Service Changes confirmed

26 July is the confirmed date for Blackpool Transport's service changes - the biggest change since the introduction of the Metro network in April 2001. The changes comprise:

• Line 2 withdrawn between Blackpool and Wesham. Will now operate every 15 minutes Blackpool to Poulton and every 30 minutes to Knott End (as 2C). Evenings and Sundays will run every 30 minutes to Poulton and hourly to Knott End
• Line 3 - one directional terminal loop introduced at Mereside with buses from Tesco returning to Blackpool & Cleveleys via Clifton Drive
• Line 4 - diverted via Whitegate Drive between Hornby Rd and Knowsley Road rather than via Stanley Park replacing Line 2 on this section
• Line 7 - alternate daytime journeys (every 30 minutes) will be extended to Wesham via Freckleton replacing Line 2 journeys. Journeys terminating in Lytham will extend to Saltcotes Road. Will use Optare Solos. Evening and Sundays remains every 30 mins to Lytham and every hour to Wesham but now via Lower Lane (as per daytime service). Late evening service hourly
• Line 9 - new service replacing 11 between Cleveleys and Blackpool operating every 10 minutes (weekdays) and 20 minutes (Sunday daytimes) and half hourly evenings using Tridents
• Line 11 - diverted to start at Grange Park taking the current Line 6 route via Layton and Caunce St to Blackpool then as present 11 route to Lytham except for using Church St not South Park between Ansdell and Lytham Square. A 15 minute daytime service and half hourly evening and Sunday service will be provided
• Line 14 - revised to run Fleetwood to Mereside adopting Line 6 route from Blackpool to Mereside but operating direct to Tesco via Clifton Drive and back via Langdale Road. Every 10 minutes daytimes, every 15 minutes Sunday daytimes and every 30 minutes evenings
• Line 15 - revised to run via Newton Drive and Devonshire Road between Hospital and Talbot Road rather than via Grange Road and Layton Square
• Line 16 - diverted via Fleetwood Road between Four Lane Ends and Norcross; diverted at Highfield Road/St. Annes Rd junction via Highfield Road, Harrowside and then as Line 2 via Bond St, Waterloo Rd, Whitegate Drive, Church St to Blackpool North Station. Every 30 minutes Monday to Friday, Hourly Saturday and Sunday
• New Line 17 - Blackpool (Albert Road) to St. Annes as current Line 14 (via Hawes Side Lane and Spring Gardens then via Line 2 route (Shepherd Road, South Hey) to Ansdell then via South Park and Forest Drive to Lytham Square. Every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday daytimes and hourly as far as St. Annes only on Sundays

Line 6 is completely withdrawn (replaced by revised 11 and 14) and no changes are made to the 1 or the 5 save for one extra journey on the latter.

It is expected that the 1, 9 and 14 would use double deckers, the 2, 11 and 17 use single deckers and the 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 16 use minibuses and around ten vehicles are expected to be saved as a result.

Major inroads are expected into the 22 strong Delta fleet. Presently nine are branded for the 6 (10 buses required); and ten for the 11. Two are in black and yellow and a third (123) is in an all-over advert. A Delta is regularly allocated to a Line 2C duty each weekday. Some inroads may be made into the ex Trent Olympian fleet at the end of the school term too.

Line 6 will end and the Delta fleet be reduced

Excels may be a more common feature on the revised service 11

The lengthy Line 2 is expected to be cut back

[Updated 4 June 2010 with details from BTS website] 

Fleet Update

Metrorider 518 has now returned to use on Line 10 and sister bus 515 has been reinstated to replace the failed 517 on Line 15. Optare Delta 103 is now withdrawn having suffered mechanical failure during the spring.

Tridents 340-342 remain under preparation, with 341 in the base coat for the experimental new livery; 342 in the depot awaiting repaint and 340 still in paint.

A substantial service change is expected to take place from July. Full details have not been released, but reports suggest Line 6 - a route hardly changed since deregulation - will be withdrawn with the 11 and 14 suggested as replacements for Grange Park and Mereside respectively. Further details to follow. This is expected to release further Optare Deltas for disposal.

