Eastender Routemaster 180 in Croft
St. lay-by, BurnleyBurnley & Pendle Transport Co.
Although still owned by the two councils the pressure was really on now to make a profit. The deregulation of services meant that other companies began to run services into the area, notably Blackburn Transport and two local coach companies, Tyrer Tours and Victoria Coaches. There followed a period of "bus wars" with intense competition on the "main line" routes. Victoria coaches soon pulled out also Blackburn Transport and Tyrer Tours were" bought off". In an attempt to stave off the competition five ex. London Transport Routemasters were acquired in 1988 and painted red & cream in an "Eastenders" livery. Each bus was given a name from the TV soap. These were Dirty Den, Queen Vic, Wicksi, Dot Cotton & Albert Square. The "Eastenders" were the first crew operated buses since 1986 and operated for two years mainly on the main line and Burnley - Marsden Cross - Nelson routes. It was generally agreed that their operation was a success.
Eastender Routemaster 180 in Croft
St. lay-by, Burnley
A lot of bus routes in Lancashire and Greater Manchester were deemed to be unprofitable and as such were supported by the County Council and the Passenger Transport Executive and therefore put out to tender. Burnley & Pendle were successful in acquiring a lot of tendered services which took their buses as far as Manchester and Bury, Preston and Skipton, Blackburn, Rawtenstall and Rochdale. Some of these tenders were lost but many endured up to the sale of B&P to Stagecoach with new ones added along the way.
Another result of deregulation was the introduction of "mini-buses". Burnley & Pendle purchased a total of 26 between 1986 and 1994 including one "mini-coach" and one dual purpose. The "mini-coach" became part of the "Viscount Central" coach business acquired in 1986. The minibuses were painted in red & yellow with a black skirt and were branded "Whizzard". They were successfully operated on a number of local services in Burnley, Clitheroe, Colne and Barnoldswick and on tendered services in Bury and Manchester. All of the minibuses were of Mercedes manufacture except for the last five which were Optare Metroriders.
Photo:
- 83, 1986 Mercedes 608D in Burnley Bus
Station
Photo: - 84,
1987 Mercedes 709D at Blacko
The next delivery of new full size buses saw a change of supplier, Volvo. In January 1988 two Volvo Citibus double deckers with Alexander 'R' type bodywork arrived. These buses were fitted with dual purpose coach type seating for use on private hire work. In February 1988 six Volvo B10M single deck dual purpose vehicles were delivered, two of them in a grey and red "DP" livery for occasional operation on Viscount coach operations. Alexander (Belfast) 'P' type bodywork was used on these buses and because of the distinctive shape of the front they were christened "gondolas".
Photos: - 102 Volvo Citibus and 61 Volvo B10M 'Gondola' on Burnley Bus Station
Between June 1988 and February 1989 six second-hand National 2's entered service. Three short Nationals from National Welsh and three long Nationals from Taff Ely.
Photo: - 71, BUH 241V, Leyland National 2 ex. National Welsh
March 1989 saw the arrival of ten more double deck Volvo Citibuses, this time with bus seating for 84. With the addition of 14 standees these would be the highest capacity buses ever bought by the company. In June 1990 a change of bodybuilder was made to East Lancs for two Volvo B10M-55 single deckers but in January 1991 a total seven Volvo B10M's with Alexander PS s/deck bus bodies entered service. These were closely followed in February by three more double deck Citibuses. Two of these were dual purpose vehicles and initially were painted white. Later these two would be painted in a special livery advertising Viscount Central coaches. The last single deck buses to be purchased by Burnley & Pendle were four Volvo B10M - 50 with East Lancs bodies. Two were delivered in 1992 and two in 1993. The last purchases were two Optare Metroriders in 1994.
Photo: - No. 67, G67 PFR, Volvo B10M/East Lancs
Photo: - No.
23, Volvo B10M/Alexander PS
Photo:
- No. 115 Volvo Citibus/Alexander R
Photo:
- No. 178, L178 KHG, Optare Metrorider
During 1994 Stagecoach Ribble, who operated a small fleet from Queensgate depot, became involved in competition on the X43 Colne - Manchester service. Due to competition in Manchester between GMT and Stagecoach Manchester, GMT decided to compete on the X43 using Charterplan coaches and savage price cutting. The upshot of this was that Burnley and Pendle had to reduce the fare between Burnley and Nelson to just 30p to compete. To add to this, competition with Border Buses between Burnley and Barnoldswick made profitability seem quite poor. Industrial action by B & P drivers over pay did not help matters either.
When Charterplan pulled off the X43 prices did not immediately rise. Ribble only increased their fares marginally and in order to compete with Ribble between Burnley & Colne B&P introduced a limited stop service, the X35, in September 1995.
In February 1996 other cost cutting measures were put in place. These mainly consisted of converting some routes to minibus operation and withdrawing from unprofitable operations.
In 1983 Liberal & Conservative councillors in Pendle had secretly commissioned an investigation into the financial implications of breaking away from the joint operation and inviting Ribble to take over bus services in Pendle. In the event it was proved to be unviable at that time and differences between the two councils were resolved in September 1984 but in 1996, in somewhat of a repeat performance, Liberal Councillors voted to sell their share of B&P Transport to Stagecoach (Ribble) .
On 1st April 1996 Pendle Council's sale of their share of B&P to Stagecoach was completed.
On 14th April the X35 was withdrawn but replaced by the X29 service to Barnoldswick direct omitting Earby to compete with Border Buses.
On 7th March 1997 Burnley Council, under pressure from Stagecoach to match their proposed investment in the company, felt that there was no option but to sell their share also, despite a strong protest at the Town Hall by employees and members of the public.
This was the end of Burnley & Pendle Transport (at least for the time being) but things would never be the same again.