Transdev Northern Blue was a bus operator operating around

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

between July 1999 and August 2009.

History

Northern Blue was formed by two former employees of Blackburn Transport. It began operating on 15 November 1999, in competition with Blackburn Transport (BBT) from a base in

Oswaldtwistle Oswaldtwistle ( "ozzel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the s ...

. After two months fierce competition on BBT's mainline, service 346 (now spot on route 1) operating 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

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the sout ...

via

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 ...

, Northern Blue sold out their initial business to BBT, and began to concentrate on school contracts and some coaching work. In August 2000, the Status Group, which traded in the Lancashire area as Border Buses, decided to pull out of the area. It operated from a base in Burnley. Having already won some contracted service work in the Burnley area, Northern Blue acquired the Border Buses and Viscount Central businesses from the Stratus Group and took over its base at Dean Mill. Northern Blue dropped the Border Buses name, but kept the Viscount Central name going for a number of years. The bus side of the business continued to trade as Northern Blue and was expanded greatly. A number of local bus services and school contracts have been operated, mainly on behalf of

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 La ...

. The coaching unit and the Viscount Central name were sold in September 2005 to the Coach Centre, Accrington. Northern Blue operated a large number of school contracts for Lancashire County Council as well as some commercial and non-commercial service work and through associated company Lancashire County Transport trading as Accrington Transport, operated a network of routes in the

Hyndburn Hyndburn is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Accrington and covers the outlying towns of Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood, Oswaldtwistle and Rishton. The borough was created in 197 ...

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...

, Burnley,

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

and

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

areas. On 5 August 2007, Northern Blue Buses and Accrington Transport were purchased 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 rebranded Transdev Northern Blue. On 1 September 2009, Transdev Northern Blue was integrated into Transdev in Burnley & Pendle.Transdev Burnley & Pendle
BCN Society

References

External links

Flickr gallery
{{Transdev Former bus operators in Lancashire Transdev Transport in Burnley Transport companies established in 1999 1999 establishments in England 2009 disestablishments in England History of Hyndburn History of Burnley Borough