The promotion of Blackpool Football Club to the Premier League was marked by a procession with an open top bus from Gynn to Waterloo Headland on 24 May. Olympian 857 took the limelight, carrying the victorious team, however sister bus 873 also put in an appearance as a static platform for filming.

New livery and Metrorider end (for now)

341's repaint is nearing completion with just silver/red vinyl "swoops" outstanding - click on this link 341 on flickr to view a picture.

Meanwhile the Metroriders have reached a temporary end with both 517 and 518 falling defective in the last week - Solos are covering Lines 10 and 15 but it is thought at least 518 will be repaired and returned to use. Sister 503 is also at Rigby Road for cannibalisation, 506, 511, 513, 515 and 593 remain in store at Jackson's Coaches, Marton with 365/6.

Stripped Delta 124 has now been broken up at Inglemere Metals as seen here

124 ready for disposal

Withdrawn Optare Delta 124 has now been stripped for disposal. New in 1991, 124 was refurbished in Spring 2000 and was repainted into the early mustard/yellow/grey pool livery in April 2001 ready for the new network launch at the end of that month. In January 2006 it gained the later black/yellow livery and in the early hours of 26 September 2009 suffered a wiring loom fire which caused its withdrawal.

After several months in store with various parts cannibalised it is now being stripped prior to disposal for scrap - the fifth Delta to be sold for scrap after 120 in 2003, 131 in 2004, 117 in 2007 and 110 in 2009.

First Olympians Withdrawn

Blackpool's first Olympians - 365-367 acquired from West Yorkshire PTE in October 1986 to replace fire damaged Atlanteans were withdrawn on Wednesday 28 April along with Metrorider 515.

New in 1982 as WYPTE 5005, 5011 and 5015 (UWW5/11/15X), 5011 spent time back with Leyland as a demonstrator. At deregulation the PTE was required for form a limited company to take over its bus operations and this emerged as Yorkshire Rider. The fleet size was reduced and the new company chose not to take on some quite young leased vehicles and Blackpool quickly snapped up these three Olympians - the arrived on 31 October - less than a week after deregulation day.

The trio went into service in November still in WYPTE verona green and cream livery and it was not until February that the first went into the paint shop. This was 366 which was the second bus to emerge in the then new fleet livery, followed by 367 in late March and 365 in early April. All three had a fairly unremarkable life - rear end adverts were applied briefly and all there were repainted in 1990 and again in 1993 (gaining black window surrounds). The new livery with more cream was applied to 365/7 February/March 1996 with 366 lasting another year until it received a Zone Card all-over advert in March 1997. May 1996 had seen the batch move to Fylde's Squires Gate Depot - technically still a separate undertaking for a few more weeks and they remained there until its closure in April 1999. During summer/autumn 2000 all three were in store along with older Atlanteans but the Metro bus network saw a reprieve. 2003 saw all three adopt the new "Schools + Line 1" scheme of orange and yellow with a further repaint in this scheme in late 2006.

During 2010 367 has spent a long period in store with engine problems and was joined by 365/6 on Wednesday 28 April.

Swift at 40

554 recreating its original route - 7 at Bispham Hotel

8 December 2009 marked the 40th anniversary of the introduction of one man operation at Blackpool. Or strictly the reintroduction - for buses in the 1920s were often one man operated and a during the 50s and early 60s bus route 18 was also OMO with two 1940 Tigers suitably converted.

However the new era of OMO operation was part of a nationwide cost cutting exercise intended to safeguard the future of buses by reducing costs so that the spiralling decline could be abated. Government grants assisted with purchase costs and a rash of new designs came on the market in the 1960s with 36ft long chassis; rear engined with relatively low entry. Blackpool - typically - was quite late to the game and ordered 15 AEC Swifts with Marshall bodywork in 1969. These seated 47 with room for standees taking the overall capacity close to that of a 63 seat PD2.

