King Travel
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King Travel is a bus company operating in the North West of England. The company is the remnants of 'Accrington's Buses' (more commonly known to local people as 'Pilkington Buses'), a company established in 1967, that was ordered off the road when the majority of its vehicles proved to be unsafe for passenger travel in June 2004.[1]
King Travel is the company that formed from Pilkington's ashes in 2006.[2] The livery is in a similar style to Pilkingtons' red and yellow, although the red has been replaced by maroon.
[edit] Routes
The company has taken up route 20 from Accrington to Blackburn via Oswaldtwistle, although this route suffers from competition from Lancashire United's routes 1 (previously operated by Blackburn Transport), 6 and 7. Thus, King Travel's services are not frequent. They also operate route 20d, which also goes from Accrington to Blackburn, but excludes Oswaldtwistle.
In August 2007, the company started operating route 114 between Preston and Chorley on behalf of Lancashire County Council.[3] This route was previously operated by Blue Bus of Penwortham.
[edit] The fleet
A problem with Pilkington Buses was that their buses were very old - the fleet was made up predominantly of Leyland Nationals, some of which were re-bodied by East Lancashire Coachbuilders in the early 1990s.
King Travel have so far returned two of these vehicles to the road, with a number still carrying Pilkingtons fleetnames, while the other buses in the fleet are two S-reg Optare Excels from East Yorkshire Motor Services. These two vehicles are route branded. Also operated are two Mercedes-Benz Varios on route 20d. One of these buses has route branding for the 20d, with the destinations it serves branded on the windows. This could possibly be a reference to the old Pilkington buses, where most of the route branding was in the windows. The two Varios are still in their previous owner's livery, of white and blue, although the route branded vehicle has a maroon panel on the back with the route info.
The company also operates two low-floor Dennis Dart midibuses on route 114 with the brand name Pilkington's.
[edit] References
- ^ School bus firm loses its licence. Lancashire Evening Telegraph (2004-06-12). Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
- ^ Troubled bus firm is back. Lancashire Evening Telegraph (2006-04-01). Retrieved on 2008-02-26.
- ^ "Bus service changes, August 2007" Lancashire.gov.uk Retrieved 1st January 2008
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