buseshistory

As the dawn of a new era broke in October 1986, many changes were introduced in Blackburn. The deregulation of buses services had seen many municipally owned bus services be taken over by private operators. In Blackburn the Transport Department was privatised, and formed into a company, Blackburn Borough Transport Limited with Blackburn Borough Council as the sole share holder. A Board of Directors was compiled, consisting of Managing Director (the new title for General Manager), other high ranking positions within the old department and representatives of the Council.

The company began operating under the name of Blackburn Transport and for the first time a 'tag' line was added to the title - 'YOUR LOCAL BUSES SERVING YOU'

All vehicle's ownership was transferred to the new company, though several were then taken out of service. Leyland Atlanteans No.'s 86, 88, 90 and 91 and Dennis Dominators No.'s 131 and 132 were all withdrawn from service in late October. The Dominators were loaned to Rennies of Dunfermline. By the time of de-regulation all Ex-Darwen vehicles had been taken out of service, except two, these being Bristol RESL6L (orig no.'s 6 and 7, and re-numbered 178 and 179 in the 1977 renumbering programme) - these were shortly re-numbered 408 and 409.

Atlanteans No.'s 93-97 were swapped with 'Ribble Motors' for five Bristol RESL6L which were allocated the numbers 400-405.

The new company had the need to re-tender for all existing routes and services and several routes were 'lost'. Service changes took place at the time of the start of operations by the company. The services Darwen Bus Station - Sunnyhurst Lane Sunnyhurst; Darwen Bus Station - Bold Venture Park; Blackburn Ainsworth Street - Darwen Circus via Birch Hall; Darwen Circus - Tockholes and Darwen Bus Station - Pole Lane Circular were taken over by Ribble on 26th October. In addition the Outer Circle, Route 51, was taken over by GM Buses (Bury Depot). However, GM Buses then withdrew from Blackburn on 26/01/1987. Blackburn Transport won the routes back from 26/01/1987, and Leyland Atlanteans No.'s 92 and 98, which had been kept in 'storage' were put back into service.

In November 1986, after a month on loan, Dennis Dominators No.'s 131 and 132 were sold to Rennies of Dunfermline.

Blackburn Coachlines began operation, though operated as a subsidiary company, all vehicles were maintained and stored at Intack depot. The company offering holidays and tours both at home and abroad.

It was decided that the Exact-Fare scheme should be withdrawn and a new ticketing system was introduced. For this the Wayfarer system was chosen and over the 1986 Christmas holiday all buses were fitted with Wayfarer ticket machines. It was soon discovered that the area around the machine was hard to see in early evening light and night-time and so in early 1987 a fluorescent light was fitted over the machine and change tray on all vehicles.

Mini Buses were introduced into Blackburn for the first time on 1st June 1987, when a fleet of eleven mini buses were put into operation on eight routes, three of these routes had been converted to mini buses routes, these being those to Lammack, Pleckgate and Revidge. Five new Circular routes were also introduced - see ROUTES page for full details. These new buses were MCW bodied 23-seat Metrorider (inc. three with deluxe coach seating) and were numbered 601-611. Additional 25-seat vehicles were purchased soon after No.'s 612-615.

The livery for all these mini buses was the two-tone green and cream recently introduced, though as-well-as the Blackburn title and coat of arms they carried a Minilines title, except No.'s 603, 610 and 611 which carried the coachlines title.

In April 1987 three further route tenders were 'lost' to 'Ribble', these being the services to Sunnybower (14); Belmont Bus Turn Round Via Tockholes (39) and Pleasington Cemetery (41), though a new service to Burnley (150) was introduced in direct competition with 'Ribble' after that company had increased services on the 225 route to Darwen Bus Station.

The first of the bus wars had begun......

In July 1987, Leyland Atlantean No. 123 had to have a new roof fitted after attempting to negotiate a bridge that was too low. The new roof, from East Lancs was to the more 'modern' design with the flat front instead of the lip, and so this vehicle became the only one to have both styles of roofs.

Also in 1987 four second hand Leyland Leopards with Alexander 53-seat single deck bodies were purchased from Central SMT and were numbered 410-413. and were re-painted into the new two-tone green and cream livery. Dennis Dominators No.'s 1-5 were taken out of service and sold to Warrington Transport

In 1988 five Leyland Atlanteans No,'s 99-104 were taken out of service and swapped for five Leyland Leopard PSU3/Plaxton Supreme III 49-seat coaches with Rennies of Dunfermline which were re-painted into Coachline livery.

Four further 'Mini Bus' routes were introduced in September 1988 and to help run these new services eleven more MCW Metroriders were purchased. These vehicles, numbered 616-626, were of the long wheel base variety, increasing capacity to 33-seats. The livery was the same as that on buses of the previous year's delivery. Again two of the vehicles had coach seating fitted these being No.'s 625 and 626 and therefore carried the Coachlines title instead of Minilines.

