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 ...

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 th ...

. 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 ...

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 south ...

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 nort ...

, 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. S