buildings and removing the canopy between them.
That work is expected to be completed soon by the owners, Legal and General.
A controversial concrete structure dubbed a ‘Berlin Wall’, designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando ahead of the Commonwealth Games 2002, was demolished in 2020.