The first eight (541-548) entered service on route 7C (Blackpool - Cleveleys via Gynn Square, Bispham, Ingthorpe Estate, and Luton Road every 35 minutes with two buses) and 25A (Blackpool - Cleveleys via Gynn Square, Promenade, Norbeck and Little Bispham every 30 minutes with two buses). Economics had been turned on their heads. Blackpool routinely allocated new buses to their best routes and here they were putting them on their worst! This apparently perverse logic was justifiable due to the cost reductions. Any attempt to convert route 14 (for example) would just not be countenanced - indeed it wasn't until 2000.

Having managed to overlook this anniversary, it is fortunate that the second tranche of Swifts did not enter service until 1970 - 549 arriving in January, 550-555 in April. The now preserved 554 was duly licensed on 8 April 1970 and has just celebrated its fortieth birthday - albeit from the security of its depot.

These allowed conversion of a slightly busier route - the Bispham circulars. These comprised the 7 which left the Bus Station via Talbot Road, then onto Devonshire Road to Bispham Library, down Red Bank Road to Bispham Village, back along Warbreck Drive, Warbreck Hill Road, Gynn Square, Dickson Road back to the Bus Station. Not surprisingly the 7A ran in the opposite direction. The round trip took just under 30 minutes. Generally speaking a 15 minute service ran with four buses - though in the afternoon peak two extra buses came out to provide a ten minute headway. The morning peak increase was a fifth bus shuttling between Bus Station and Warbreck Hill Road/Devonshire Road showing 7B both ways.

Two rather shabby looking Swift sisters pass the Ribble Travel Corner on Abingdon Street in 1979

More Swifts followed in 1971 (556-565) and 1974/5 (566-595) and route conversions accelerated. Various routes gained Swifts on Sundays only - such as the 11C which became OPO on Sundays in 1971 but stayed crew on weekdays until 1983! The December 1971 arrivals saw the 6A/B (Grange Park to Midgeland Road), 15A (Bispham to Hospital) and 16 (Town to Wordsworth Avenue) converted. 1974 saw the 2/2A (Town-Poulton), 12 (Town-Airport) 15 (Town-Staining) switch to Swifts with the 3/3A (Westminster Road-Marton) and 26 (South Pier to Town) converted in March 1975 with the short 19 (South Pier-Mereside) switching in 1976

The Atlantean era commenced in 1977 and this - plus the thinning of frequencies on other services saw sufficient Swifts released to convert the 23/23A (Hospital-South Shore/Midgeland Road). Withdrawals took from 1980 to 1988, though not before deregulation saw some new horizons - but the Swift fleet development is a tale for another post.

554 settled into routine use in the all-over rich cream livery. The first batch of Swifts uniquely had low driving positions in barrel windscreens, rather than the higher cabs and BET windscreens of the later batches. The cream later gave way to anemic off-white but 554 was one of five of the first batch to receive the final livery of off-white with green roof and waistband in June 1980. 548, 549, 552 and 555 were the others. 548 was the last of this batch to run in May 1983. 554 had succumbed in autumn 1982 and was sold to Graham Oliver for preservation.

Rallied for some time in green and off-white it was sold out of preservation in 1988 to Wealden Motors - a dealer who collected most of Blackpool's final stock of Swifts that year. It performed in Wealden's own fleet for a while but retained Blackpool livery and was discovered by its former owner still in their yard in 1995. After some initial attention Graham offered it to the  Lancastrian Transport Trust in October 1996 and it returned north.

554 outside LTT Depot

Various mechanical faults were attended to and the bus returned to use in weathered green/off white in 1997 and was painted back into original cream in July 1998. After four or five years on the rally scene it has been retired for the last few years pending a thorough mechanical overhaul - addressing some of the Achilles heels of the AEC Swift.

