Pilkingtons bus service in Preston in 2007 |
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| Founded | Various |
|---|---|
| Service area | Lancashire |
| Service type | Bus |
| Fleet | Optare Delta Dennis Dart Optare Excel Leyland National Mercedes-Benz Vario |
Pilkingtons Buses is a bus company operating in the North West of England. It was established in 1967.
Following the collapse of the original company in 2006, the new company was formed from the next generation of Pilkington's family members not long afterwards, and is one of numerous other companies run by Pilkington's Accrington Ltd. The livery is in a similar style to Pilkington's red and cream. The company were branded as King Travel for a brief period of time.
The company had operated route 20 from Accrington to Blackburn via Oswaldtwistle, in frequent competition with Lancashire United's routes 1, 6 and 7. Thus, services are not as frequent. They also operated route 20d, a direct service between Accrington and Blackburn, this service is withdrawn and now the company concentrate their services in Accrington.
In August 2007, the company started operating route 114 between Preston and Chorley on behalf of Lancashire County Council.[1] This route was previously operated by Blue Bus of Penwortham.
| Number | Route |
|---|---|
| 3/3a | Accrington - Huncoat Circular |
| 4/4a | Accrington - Oswaldtwistle (Merlin Drive) |
| 5/5a/8/a | Accrington - Dill Hall - Church - Pendleton Avenue |
| 11 | Accrington - Fern Gore |
| 241 | Clitheroe - Whalley - Great Harwood - Rishton - Accrington - Green Haworth - Oswaldtwistle - Guide - Royal Blackburn Hospital (Certain journeys only) |
Pilkington's Buses had most of their main-line commercial routes competing with municipal or council owned buses. The fleet was made up predominantly of Leyland Nationals, some of which were rebuilt as Greenways by East Lancashire Coachbuilders in the early 1990s. The company also operated a number of DAF Optare Deltas and Dennis Darts, as well as numerous double deck buses.
King Travel returned two of these vehicles to the road (2007/8) 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. These 2 nationals passed on to thompsons late 2008.The company also operated two modern low-floor Dennis Dart midibuses on route 114 with the brand name Pilkington's. In 2009, Pilkingtons began operating local service work in the form of tendered Saturday services, using ex-Arriva R812/814 RKO Metroriders in red with "Pilkington Buses" tradename.
In March 2010, Pilkington's started the number 3 Huncoat circular, then in July introduced 4 more Accrington town services when the company saw a gap in the market. School contracts have been awarded requiring 5 buses and thus more deckers have arrived. The 2 already owned have been refurbished and 3 ex-Stagecoach high-capacity 85 seaters have been acquired. An ex-Arriva Volvo D10M is being used, the latest four deckers are still in their old fleet colours but will be red and cream soon.
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