Many of the MCW were later used for all-over advert liveries - see Photo Library for details

Two further Atlantean, No.'s 92 and 98 were (again) taken out of service during this year and four further second-had vehicles were purchased. These vehicles, bought from London County, were Leyland Tigers with ECW bodywork and were numbered 311-314. They were painted in the standard two-tone green and cream livery, but although they carried the 'Coachline' title they never operated Coachline services, being primarily used on the new Manchester-Clitheroe service.

In December 1989 the Ex-Ribble Bristol RESL6L No.'s 400-405 were taken out of service. 402 and 403 were sold, 402 to Pennine Blue Buses (United Provincial Services Ltd) and 403 for scrap to DC Morris Commercial. In January 1990 the remaining four Ex-Ribble Bristol RESL6L No.'s 400, 401, 404 and 405 were disposed to Wombwell Diesels (Barnsley), along with Ex-Darwen Bristol RESL6L No.'s 408 and 409 which were disposed to the same dealer.

1991 saw the introduction of a new livery. Double-deck vehicles were painted all over cream with dark green roofs and bottom half of the panel under the lower deck windows, very reminiscent of the c.1972 livery. Single deck vehicles had cream roofs.

To provide more modern vehicles on the Clitheroe-Manchester service five new single deck vehicles were ordered and delivered in October 1991. These were Volvo B10M single-deck buses with East Lancs 51-seat bodies. They were numbered 201-205. These were the first new vehicle painted in the new green and cream livery.

Leyland National Greenways began to be delivered from 1993 onwards. - see Greenway National Overhauls Page for full details

A further four new single deck vehicles were ordered during 1994. These East Lancs bodied Volvo B6R 41-seat vehicles were allocated No.'s 533-536. Also in 1994 the Volvo B10M vehicles were renumbered 418-422

The MCW Metroriders were proving un-satisfactory and replacement vehicles were required by 1995. By this time Optare had taken over MCW and had started to produce their own version of the Metrorider. Six such vehicles, all with 29-seat bodies, were ordered and arrived in this year, being numbered 627-632, the numbering sequence continuing on from the MCW buses. They were given the current green and cream livery

A further batch of four Optare Metroriders arrived in 1996, these were No.'s 633-636

More midibuses were required and so an order for a further four vehicles was placed with Optare, these vehicles arrived in 1997 and were allocated No.'s 637-640.

A final batch of Optare Metroriders arrived in 1998 and were numbered 641-644. Also in 1998 six almost identical vehicles were purchased from London Buses. These took the numbers of withdrawn MCW vehicles 604-606 and 610-612.

In 1998 Blackburn Borough Council became independent from Lancashire County Council and changed name to Blackburn with Darwen Council. The Council now had full responsibility for transport services within the Borough including schools services.

Volvo B10BLE No.'s 206-210 arrived in 1999 for specific use on the 346 Darwen - Accrington service. These vehicles were the first low floor easy access buses. In addition to the standard green and cream livery these buses were also adorned with easy access logos and 'service branding' lettering.

By 1999 Blackburn Transport found themselves in a situation where the remaining Atlanteans needed to be replaced but with little funds to do so. They had been used more and more on schools services and as further schools services were being successfully contracted for replacement buses were a must. It was decided that to be able to replace such a quantity of buses that purchases of second-hand buses would be the answer. The first to arrive were Ex-London Transport Leyland Olympians with dual door ECW 68-seat bodies. These vehicles arrived in October and November 2000 and were initially placed in service in their London red livery. They were numbered 41-45. Two additional vehicle arrived at the same time, a further Ex-London Leyland Olympian which had already been converted to single-door, this bus being numbered 30 (as Atlantean No. 29 was still in service at this time) and No. 31, which was an Ex-Lothian Transport Leyland Olympian with 81-seat dual-door ECW body.

When these vehicles received a Blackburn livery, a return was made to the two-tone green and cream livery of the mid-1980s, though with a slightly different shade of the darker green.

The Ex-Lothian vehicles were placed in service on the 346 Darwen - Accrington service.

Dennis Dart MPD, the first of the second generation midi buses, No.'s 651-660 were delivered in late December 1999 and went into service on the first day of the new Millennium.

Between February and March 2000 all the Volvo B6R vehicles, No.'s 533-536, were re-painted in the two-tone green and cream livery and were adorned with 'RoverCard' logos.

By 2000 only six Leyland Atlanteans were left in service and these all received the two-tone green and cream, livery during this year.

No.'s 661-667 (except 666) arrived in February 2002. These vehicles were the first to carry the new easy access livery. This new livery, designed by WizzWorks, brought the 'corporate' colours of two-tone green and cream into the 21st century. Swooping lines of the colours, along with yellow gave a very pleasing appearance to the vehicles.