Nearly new livery; nearly new buses

Trident 341 is now in the paint shop and is to be the first bus in the much rumoured new livery. This is understood to retain the pool colours of yellow and black with a black skirt "swooping" up to the rear of the bus in a wave effect topped off by silver and red relief. Black and yellow harks back to the Handybus livery of 1987, reversed in 1998 - adopted for Line 2 in 2001 but abandoned before any repaints took place and then chosen for pool livery in 2003.

Despite the multitude of colour variants, the Metro livery style has now been in place for nine years - the first buses entering service in it in April 2001. This has been on of the longest lived livery designs of recent years:

December 1969 - new all cream livery launched on Swifts and later adopted on PD3s.
August 1977 - new green and cream livery launched on Atlanteans and later adopted on Swifts (1979) and PD3s (1982)
March 1987 - post deregulation livery launched (later modified with black relief)
November 1994 - unified livery launched in Fylde style
April 2001 - Metro livery launched

Route branding is expected to continue, though possibly restricted to some of the busier routes.

Also following the recent arrival of the ex South Lancs Trident, the five Volvo single deckers are understood to be from Anglian Bus and Coach of Beccles, Suffolk. They have recently advertised their 401-405 AU06BOV, AU06BPE/F/K/O for sale - 44 seat Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7RLEs and it is presumed these are the chosen vehicles. All remain in use, however and their purchase has not been fully confirmed.

Another Trident arrives

The first of Blackpool Transport's recent second hand purchases arrived on Thursday 15 April in the form of PL52XAD - an East Lancs bodied Dennis Trident from South Lancs Travel of Atherton. New with the cherished registration X80SLT, it was no stranger to the Fylde Coast with its original owner.

Five second hand Volvo single deckers are also expected shortly. Line 14 Trident 311 has been repainted.

Open Toppers are Back

Easter saw the return of the City Sightseeing open top 'tour' Line 20. This year - following the demise of Pontins - the route starts at Pleasure Beach. From Easter until May 21 the full tour (Pleasure Beach - Promenade - Town - Stanley Park - Zoo - Marton Mere) runs every 30 minutes at weekends and bank holidays only with a one bus shuttle service from Town to Marton Mere (missing out the Zoo) every hour on weekdays. The full tour operates daily from after May 21.

The Manchester tour is not operating at all this year and the fleet is being reduced to four buses. Easter saw the two generically branded buses 857/8 (D257/8FYM) and former Manchester bus 873 (D173FYM) operate - though regular appearances were also made by pool liveried Volvo Olympians. 873 initially ran still with Manchester decals - but without the lettering - though the full Blackpool livery is now applied. With the demise of the Metro logo, BT "tower and waves" logos are carried - the first bus to receive these since 2001. Blackpool branded 818 (D218FYM) was noted in service on Saturday 17 April also with BT logo. 813/49 (D213/149FYM) - both Blackpool branded and Manchester liveried 844 (D244FYM) are still in store.

340 arrives

The second of the two newly purchased ex Blue Triangle Tridents arrived yesterday (Thursday). This will be 340 (PO51UMT) and follows sister 341  (PO51UMV) which arrived in February and 338/9 (PO51UMG/J) that came in October 2008. Further second hand buses are understood to be on the way - more details when they are announced.

Excel spares donor R742BUJ was sent for scrapping on 25 March.

Park - Don't Ride

Diverted MetroRider 518 on Line 10 leads Olympian 372 on Line 11 across Bloomfield Road junction on Seasiders Way

March has seen closure to southbound traffic of Lytham Road near Bloomfield Road. Lines 10, 11 and 16 have been diverted via Rigby Road, Seasiders Way and Waterloo Road - providing a rare bus service through the spine of car parks. The road will re-open in early April and regular bus operation will end again - but this is not the first short-lived bus operation on the spine. 

325 outside the Football Ground

This series of car parks was opened in 1986 on former Railway land between South Station and Rigby Road - accessed from Yeadon Way - a new link road built on the old direct railway line from South Station to Kirkham. During the spring the general manager expressed desire to introduce a bus service linking the car parks to the Town Centre and the Sandcastle and Pleasure Beach areas. The transportation department seemed unimpressed and duly 'noted' his interest. Clearly the council had other ideas and referred the decision back and the committee approved the operation as an experiment in June until the end of the Illuminations.

