Burnley & Pendle Travel Ltd - a Blazefield Company
On 15th April 2001 following negotiations with Stagecoach (North-West) Ltd., Blazefield Holdings Ltd. purchased the operations carried out from the depots at Blackburn, Burnley, Bolton and Clitheroe. The operation from Burnley was re-named Burnley and Pendle Travel Ltd. and operations from the other three depots came under the name of Lancashire United Travel Ltd. A press launch of the new company used a Volvo B10BLE low floor single deck bus from Harrogate & District with Burnley & Pendle vinyls. (Press Cutting)
As a result of negotiations Stagecoach removed from Queensgate
depot all the new vehicles provided during 1997 plus the Volvo B6's transferred
from other Ribble operations. In addition
all of the Volvo B10M vehicles purchased by Burnley & Pendle
Transport between 1988 and 1992 went, with the exception of four Volvo Citibus
double-deck dual purpose vehicles (1301/2/14/15). A total of 67 vehicles in all.
(N.B. 11 Citibuses (1303-13) and 2 B10M short single deck buses (426/7)
originally purchased by B&P and transferred by Stagecoach to their Bolton
& Blackburn operations were retained by Lancashire United )
To replace the Volvos a number of vehicles came from Stagecoach Red & White and Midland Red. These were 9 Leyland Lynx and 22 Dennis Javelins. Also 6 Javelins were transferred from Ribble, Preston along with 27 Leyland Olympians and 5 Atlanteans from Preston, Fleetwood and Chorley. A total of 69 vehicles.
The Leyland Lynxes were in a very poor condition and needed a lot of work before they were ready for service. Only one of them was repainted into the new livery of red and cream, others just had their Stagecoach stripes painted out. They were awful to drive and very unpopular with staff.
No. 694 Leyland Lynx, the only one re-painted into new livery.
Adding to the existing 12 Javelins at Queensgate a total of 40 Javelins were employed on all the main routes and even some of the routes previously operated by small buses. They were totally unsuitable for stage carriage work and not at all popular with passengers due to the high floor and small entrance door.
The prestigious X43 service to Manchester also suffered. The four remaining dual purpose seated Volvo Citibuses were put to work along with older dual purpose Olympians which had previously seen service on that route in Ribble days. Needless to say, some of these buses were tired and thus very unreliable.
Blazefield had placed orders for a large number of Volvo B10BLE chassis prior to the discontinuance of this model and in June 2001 the first of 25 Wright Renown bodied low floor single deck buses arrived. These buses were route branded for the Mainline service between Padiham and Colne and an official launch was made on June 15th. The Mainline route between Padiham and Colne was designated a "Quality Partnership" between Burnley & Pendle and Lancashire County Council. Bus stops were redesigned and raised to facilitate wheelchair access to low floor vehicles and new bus shelters were erected. Clearer road markings were applied to stops with the promise of regular policing to prevent obstructive and illegal parking. Progress seemed slow in updating all the bus stops in good time and indeed some were not finally completed until 2003.
Photo : - Volvo B10BLE/Renown 1042 at Foster's Arms terminus, Barnoldswick.
Fifteen Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President double deck buses arrived in July for service on the X43. All were suitably route branded and officially launched on July 16th.
Photo: - Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President 2711 pictured at Queensgate with Volvo B10BLE 1072 recently taken off mainline duties and rebranded for the X43.
New timetables giving maps and full route descriptions were produced for the Mainline, X43 and 152 services.
As had happened previously when Stagecoach bought Burnley & Pendle Transport, Blazefield also decided to revise certain bus services. (B&P Travel Routes 2001 on) One change involved reviving the service 55 to Blackpool and Fleetwood. This had been a popular summer service operated by B&P Transport and was branded the "Blackpool Flyer". Stagecoach discontinued the service in 1997 but Blazefield resurrected it with two Volvo B10M's repainted in the new livery and suitably branded. The service was launched on 14th October 2001 and operated twice daily. However passenger numbers were not encouraging and despite the forthcoming summer the service ceased operating on 16th March 2002.
No.442 Volvo B10M branded as Blackpool Flyer
The main revision occurred on 27th January 2002 and many routes were changed and even reverted partly to pre-Stagecoach days. One interesting development was the extension of service 20 to Padiham Memorial Park further along Blackburn Road to the new Shuttleworth Mead Industrial Estate. However passenger numbers were disappointing but this matter was addressed by extending the route further to Altham, Huncoat and Accrington in April 2003.
