Blackburn Bus Company

The Blackburn Bus Company[1] is a bus operator, running services in the boroughs of Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Blazefield. Commencing in July 2016, the business is progressively being rebranded from Lancashire United.

Blackburn Bus Company
Wright Eclipse 2 bodied Volvo B7RLE in
Bolton in April 2012
ParentTransdev Blazefield
FoundedApril 2001 (2001-04)
HeadquartersBlackburn
Service typeBus services
Routes18 (October 2013)
HubsBlackburn
Manchester
Preston
Bolton
Chorley
Depots1
Fleet97 (October 2013)
Chief executiveJohn Threlfall
Websitewww.lancashirebus.co.uk

History
Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TL in Accrington in February 2008

In April 2001, Stagecoach sold its East Lancashire operations to the Blazefield Travel. Soon after the business was split in two. The Blackburn, Bolton, Clitheroe and Hyndburn became Lancashire United[1] and the remainder Burnley & Pendle.

Investment commenced in new vehicles almost immediately, with the first of 30 new Wright Renown bodied Volvo B10BLEs arriving in September 2001.

A number of service revisions followed with many marginal services withdrawn and a number of school contracts were terminated. Much of this work, mainly contracted to Lancashire County Council, was picked up by Northern Blue. A focus was then made on developing high quality trunk routes, namely the 152, 225 & Hyndburn Circulars. Also later the X1.

In 2002, the Bolton garage was sold on to independent operator Blue Bus. The contracted services in the Clitheroe area were relinquished and the garage was sold to a housing developer. Most of the Clitheroe contracted work passed to Northern Blue.

In January 2006, Lancashire United was included in the sale of Blazefield Travel to Transdev.[2][3] Unlike the other Transdev Blazefield subsidiaries it retained its pre-acquisition trading name.

In January 2007, Blackburn Transport was purchased from Blackburn with Darwen Council with 130 buses[4][5] followed in August 2007 by Accrington Transport and Northern Blue of Burnley with 65 buses.[6] In September 2009, Transdev Northern Blue was integrated into Transdev Burnley & Pendle. In March 2008, Lancashire United took over the Accrington local bus network from Accrington Transport.

This resulted in Clitheroe services being reacquired by Lancashire United for a second time through the Northern Blue takeover, however these ceased to be operated in June 2008.

Commencing in July 2016, the business is progressively being rebranded as the Blackburn Bus Company.[7][8]

Routes and brands
Spot on liveried Plaxton Pointer Dennis Dart in Darwen in March 2008

Blackburn Bus Company

A rebrand of the company commenced in July 2016, beginning with the introduction of a new fleet of two tone blue Optare Versas for routes 6/7 between Blackburn and Accrington.[7][8]

Other services operating around Blackburn, Darwen and Hyndburn operate under this brand including service 4 to Leyburn Road, service 24 to Chorley, and 1 to Darwen and Bolton

Hotline

A 2016 rebrand for the Lancashire Way 152, Burnley to Preston via Blackburn service. This service uses two tone purple liveried Wright Eclipse Geminis.

Red Express

From 3 April 2016 the X41 which links Accrington and Haslingden with Manchester was branded Red Express with specially branded blue and red ex Harrogate Bus Company Wright Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs formerly used on Harrogate bus route 36.[9]

Valley Line

Launched on 21 May 2017, this service links Clitheroe, Whalley and Blackburn then continuing to Royal Blackburn Hospital and Shadsworth.

Past services/Route Branding

Lancashire United

Long established brand name now replaced by The Blackburn Bus Company as part of the rebranding programme of the Blazefield companies.

Hyndburn Circular

This was a circular service that connected Blackburn with the towns of Rishton, Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood, Oswaldtwistle and Accrington in the district of Hyndburn. The service was taken over from Stagecoach Ribble's Blackburn depot in 2001 and shortly after a brand new fleet were purchased and carried branding for this service. From May 2007 the service was part of the Spot On network. September 2013 saw the routes rebranded as The Hyndburn Connect

The Outer Circle

The Blackburn Outer Circle was a circular service that connected schools, hospitals and leisure opportunities around the edge of the town. It was started by Blackburn Borough Transport in 1980 as the 50 (clockwise) and the 51 (anticlockwise). The Transport Department did not register the service for commercial operation, and after deregulation, it became one of several routes in the area won by GM Buses on a nil tender basis. GM Buses found out that these services were not as profitable as they had imagined and pulled out of the area entirely, on 26 January 1987 the route was returned to Blackburn Transport, who re-instated Leyland Atlantean double-deckers to operate the service. At the next round of tenders, the services passed to Ribble, who operated it using Leyland Olympians from Preston's Frenchwood garage. The route again reverted to Blackburn Transport using Optare Metroriders, the route was then renumbered as Track 5 with an A or C suffix denoting direction of travel.