National 146 takes a turn on short lived route 18 before some of the car parks had been finished!

On Saturday 18 July 1986 route 18 duly started running every 20 minutes from the Town Centre to the Pleasure Beach via Promenade, Rigby Road, The Car Parks, South Station, Waterloo Road, Lytham Road, Station Road and the Promenade. Two buses were required and single deckers were allocated. The service was - as the transport department perhaps realised it would be - a failure. The service was too infrequent and with cheap fares (30p single, 50p return) not likely to cover its costs. The experiment was soon ended - whether it reached the end of the Illuminations is sadly not recorded.

In the wheeltreads of Jubilees - 546 loops round the South Station Car Park - all expense had been spared on the car park surface

The ghost of the 18 appeared on 28 November 1998 when a Christmas Park and Ride service was introduced operating on Saturdays until 19 December from near to the Yeadon Way Hotel (alongside the filling station) to Corporation Street via Spine Road, Rigby Road and the Promenade. City Pacers were used. It may have reappeared in 1999.

Pleasure Beach Road Train in September - towards the end of their operation

The next attempt in 2008 was rather more innovative -  but equally unsuccessful - with the Pleasure Beach operating three German registered road train vehicles from the Car Parks to the Pleasure Beach. Operations ended in September - the general public showing a marked reluctance to Park and Ride in Blackpool.

News Round Up

Excel 214 is now being prepared for overhaul following the return of 215 which is nearly ready for service. 214 is the last of the 'home' batch of Excels to be refurbished with 221 - the third ex Go North East - one expected to follow. It is not thought that the ex Reading examples will be re-engined.

The latest second hand Trident 341 remains in the body shop but is nearly ready for painting. The livery has not yet been confirmed. Sister bus 340 has yet to arrive from Ensign.

Line 14 Trident 310 is back in use after repaint. Meanwhile Delta 103 and Olympian 367 are parked up in the depot with defects.  

Buses to leave St. Johns Square

Soon to be history - two Line 3 Solos pass on Abingdon Street

Sadly it seems that public transport is to be banished from Church Street outside the Winter Gardens after over a century. The opening of the Marton tram route brought mainstream public transport in front of the iconic structure and bus routes later followed - outlasting the closure of the tramway in 1962.

Major regeneration of the square took several months during 2009 with a temporary three month diversion to bus services drastically overrunning to last around eight months. As a result Lines 3, 4 and 15 were curtailed to ensure reliability but with a detrimental effect on patronage. The square reopened, modelled on a novel shared space system which allows buses, taxis and pedestrians to mingle freely. Buses resumed their key role in delivering passengers close to town centre shops and the retail trade was happy once more.

Sadly, despite a good safety record, the share space scheme has failed to catch on and the desire to have the square traffic free has one the day - despite the obvious impacts to accessibility for public transport users. The council has voted to implement the change and this will see buses return to Clifton Street which will see its one way system reversed.

Clifton Street will regain buses - this is the 1980s route 26 terminus with the now sadly destroyed Yates building behind

Most south to north services from South Shore will continue to use Corporation Street, and southbound buses will use Market Street, but various services will now use Talbot Square and Clifton Street. Line 6 seems a candidate but it is not year clear what will happen to Lines 2, 3 and 4 that approach the Town Centre on Church Street as Clifton Street is not on a logical route in either direction.

Final proposals for individual services are not yet in the public domain and although the infrastructure cost (£120,000 for new stops and shelters) has been published, it is not yet clear what the negative impacts on passenger numbers and the beleaguered bus company's revenues will be.

Trident 341 makes progress

The latest second hand Dennis Trident PO51UMV is already under preparation. It arrived on 15 February from Ensign, dealers and has already been converted to single door. A second example is expected and has been reported as PO51UMT.

