Blackburn Transport in the 21st century - its final years

In 1999, Blackburn Transport took on its second and final managing director, Michael Morton.
He inherited a collection of East Lancashire bodied Leyland Atlantean all dating from between 1979 and 1983 and most of which were "beyond their useful years" and pretty much life expired. Step entrance midibuses consisted of a number of MCW bodied Metroriders that all suffered from body and chassis rot and were in urgent need of replacement.
On the positive side, 5 new Volvo B10BLEs with Wright Renown 44 seat easy access bodies and 10 new Dennis Dart MPDs, also easy access, had just entered service.
The mainly ivory livery with dark green relief did nothing for the cleanliness of the fleet and a recent passenger survey has described the buses as tired and looking dirty.
Almost immediately, a new livery was introduced on double deck buses and the Leyland National Greenway single deckers that pretty much reflected the livery of the 1980s but was much more pleasing to the eye. This was made up of a skirt and engine bustle in middle brunswick green, main bodywork in light brunswick green and the upper deck windows and roof in county cream with similar apportionment on single deckers. The newer Optare Metroriders followed suit and the Easi Access fleet had minor changes in the first instance.
The Leyland Atlanteans were replaced with Leyland and Volvo Olympians coming from London and Lothian Regional Transport. The Lothian examples were like new! More school contracts and a lack of other double deckers led to the intake of 10 Leyland Titans from London. These were utterly splendid buses and, once the mileage per gallon issues were sorted, after the managing director's son had read the workshop manual for the type from cover to cover, they delivered outstanding service to the company until its demise when Blazefield and, subsequently, Transdev, acquired the it in 2007.
More Volvo B10BLEs entered service in the form of seven near identical Wright Renowns from Anglian where they had done little mileage and fitted into the Blackburn fleet perfectly.
A further 6 MPDs were acquired new from Transbus and the final new buses for the company were 5 Dennis Trident 2s with East Lancashire bodies. These huge buses were 12 metres long and seated 90 and were put into service on the Darwen to Blackburn to Accrington route that became Line 1 under the Metro Network introduced with the type.
The Volvo D10M single deckers with East Lancs 2000 bodies had virtually rotted away before their time and all of them were extensively rebuilt in Blackburn Transport's workshops by bodyman Steve Buckley. What emerged from the workshops was splendid and they were sent back to work on the Manchester to Clitheroe service for which they had been bought in the first place, some 8 years earlier.
A chance meeting between Michael Morton and a bus enthusiast called Duncan Holden led to a working relationship that delivered many new ideas and probably the best bus company website of its time, so much so that at least one Group Chief Executive from one of the big groups telephoned Morton to ask how a municipal bus company could afford such a splendid website.
Many new initiatives led to a new predominantly yellow livery with middle and light brunswick green trim named "Schools+" and the Blackburn Outer Circle gained its own route branded deckers entitled "The OC".
By the time of its sale to Blazefield, something that the council had been hell-bent on doing since 1999, the fleet had been modernised and had grown. The Metro Network provided was comprehensive and in keeping with a wholly owned municipal company with a board of directors comprising mainly councillors whose main aim was to look after thier own wards. The fleet was in very good condition and many of the buses that were considered "very old" by Transdev's senior directors soldiered on for many years after - vindicating the premise that, if you buy excellent quality secondhand vehicles, they will deliver for you for many years.
Did the Council get value for money in selling its "family silver"? Is the bus service today as good as it was in 2007? Time will allow us to delve into receipts and costs and whether or not the service is as good today as it was is subjective and largely for the people of Blackburn with Darwen, that Blackburn Transport served, to decide.
RIP Blackburn Transport and we dedicate this posting to the late Jim Hilton, who was Operations Director (responsible for engineering) throughout the stewardship of Michael Morton, without whom the Company would not have achieved such excellent engineering standards.
Podbaba Transport
September 2021