One of the new Wright Eclipse Urban 2 in the new Mainline livery |
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| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Queensgate Bus Depot, Colne Road, Burnley (Head office: Prospect Park, Harrogate) |
| Service area | United Kingdom |
| Service type | Bus services |
| Destinations | Burnley, Colne, Nelson, Padiham, Clitheroe, Rawtenstall, Manchester, Accrington, Keighley, Todmorden, Bacup, Bury, Skipton |
| Fleet | Approx. 100 buses |
| Operator | Blazefield Group |
| Chief executive | Russell Revill, Managing Director |
| Web site | www.lancashirebus.co.uk |
Transdev Burnley & Pendle is a bus operator running within the boroughs of Burnley and Pendle, and into the surrounding areas including Accrington, Keighley and the high profile express service to Manchester. Burnley & Pendle is a subsidiary of the Transdev Group, but has its roots as a former municipal bus company.
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The Burnley, Colne and Nelson Joint Board was set up in 1933 to merge the three municipals of those towns, comprising at that time of both tramway and bus operations. The thirties were the twilight years for tramway operation, and the tramways were progressively abandoned, closing completely in 1935. "Burnley buses" continued to operate the old tramway routes, however, including penetration of the nearby towns of Padiham, Nelson and Colne. The undertaking provided a brisk and reliable service on these and other routes throughout the war years and the following decades. In 1974, upon Local Government Reorganisation, the surviving bus operation was renamed Burnley and Pendle, jointly owned by Burnley Council and Pendle Borough Council. In 1986 Keith Ludeman became managing director of what was then the bus company with the worst service record and industrial relations, but after turning a £1million loss to a £1million profit he returned to London to join London Regional Transport.[1]
In 1988 Stagecoach bought Ribble, and soon started buying up companies in Ribble territory. In 1996 Pendle Council put its share up for sale after much fighting. GM Buses (North) and Preston Bus both put in strong bids, but Stagecoach beat them both. The deal was finished by the end of January. Burnley Council was livid, and stated strongly it would never sell its share.
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. It eventually took a massive U-turn and sold its share to Stagecoach. Although most buses were rebranded as Stagecoach Ribble, many buses had Stagecoach Burnley and Pendle logos.
In November 2001 Stagecoach sold its failing East Lancashire operations to the Blazefield Group. Soon two companies were formed. What had been Burnley and Pendle once again became Burnley and Pendle while the former Ribble services became Lancashire United. Blazefield has made a number of improvements, including replacing many of the Stagecoach buses - which were relatively old - with new Blazefield-standard buses, these originally being Wright bodied single deckers.
On 4 January 2006 Blazefield was sold to Transdev. Transdev has since added Blackburn Transport and Northern Blue (also based in Burnley) to its portfolio of East Lancashire companies.
On 5 August 2007, Blazefield acquired the businesses of Northern Blue of Burnley and Accrington Transport, the company inherited a further batch of 65 buses to their fleet.[2] From 1 September 2009, Transdev Northern Blue was merged into the operations of Burnley and Pendle.
The company operates bus services towards Accrington, Bury, Clitheroe, Colne, Keighley, Manchester, Nelson, Padiham, Rawtenstall and Todmorden from its Burnley base. Connections to Preston is also available from Burnley and Pendle's sister company, Lancashire United, 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 and Pendle Travel. These include several Blackburn Transport school services and all of Northern Blue's operations.