Massey Appeal

Some buses seem to have a survival instinct. This post tells the story of a trio of buses which survived intact (well just about) until 2009. All three spent periods in preservation, all three experienced vandalism and all three regained their original livery.

Lytham St. Annes Corporation standardised on Leyland from the 1930s and generally specified Leyland's own bodywork. When this ceased, Lytham chopped and changed its suppliers with its final three batches of Leyland Titans featuring bodywork by Northern Counties, Metro Cammel and finally Massey. The three Massey bodied PD2s were to the less common forward entrance layout - all previous Lytham double deckers having rear entrances. 68-70 had a single piece sliding door behind the front wheels (hence the designation "forward" rather than "front" which applies to most modern buses.

68-70 (CTF625-7B) arrived in 1964 and took their place on the main 11/11A routes from Blackpool to Lytham. They carried Lytham's traditional layered blue and white livery, receiving a simplified scheme with more white in 1974 and the Fylde Borough blue, white and yellow livery during their 1977 overhaul.

68 being refuelled in Squires Gate depot after its regular duty on the G2 works service to the Premium Bonds offices in St. Annes

Fylde went largely one person operated in 1976 but agreed not to make conductors redundant and those who did not wish to retire stayed working. The last few rear entrance buses stayed in use until 1978 but 68-70 could -and did - operate without a conductor on works contracts. They were finally retired in 1980 (70) and 1981 (68/9).

All three were advertised for sale on the depot forecourt with apporpriate signs in the window! 70 spends the night back inside the depot awaiting a passing purchaser

70 was sold first passing to a community group in Skelmersdale where it suffered vandalism. It was rescued and sold onto the North West Museum of Transport then at Burtonwood airfield but later at St. Helens Transport Museum. 69 passed to Martins of Middlewich - a dealer - and then onto CJB Driving School in Barlaston, Stoke on Trent.

68 in Poulton with Rev Jackson ready to take his parishoners on another outing

68 stayed closer to home passing to Reverend Jackson of St Oswalds Church in Preesall. Rev Jackson had it painted in Lytham blue and white and used it to transport parishioners. Sadly in 1986 it was sold out of preservation to Rigby Taylor of Bolton as a mobile exhibition unit eventually reaching Anglia Sales of Maxey - another dealer. The trail then went cold until 2002 when it appeared in derelict condition at Matchams Park, Ringwood. It was last taxed in 1992 so was presumably in off site use at Matchams - a karting venue. It was acquired by a collector but only for spare parts and spent some time in Wolverhampton before passing to Quantock Motor Services - a Somerset based heritage operator as a spares donor. It is believed to have been broken up in late 2009.

68's loss from preservation was compensated for by the arrival of 69 on the scene again - much to the writers surprise at a rally at Fairhaven Lake in 1992. It had recently been purchased from CJB and painted back into Lytham livery (though not quite accurately) and was rallied regularly. Sadly around 1996 it was damaged by fire - a caravan nearby was set alight and the front of the bus badly damaged. The no doubt  distraught owners were faced with selling the bus for scrap and it went to Furbers of Prees. As scrapyards sometimes seem to do it lingered there and in December 1998 donated some parts to sister bus 70. Surprisingly it escaped from the yard having been rescued by London Bus Export of Lydney near Chepstow. This operator of unusual vehicles heavily modified it by converting it to open top; with exposed radiator and also shortening it significantly at the rear! This was for a contract in Rome which had a maximum length stipulation. It has returned to the UK and spent time on a vintage bus service in South Wales.

70 ready for repaint

Meanwhile the vandalised 70 had some restoration undertaken at St. Helens but this stalled and in 1998 it was placed on long term loan to the Lancastrian Transport Trust. On 23 August 1998 it was towed to Blackpool for restoration to restart and this culminated in a repaint in November 1999 and a successful MOT pass in July 2000. St Helens Transport Museum cut back its collection in 2005 and allowed LTT to purchase 70 to keep it permanently - fully restored - in its collection as the last new to Lytham Leyland Titan.

The finished article at Carnforth