For a full list of 2004 services see Timetable Information. (Up to date services (2008) click here)
With the arrival of the new buses in 2001 a number of older vehicles were disposed of. These included the Atlanteans, some Javelins and some Olympians. Most of the Javelins were transferred to other Blazefield fleets and most of the Olympians went to Lancashire United. Two Mercedes Minibuses were transferred from other Blazefield fleets and also some of the 1995 Volvo B10M's that were new to Stagecoach Ribble. Other disposals of former Stagecoach vehicles included five MCW Metrobuses originally part of the GM Buses Stockport fleet.
During 2002 the fleet changed constantly, with many fleet movements between Blazefield companies as vehicles were cascaded following the delivery of new vehicles. The result of new vehicles in the Lancashire United fleet meant the arrival at Queensgate of the Dennis Lance buses inherited from Stagecoach at the Bolton depot. The Alexander bodied examples were pressed into service to replace the troublesome Leyland Lynxes but the Berkhof bodied ones had suspension problems and were just stored at Queensgate. Subsequently the Lancashire United Bolton operation was sold to Blue Bus on 10th August 2002 and the Alexander Lances were also sold to Blue Bus. The Berkhof bodied Lances had suspension modifications and were sold off.
Photo:- No. 190 Dennis Lance/Alexander later sold to Blue Bus.
A further consequence of the sale to Blue Bus was the return to Queensgate of 10 of the 13 Volvo Citibuses transferred to Bolton by Stagecoach, ostensibly for use on school services. Half of them were painted in a yellow livery by Lancashire United and the remainder in the LU blue and cream livery.
The old Burnley bus station, opened on 29th June, 1964, was demolished in August 2001 and the bus stands were relocated mainly in Croft St., Red Lion St. and Parker Lane. Temporary facilities were provided for the staff, information service and shops in portakabins. The new bus station was opened on 25th August 2002. Photo.
A fleet of Volvo B6BLE buses had a brief stay at Queensgate in 1999 before
being transferred by Stagecoach to Blackburn for a Quality Partnership initiative
on the "Hyndburn Circular". Gradually, as new vehicles arrived at LU, these vehicles were cascaded to
Queensgate commencing in early 2002 through to the middle of 2003. These buses, together with two ex. demonstration Volvo B7L buses purchased by
Blazefield, would become part of the low floor conversion of the No. 12 Harle
Syke - Rosegrove service in April 2003. Other changes to services were
implemented on 27th April 2003. Service Changes
Mainline Route Map 27th April 2003
Blazefield continued to review and revise services throughout 2003 also dropping many schools contracts. These changes resulted in a drop in fleet numbers with the disposal of older Olympians and the remaining ex. Stagecoach Dennis Javelins.
During 2003 a customer information service began to take effect. Customer News leaflets were available on all buses and in December the long awaited website was launched. The final message of 2003 was to announce further service changes to take effect from January 25th 2004.
The service changes in 2004 notably reduced the number of LCC contracted services and saw some services reverting to previously operated formats, (i.e. service 9 operating to Bleak House). Another service change which reflected a route which briefly operated after de-regulation in 1986 was the introduction of service 8, Burnley - Towneley - Bacup. A long awaited service to the General Hospital A & E and Out Patients Departments on Casterton Avenue from Nelson and Colne was put into place with the re-routing of the 29 Burnley - Barnoldswick service.
School services contracts were not re-tendered for during 2004 and the double deck vehicles were sold off. New low floor vehicles intended for the Rosegrove - Harle Syke route were diverted to Harrogate. Seven Volvo B6R buses were transferred in from Keighley and four Volvo B10BLE's came from Harrogate as replacements for some of the double deckers. The Volvo B10BLE's were put to work on the 29 service, complementing the Mainline, but also appeared on other routes as required.
In 2005 the Bacup via Towneley service 8 was given up along with the Ightenhill service 3/3A. Northern Blue took over the routes. This latest service change meant the withdrawal of the last three Mercedes Minibuses inherited from Stagecoach.
A new office block was opened at the entrance to Queensgate depot, providing a wheelchair accessible Reception and Public Enquiry Office.
The fleet continued to develop. Three Dennis Mini Pointer Darts, two more Volvo B10BLE's, two Volvo B10B's are transferred to Queensgate from other Blazefield operations to replace step entrance Volvo B10M's.
On 14th August 2005 a radical changes in routes and services came into effect combined with the introduction of 'The Witch Way' a rebranded X43 service to Manchester. The Volvo B7TL Presidents were cascaded to other Blazefield fleets and replaced by 15 new B7TL Wright Gemini Eclipse vehicles in a striking new livery.
Elizabeth Southerns (Old Demdike) 2750 pictured in Croft St. Burnley.
On 3rd January 2006 it was announced that the majority shareholding in Blazefield had been sold to Transdev, a French Company, who had recently purchased London Sovereign from Blazefield. They are also owners of London United, a majority share of Bournemouth Yellow Buses and part of Nottingham City Transport.
