Red Express, X41 is a bus service run by the

Blackburn Bus Company The Blackburn Bus Company operates both local and regional bus services in Greater Manchester and Lancashire, England. It is a subsidiary of Transdev Blazefield, which operates bus services across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, North Yorkshire ...

which runs between

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, serving the communities of

Haslingden Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels' or 'valley growing with hazels'. At the time of the 2011 census the town (including Helmshore) had a population of 15,96 ...

Ramsbottom Ramsbottom is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 17,872. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the River Irwell in the West Pennine Moors, northwest of Bury, a ...

Prestwich Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury. Historically part of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient parish o ...

and

Harpurhey Harpurhey ( ) is an inner-city suburb of Manchester in North West England, three miles north east of the Manchester city centre, city centre. Historically in Lancashire, the population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 17,652. A ...

Collyhurst Collyhurst is an inner city area of Manchester, England, northeast of the Manchester city centre, city centre on Rochdale Road (A664) and A62 road, Oldham Road (A62), bounded by Smedley, Manchester, Smedley, Harpurhey and Monsall tram stop, Mons ...

during peak times. The service uses the M60 and M66 motorways, connecting communities and schools like

The Hollins The Hollins (formerly known as The Hollins Technology College until 2017) is a coeducational secondary school located in Accrington in the English county of Lancashire. History In 2015, the school took part in a Channel 4 programme, ''Sex in Cl ...

and Haslingden High School. A point of interest in the route is the

East Lancashire Railway East Lancashire Railway is a heritage railway line in North West England which runs between Heywood, Greater Manchester and Rawtenstall in Lancashire. There are intermediate stations at Bury Bolton Street railway station, Bury Bolton Street, ...

in Ramsbottom.

History

Not much is known about its history before 2000. However, it was run under the Lancashire United brand by

Transdev Blazefield Transdev Blazefield is a bus group, which operates local and regional bus services across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. Formed in August 1991, the group has been a subsidiary of French-based operato ...

and was given the brand ''The Lancashire Way'' in the black, red, and silver Blazefield livery used for their flagship route including ''

The Witch Way The Witch Way is the branding for long-standing English bus route X43, which runs between Burnley and Manchester. The service is currently operated by Burnley Bus Company. The route has operated continuously since 1948. It was previously oper ...

'' and '' the36'' . The service ran from

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

via

and

Helmshore Helmshore is a village in the Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, England, south of Haslingden between the A56 and the B6235, north of Manchester. The population at the 2011 census was 5,805. The housing in Helmshore is mixed, with some two-up, two- ...

. An express X40 service bypassed Helmshore via the motorway. In 2012, Lancashire united gained an updated livery in yellow and blue, and as part of this they gained a fleet of Volvo B7TL Geminis. In 2016, following a rebrand across the Blazefield network, The X41 was rebranded as The Red Express and gained an upgraded fleet of facelifted Volvo B7TL Geminis, showcasing luxury leather seating with Free WiFi and USB power. In 2018, following strong customer feedback and a campaign by local MPs, the service was re-routed to serve Ramsbottom whilst removing Blackburn from the route. This however is believed to be a large factor to a decine in passenger numbers and the service was almost axed in January 2020 with running costs exceeding what it was making. However a petition was generated to rescue the service, and with meetings between Hyndburn MP

Sara Britcliffe Sara Alice Britcliffe (born 21 February 1995) is a British Conservative Party politician, who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hyndburn since the general election of 2019. At the age of 24, she was the youngest Conservative MP el ...

, Bury North MP James Daly and directors at Blazefield, a rescue plan was agreed and the "Axe" was called off. Shortly after, the deckers were withdrawn from the route and replaced by single deck Volvo B7RLE Eclipse 2s.

Modern day

Today, the bus service runs every hour from Accrington to Manchester via Haslingden, Ramsbottom and Prestwich. In January 2020,the new FAST route was added during peak times, where buses skipped Prestwich and instead went down Rochdale road through Harpurhey, Collyhurst and Shudehill, drastically reducing journey times.

References

{{reflist X41 Red Express