Burnley Bus Company

The Burnley Bus Company[1] is a bus operator running services in the boroughs of Burnley and Pendle, and into the surrounding areas including Accrington, Keighley and Manchester. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Blazefield.

Mainline liveried Wright Eclipse bodied
Volvo B7RLE
ParentTransdev Blazefield
Founded1933 (1933)
HeadquartersBurnley
Service areaBurnley
Pendle
Service typeBus services
Routes31 (October 2013)
HubsBurnley
Accrington
Manchester
Nelson
Colne
Clitheroe
Keighley
DepotsQueensgate
Fleet97 (October 2013)
Websitewww.lancashirebus.co.uk

History
Logo used until 2017
Alexander RL bodied Leyland Olympian in Burnley in June 2012
Witch Way liveried Wright Eclipse Gemini in Manchester in 2013

The Burnley, Colne & Nelson Joint Transport Committee was established in 1933 to merge the three municipal tramway and bus operations of those towns. The tramway network was progressively being abandoned with the last closing in May 1935.[2] In 1974 as part of the local government reorganisation Colne and Nelson boroughs were amalgamated to form Pendle and thus the transport operation became the Burnley & Pendle Joint Transport Committee.[3]

To comply with the Transport Act 1985, in 1986 the assets were transferred to a new legal entity[4] and the operation rebranded Burnley & Pendle Transport Company. Deregulation opened Burnley & Pendle's routes to competition from other operators, with Blackburn Transport, Tyrer Tours[5] and Victoria Coaches establishing competing services. To stave off the competition five AEC Routemasters were purchased with each named after a character from the television series EastEnders. Deregulation also saw many Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive services contracted out. Burnley & Pendle successfully tendered a number of routes with their sphere of operation extending to Blackburn, Bury, Manchester, Preston, Rawtenstall, Rochdale and Skipton.[6]

In April 1996 Pendle Council sold its share to Stagecoach North West. Burnley Council was livid, and stated strongly it would never sell its share.[7] Stagecoach put up a multi-million pound investment plan for Burnley and Pendle, but Burnley Council could not meet its share unless it cut other council services. In March 1997 it reversed its policy and sold out to Stagecoach.[6]

Initially branded Stagecoach Burnley & Pendle in May 2000 it was incorporated into the Stagecoach Ribble business. In 1997 Stagecoach purchased 10 Volvo B10Ms and 10 Volvo Olympians to upgrade the run down fleet.[8]

In April 2001 Stagecoach sold its East Lancashire operations to the Blazefield Travel. Soon after the business was split in two. What had been Burnley & Pendle once again became Burnley & Pendle[1] while the former Ribble Motor Services became Lancashire United. Before the sale many of the newer buses were transferred to other Stagecoach subsidiaries being replaced by Dennis Javelins, Leyland Atlanteans and Leyland Lynxs. Blazefield Travel purchased 15 Volvo B7TLs and 25 Volvo B10BLEs to commence a fleet renewal program.[9]

In January 2006 Burnley & Pendle was included in the sale of Blazefield Travel to Transdev.[10][11] Burnley & Pendle was rebranded as Transdev in Burnley & Pendle.

In January 2007 Blackburn Transport was purchased[12] followed in August 2007 by Accrington Transport and Northern Blue of Burnley with 65 buses.[13] In September 2009 Transdev Northern Blue was integrated into Transdev Burnley & Pendle.

In July 2017 the business was again rebranded as the Burnley Bus Company.[14][15]

Services

As at October 2013 Transdev in Burnley & Pendle operate 31 routes.[16]

The company operates bus services towards Accrington, Bury, Clitheroe, Colne, Keighley, Manchester, Nelson, Padiham and Rawtenstall from its Burnley base. Connections to Preston are available from Burnley & Pendle's sister company, Blackburn Bus Company, on service 152. In 2004 the company introduced the high quality route The Witch Way, which is separately marketed.

Since Blazefield's acquisition of Blackburn Transport, Northern Blue and Accrington Transport, some routes formerly run by these companies have been taken over by Burnley & Pendle Travel. These include several Blackburn Transport school services and all of Northern Blue's operations.

Fleet

In October 2013 the fleet consisted of 97 buses.[17]

Liveries

Burnley & Pendle's buses were originally painted in a red and cream livery although can now be seen in a wide variety of liveries.

These include:[18]

  • Burnley Connect - This new livery replaces the phased out Starship branding, providing local services in and around the rural side of Burnley.[19]
  • The Witch Way - Black with red silver stripes and a distinctive silhouette of a Pendle Witch on each side, each bus is named after a Pendle Witch, with the 15th bus being named after the judge who sent many of them to the gallows.[20]
  • Mainline - Orange / red livery with Mainline branding operating services from Burnley to other places such as Padiham, Nelson and Colne.
  • Pendle Wizz - Orange / purple livery operating services from Skipton to Burnley via Barnoldswick and Colne, using the M65 motorway.[21]
  • Eclipse Driver Training - White with blue and yellow stripes.

See also

References
  1. Companies House extract company no 1777430 Burnley & Pendle Travel Limited
  2. History of Burnley, Colne & Nelson JTC BCN Society
  3. Burnley & Pendle Joint Transport Commottee BCN Society
  4. Companies House extract company no 2004965 Burnley & Pendle Transport Company Limited
  5. Companies House extract company no 1458953 Tyrer Tours Limited
  6. Burnley & Pendle Transport Co BCN Society
  7. "Deal is struck with Stagecoach". Bolton News. 29 August 1996. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  8. Stagecoach Burnley & Pendle BCN Society
  9. Burnley & Pendle Travel Ltd - a Blazeley Company BCN Society
  10. Transdev acquires Blazefield Group Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 7 January 2006
  11. A new stop for Blazefield Yorkshire Post 9 January 2006
  12. Blackburn Transport - The End Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Olive Green & Ivory
  13. Blazefield buys again in Lancashire Archived 12 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Bus & Coach Professional 9 August 2007
  14. The Burnley Bus Company is launch is celebrated with a family fun day Transdev 7 July 2017
  15. "£4.5 million Versas revitalise Burnley Mainline" Buses Magazine issue 750 page 7
  16. Timetables Transdev in Burnley & Pendle
  17. Fleet list Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine West Yorkshire Information Page
  18. Transdev Burnley & Pendle BCN Society
  19. Burnley Connect Homepage Burnley Connect Homepage
  20. Millar (October 2005). "Every witch way but Colne in Blazefield relaunch". Buses (607): 8.
  21. "Get ready to Pendle Wizz!". Coach & Bus Week. 6 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.

Further reading
  • Catlow, A (November 1985). Burnley, Colne and Nelson. Curwen Institute. ISBN 978-0907941194.
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