In March 2006 the route became the OC and used Volvo Olympians which received a purple and orange livery with route branding, the vehicles and branding were retained on takeover by Lancashire United. As of August 2016 this route no longer operates due to budget cuts by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.[10]

The Hyndburn Connect

Launched on 2 September 2013, Hyndburn Circular services 6 and 7 that link Blackburn with Oswaldtwistle, Accrington, Clayton-Le-Moors, Great Harwood and Rishton, a new Hyndburn Connect ticket was also introduced to replace the Spot On Hyndburn ticket and buses received branding for this service

The X1

The X1 was a semi-express route linking Clitheroe, Whalley and Accrington with Manchester. The route was for a time operated by a fleet of route branded Volvo Olympians and won a number of awards. The X1 and associated X2 were replaced with the X40/X41 service running between Blackburn, Accrington and Manchester. Route 241 was created for passengers between Clitheroe and Accrington, however this route has since passed in and out of the company's control a number of times and now no longer runs. A very limited number of journeys still commenced at Great Harwood.

The Lancashire Way

Replaced by the Red Express and Hotline brands in 2016. This was first introduced to complement the Witch Way branding for route X40/X41 from Manchester to Blackburn/Great Harwood/Whalley via Accrington. Originally using buses in a black and red livery with a Lancashire Rose. For a time buses on route 152 also used this branding. Then later using Yellow and blue Wright Eclipse Geminis. In 2016 the more rural Whalley and Great Harwood journeys were axed in favour of the urban Blackburn, Accrington, Haslingden, Prestwich, Manchester service.

The Whalley Ranger

This service was introduced in late 2009 following customer requests after two years of the Whalley Range area being unserved by bus. The route used specially branded buses and operated every 10 minutes with a flat single fare of £1, on 14 June 2010 the service was extended to serve Openshaw Drive to replace Spot On route 24, with the frequency reduced to every 15 minutes and period tickets became valid. It was announced on 16 November 2010 that this service was to be withdrawn due to low patronage, the last service operated on 24 December 2010.

Route 124

This route was renumbered '2' on 2 September 2013 and operated as a through service from Chorley to Blackburn, Blackburn Hospital and Darwen. From March 2014 the Blackburn to Chorley section was once again split from the Darwen section. The service running as route 24.

Route 225

Route 225 was a long established route which ran from Clitheroe to Bolton via Whalley, Blackburn & Darwen. The route was taken over from Stagecoach Ribble in 2001 and a new fleet of route branded low floor buses operated it. As of 16 September 2012 this route was divided into two separate services with all buses now terminating in Blackburn town centre. The Blackburn to Clitheroe section being renumbered as Route 22 and the Blackburn to Bolton section became Route 1 which has subsequently replaced Spot On 1.

Spot On

Following the acquisition of Blackburn Transport, both its services and Lancashire United's Hyndburn Circular routes were combined and branded as 'Spot On', the service was launched on 14 May 2007 with a fleet of 25 brand new single deck buses .[11][12] As of July 2014 the brand have been dropped with the remaining services which operated under the former 'Spot On' brand now operate under the 'Lancashire United' brand..

Spot on 1

As of 16 September 2012 this route was divided into two separate services replacing the Spot On branding from this route, renumbered as Route 41 to operate alongside the X41 between Blackburn and Accrington with the Blackburn to Darwen section becoming Route 1.

Contract services

On 2 April 2011, Lancashire United lost the contract to routes C1 and 241. 2014 saw the loss of service 39 which has been handed over to several operators.

Fleet
Eastern Coach Works bodied Leyland Olympian in Lancashire United's school bus livery in Darwen
Spot On branded Wright Renown bodied Volvo B10BLE in Chorley in March 2013

Fleet history

When Lancashire United took over Stagecoach Ribble in April 2001, the fleet was predominantly made up of aging buses. These included double-decker models such as Bristol VRs and Leyland Atlanteans and single-decker models such as Leyland Lynxs and Leyland Nationals. The new company also inherited a couple of Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Darts and Mercedes-Benz Vario minibuses at the Clitheroe depot. By September 2001, most of these had been replaced by more modern Leyland Olympians, more Leyland Lynxs and the first of 30 new Wright Renown bodied Volvo B10BLEs.

Whilst the Leyland Olympians and Volvo B10BLEs remained with the company for years, other models were bought and sold, mainly middle aged versions at the time. Included were Dennis Darts, Volvo Olympians and some other Volvo single-deckers, many cascaded from Blazefield's other operations in Yorkshire.

