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 ...

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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

, serving the communities of

Haslingden Haslingden is a town in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. It is north of 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

Harpurhey Harpurhey ( ) is an inner-city suburb of Manchester in North West England, three miles north east of the city centre. Historically in Lancashire, the population at the 2011 census was 17,652. Areas of Harpurhey include Kingsbridge Estate, Barn ...

Collyhurst Collyhurst is an inner city area of Manchester, England, northeast of the city centre on Rochdale Road (A664) and Oldham Road (A62), bounded by Smedley, Harpurhey and Monsall to the north, Miles Platting to the east, Ancoats to the south, and ...

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

Haslingden High School Haslingden High School is a secondary school located in Haslingden, Rossendale, England. The school receives children from many local primary schools, one of the largest being Haslingden Primary School. History The two schools in Haslingden t ...

. 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, , Summerseat and Ramsbottom, with ...

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 nort ...

via

and Helmshore. 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 e ...

, 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