The delivery of these vehicles from Plaxtons was delayed and so six Dart MPD vehicles were loaned by Plaxton and were registered to Blackburn. They were allocated fleet No.'s 645-650. Livery was all over white, but they did carry the 'Blackburn Transport' title under the drivers window.

A further ten second-hand double deck vehicles were purchased and arrived between April and June 2002. These were Ex-London Transport Leyland Titan with 70-seat Leyland bodies, these vehicles being given the numbers 91-100. A further Leyland Titan arrived at the same time, but was purchased for spares only and never entered service or allocated a fleet no., though staff at Intack always referred to it as 'Titan 101'

To celebrate the The Queen's Golden Jubilee, Leyland Olympian No. 41 was re-painted in a special livery of all gold, and like Leyland Atlanteans No.'s 52 and 77, re-painted in 1977 to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee, the vehicle spent all year in this livery.

An additional ex-London Leyland Titan arrived in August 2003 and was numbered 90.

A complete change in services occurred on 24th June 2002, when 'Metro Network' was introduced. This gave a much simpler route system, now known as TRACKS, each route had a much better fare structure.

Ten further Ex-Lothian Transport ECW/Leyland Olympians arrived in June and November 2001, these were allocated the numbers 32-40 and 46.

In 2002 it was decided that new double-deck vehicles were required for operating on TRACK 1 and that ten 90-seat East Lancs 'Myllennium' bodied Dennis Trident II's would be ordered, five to arrived in this year and five in 2003. These were the first new double-deck vehicles for almost 20-years and were provisionally allocated No.'s 1-10. The first batch No.'s 1-5 arrived in November 2002. These buses received the new easy access livery along with newly designed 'Easy Access' logos

A further purchase of Ex-Lothian Transport ECW/Leyland Olympians arrived in 2002 numbered 47-52 and 54 and 55. This allowed for the withdrawal of the last Leyland Atlantean when No. 16 was taken out of service in April, bringing to an end an era that had lasted over 30 years! Luckily No. 18 is now in the preserve of Darwen Transport Trust where it is currently (2006) painted in Blackburn Borough red, green and white livery and regularly attends bus rallies.

Two more Ex-Lothian Transport ECW/Leyland Olympians arrived in 2003 being numbered 53 and 57, along with two Ex-London Country Leyland Olympians, No. 28 with 72-seat ROE single-door body and No. 29 with 72-seat ECW single-door body.

After a couple of years of poor bookings it was decided to close the Coachline services, all the Coaches in service were withdrawn and sold.

Due to restrictions on financial outlay, mainly caused by a loss in revenue due to the 'price war' that had been fought with Buzzy Buzz, it was decided to delay the ordering of the remaining Dennis Trident double-deck vehicles.

The last Ex-Lothian Transport ECW/Leyland Olympian arrived in 2004 and was numbered 58. This vehicle was re-painted into a new livery especially designed, again by WizzWorks, for the Schools+ services of two-tone green and yellow.

2004 saw further purchase of second-hand double-deck vehicles, No.'s 11 and 12 were Ex-London Country buses and were Leyland Olympians with 78-seat ECW single-door bodies. Three virtually identical buses, No.'s 13-15 were Ex-Blue Buses. No. 16-18 were Volvo Olympians with 77-seat NCB Palatine single-door bodies and were Ex-London Central vehicles. No.'s 21-25 were Ex-London Buses 73-seat Leyland Olympians with the earlier NCB Palatine single-door body.

All these vehicles received a variation of the easy access livery. The same colours were used but without the swoop at the rear, in what became known as the 'Front Line' livery. The numbering of these vehicles began at No. 11 to accommodate the second batch of Dennis Tridents, the order for which was again put on hold.

In August 2004 five further Ex-London ECW/Leyland Olympians arrived, identical to the 41-45 batch. These vehicles were painted in the new Schools+ livery and numbered 76-80 and at the same time No.'s 41-45 were re-numbered 81-85 so as to keep the same types of vehicles numbered together. It was decided around this time that a programme would be put in place to repaint all the second-hand Leyland vehicles into the Schools+ livery over a 3-year period.

In June 2004 a re-vamped internet website was launched with many new features designed to give as much info and help to passengers as possible.

Between October 2004 and September 2005 the Volvo B6R vehicles No.'s 533-536 were re-painted into front line livery.

During 2004 and early 2005 several vehicles had been taken on trial with a view to the purchase of new single deck buses. Before a decision could be made the opportunity arose to purchase seven Wright Volvo B10BLE vehicles from Ambassador Travel. The buses were identical to No.'s 206-210 and with having a low mileage (only being used on Ambassador Travel's Park & Ride service) the offer was too good to turn down and these vehicles became No.'s 201-205 and 211 and 212. For the repainting of these into easy access livery it was decided to standardise on the shades of greens, yellow and cream.