| Number | Route |
|---|---|
| 1 | Stoops Estate - Bus Station - Pike Hill - Mereclough - Todmorden |
| 1A | Bus Station - Pike Hill - Worsthorne - Brownhill - Bus Station |
| 1B | Bus Station - Stoops Estate - Bleak House - Bus Station |
| 2 | Worsthorne - Brownhill - Bus Station - Browhead - Hospital - Marsden Cross - Nelson - Higherford |
| 4 | Harle Syke - Hospital - Bus Station - Sycamore Avenue - Rose Grove - Accrington Road |
| 5 | Harle Syke - Hospital - Bus Station - Accrington Road - Rose Grove - Sycamore Avenue |
| 6 | Bus Station - Summit - Bleak House |
| 6B | Bus Station - Bleak House - Stoops Estate - Bus Station |
| 8 | Burnley - Towneley - Weir - Bacup - Rawtenstall - Bury |
| 9 | Burnley - Accrington |
| B1 & B2 | Barnoldswick Town Services |
| X8 | Burnley - Towneley - Weir - Bacup - Rawtenstall - Edenfield - Bowker Vale - Manchester Shudehill |
All Mainline buses operate between Padiham, Burnley, Nelson and Colne then continue to the following destinations.
| Number | Route |
|---|---|
| 20 | Burnley - Padiham - Memorial Park - Shuttleworth Mead - Altham Business Park |
| 21 | Burnley - Nelson - Colne - Trawden |
| 22 | Burnley - Padiham Slade Lane |
| 23 | Burnley - Padiham - Accrington |
| 24 | Burnley - Nelson - Colne |
| 25 | Burnley - Nelson - Colne - Keighley |
| 26 | Burnley - Padiham - Whalley - Clitheroe |
| 27 | Burnley - Padiham - Sabden - Whalley - Clitheroe |
| 28 | Burnley - Nelson - Colne - Earby - Barnoldswick - Skipton |
| 29 | Burnley - Nelson - Colne - Barnoldswick - Skipton |
| 30 | Burnley - Nelson - Colne - Earby - Skipton |
| 872 | Burnley - Nelson - Colne - Barnoldswick - Skipton - Grassington |
From 30 October 2011[4]
| Number | Route |
|---|---|
| X43 | Nelson - Burnley - Rawtenstall - Prestwich - Manchester Chorlton Street |
| Number | Route |
|---|---|
| Asda | Burnley from various local locations |
Burnley and Pendle's fleet includes:[5]
| Type | Body | Image | Number | Notes | |
| Single deck vehicles | |||||
| Dennis Super Dart | Plaxton/TransBus Pointer | 1 | This bus is used as a Training vehicle and wears a white, blue and yellow livery for Blazefields Eclipse Driver Training | ||
| Optare Solo M850 | Optare | 2 | |||
| Optare Versa | Optare | 19 | For use on Burnley local services under the Starship brand and wear a two tone orange livery. | ||
| Volvo B6-50 | Alexander Dash | 8 | |||
| Volvo B7RLE | Wrightbus Eclipse 2 | 19 | These buses operate the Mainline Route and wear a two tone red livery for this service.[6] | ||
| Volvo B10BLE | Wright Renown | 18 | 11 of the best of these operate The Mainline and wear a two tone red livery for this service. Others are still in the old style Burnley & Pendle livery. | ||
| Volvo B10B-58 | Alexander Strider | 4 | |||
| Volvo B10M-62 | Plaxton Paragon | 1 | |||
| Double deck vehicles | |||||
| Volvo Olympian | Alexander Royale | 1 | This bus wears yellow school bus livery. Ex-Northern Blue | ||
| Leyland Olympian | Leyland | 3 | |||
| Volvo B7TL | Wright Eclipse Gemini | 15 | These Buses are in the red, black and silver Witch Way livery. | ||
| Scania N113DRB | Alexander RH | 3 | |||
| Scania N112DH | Alexander RH | 2 | |||
| Leyland Olympian | Northern Counties | 1 | |||
| Leyland Olympian | Alexander RL | 1 | This bus wears a variation of the Starship livery | ||
| Leyland Olympian | East Lancashire | ||||
| Leyland Olympian | Eastern Coachworks | 3 | |||
Burnley & Pendle's buses were originally recognised by the distinctive red and cream livery although Burnley & Pendle's buses can now be seen in a wide variety of liveries.
These include:
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