In 2007, Lancashire United took delivery of 25 Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7RLEs, these were painted in a white and sandy gold livery, with purple Spot On brandings for routes 6 and 7 and a deeper shade of purple for route 1. These were originally destined for Burnley & Pendle, but due to the acquisition of Blackburn Transport they were diverted to Lancashire United.[13]

In July 2016, a batch of new Optare Versas carrying Blackburn Bus Company branding in a two tone blue livery and operate on the currently branded Hyndburn Connect 6 and 7 routes.[7][8]

Depots

Lancashire United operated two depots, the former Blackburn Transport depot, and the former Stagecoach Ribble Motor Services depot. In August 2011, the latter was closed, with operations consolidated at the former.[14]

Liveries

Current liveries

Lancashire United's original livery was cream with blue and red stripes with a swoop towards the back and a black skirt in standard Blazefield style, many buses in this livery carried route branding such as Route 152, 225 and the Hyndburn Circular, in recent years the vehicles started to receive various new liveries, the majority of Lancashire United's buses can now be recognized in a wide variety of liveries.

In September 2010 following the introduction of the new eight Optare Tempos, the interurban fleet received the new Lancashire United livery of blue and yellow with most buses receiving route branding.

In August 2016 the company was branded as The Blackburn Bus Company as part of the rebranding of Blazefield companies, a new batch of 18 Optare Versas were the first to wear this new livery.

  • The Blackburn Bus Company - This new livery consists of a two tone blue with branding replacing the current Lancashire United livery, the first new buses to wear this livery featured 6 & 7 branding.
  • Hotline - Two tone Purple with route branding and advertisements for the Preston to Burnley via Blackburn service.
  • School buses - Older double-decker buses used on school and college services carry an all-yellow livery scheme.
  • Eclipse Driver Training - white with blue and yellow stripes
  • Red Express - brand identity for the X41 between Blackburn, Accrington and Manchester, predominant blue with a diagonal red front.
  • Valley Line - New brand identity for the 22 between Shadsworth, Blackburn, Whalley & Clitheroe, predominantly blue with a diagonal yellow front.

Former liveries

A small number of double-deckers inherited from the former Blackburn Transport operations still retained the old two-tone green and cream livery and the green and yellow Schools+ livery while two still wore the purple and orange Outer Circle livery.

  • Lancashire United - This new style livery consists of yellow and blue with a distinctive red rose swooping up along the curve, the livery also carries a new Lancashire United logo, The new Optare Tempos were the first to carry this livery with route branding for route 225, the fleet was standardized into this livery replacing both the Spot On and The Lancashire Way liveries. Some vehicles carried The Hyndburn Connect branding for routes 6 and 7.
  • Spot On - Predominantly white, with sandy brown skirts and wear Spot On branding, the livery featured lifestyle pictures of passengers advertising attractive features of the service on the back of the buses. They originally carried varying colours of each route they operate, however since the overhaul of services in February 2009 most of the Spot on branded buses had their coloured route brandings removed, As of August 2011 new version of this livery had been applied to the buses, however due to services changes this livery was replaced with the new Lancashire United livery.
  • Urban Cool - This was a new school livery for Lancashire, however, due to funding problems, they scrapped the idea, and have stuck with yellow double deckers.[15]
  • The Whalley Ranger - Predominant white, orange skirt and branding.
  • The Ribble Valley Express - Predominantly white with a large crimson circle with route listing below the windows and Ribble Valley Express logo above the skirt this livery was replaced by the new Lancashire United livery.
  • The Lancashire Way - In Similar style to Burnley Bus Company's The Witch Way but with a distinctive red Lancashire rose and white stripes rather than silver, Each bus running The Lancashire Way was named, this was replaced by the standard Lancashire United livery with The Lancashire Way branding.
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References
  1. Companies House extract company no 2546070 Lancashire United Limited
  2. Transdev acquires Blazefield Group Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 7 January 2006
  3. A new stop for Blazefield Yorkshire Post 9 January 2006
  4. Completed acquisition by Lancashire United Limited of the business and assets of Blackburn Borough Transport Limited Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Office of Fair Trading 24 April 2007
  5. Blackburn Transport - The End Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Olive Green & Ivory
  6. Blazefield buys again in Lancashire Archived 12 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine busandcoach.com 9 August 2007
  7. A Revolution is Coming to Acrington and Blackburn Transdev 27 July 2016
  8. "Versa fleet launches with Blackburn operator rebrand" Coach & Bus Week issue 1252 9 August 2016 page 10
  9. Lancashire United launches rebranded X41 Coach & Bus Week 4 April 2016
  10. "Blackburn's Outer Circle bus service to end". The Shuttle. Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. 22 August 2016.
  11. Transport Company's Change Of Name (from Lancashire Telegraph)
  12. "Spot On Timetables"
  13. The other word isn't offOmnibuses.blogsot.com 14 May 2007
  14. Council buys Blackburn bus depot Lancashire Telegraph 11 August 2011
  15. Bus in Urban Cool livery
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