Dark Green	Metro Middle Brunswick Green
Light Green	Metro Grass Green
Yellow	Metro Lemon Chrome
Cream	Metro Blackburn Cream

All paints were obtained from T & R Wiliamson Ltd of Ripon and especially mixed. At the same time a new easi access logo was designed and applied to these six vehicles as they were re-painted.

The purchase of these B10BLE vehicles meant that no new buses were now required for TRACK 1 and it was decided not to order the second batch of Dennis Tridents.

During November and December 2005 Volvo B10BLE No.'s 206, 208 and 210 were re-painted using the new metro colour shades of the easi access livery.

In July 2005 Volvo B10M No.'s 418-422 were taken out of service and subsequently sold, though 420 and 422 did spend just over a month as driver training vehicles. In addition the five ex-London Buses Optare MetroRiders No.'s 611-615 were also taken out of service and sold.

The oldest four Optare Metroriders No.'s 627-630 were taken out of service in January 2006. Also taken out of service were Leyland Titan No.'s 96-100

In March 2006 TRACK 5, the outer circle route, was re-branded as The OC and Volvo Olympians No.'s 16 and 17 were re-painted in a specially designed route branding livery of Royal Maroon and orange with yellow in the same style as the Front Line livery. In addition route branding logos, route boards and route maps were applied to the sides and back of the vehicles. At the same time a dedicated TRACK 5 website was launched.

The remaining Leyland Titan vehicles No.'s 90-95 were taken out of service, though No.'s 90-92 were retained for stand-by and schools+ work, eventually being withdrawn completely in July when the school term finished.

In July 2006 a new Young Persons Saver Card, the 'Beez Buzzcard', introduced in partnership with Blackburn with Darwen Council, was aimed at 13-15 year olds allowing half price fares and half price RoverCards. Trident No. 4 was re-painted into a special Beez Buzzcard livery of two-tone blue and yellow along with logos and adverts.

2006 was the 125th Anniversary of Public Transport in the Borough and to commemorate this event Dennis Trident No. 5 was re-painted into a special East Lancs Coachbuilders/125th Anniversary livery and was also applied with adverts and logos.

After 'trials' of several types of vehicles it was decided that to replace the Optare Metroriders, fourteen low floor Scania single deck vehicles with the new East Lancs Esteem bodies would be ordered over the next two years. These 33-seat vehicles were allocated fleet no.'s 101-114. In addition an East Lancs Coachbuilders 'demo' vehicle would be on loan to Blackburn Transport and allocated fleet No.100 (provisionally PN07 BBT). The placement of these buses into service would mean Blackburn Transport would achieve 100% low floor buses by 2008.

In addition to the Beez BuzzCard, the RoverCard Pathfinder saver card was introduced for use by 16-18 year olds in full time education and allowed reduced fare travel to and from places of education and at any other time throughout the entire MetroNetwork.

In July 2006 several schools service contract were 'lost' and so the opportunity was taken to reduce the fleet. The remaining National Greenways No.'s 427, 428, 526, 530, 531 and 532 were disposed of along with Optare Metroriders 627, 629 and 630. In addition the decision was taken to withdraw from service some of the older Leyland Olympians. These were No.'s 21-25 and 28 and 29.

On August 16th 2006, after many months of speculation and negotiations, Blackburn with Darwen Council announced that they had agreed to sell Blackburn Borough Transport Limited to Blazefield Holdings.

and the story continues......

After lengthy talks between all the parties concerned a date of Mid-November was targeted as the 'takeover' date but by early November this had been put back until 17th December. Discussions, ideas and proposals continued through-out November, and everything looked set for 17th December, but this date was then cancelled and mid to late-January was set as the new date.

In late November the East Lancs demonstrator Esteem bodied SCANIA (YN06 TGE), originally proposed to be Blackburn Transport No. 100, was loaned to the company and began operating on TRACK 1

At midnight on 21st January 2007 Blackburn Transport became a wholly owned division of Blazefield's Lancashire United and 125 years of Council ownership came to an end.

Through-out the day vehicles not in service had their legal lettering changed,a nd as buses arrived back at Intack depot during the evening they too received the new lettering.

At 11.31pm Dennis DART No. 655, driven by Alan Rawcliffe arrived back from TRACK 19 duties, followed 10 seconds later by Dennis DART No, 657 driven by Ali Sheikh, this being the last Blackburn Transport bus in service. Both vehicles re-fueled and then they too had the legal lettering change-over.

Shortly before the two DARTS arrived back Leyland Olympian No. 17 went out for an engineering test and actually arrive back at Intack one minute after 657, but this was not in service and No. 657 will have the honour of being The Last Blackburn Transport Bus.

At just before midnight the final vehicle had it's legal lettering changed and the end of an era had arrived.

continue to Chapter 4.......>