Blue Bus was a bus operator based in

Penwortham Penwortham () is a town and civil parish in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, on the south bank of the River Ribble facing the city of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The town is at the most westerly crossing point of the river, with major road ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. It operated many routes, including services to Preston City Centre.

History

Blue Bus of Penwortham was formed by Roger Jarvis in early 2006, nine months after Jarvis sold Blue Bus of Bolton to Arriva North West and Wales in July 2005.

Buses Magazine ''Buses'' is a monthly magazine published in the United Kingdom that primarily focuses on the British bus and coach industry. Founded in 1949, the magazine was originally published by Ian Allan Publishing, however from March 2012 onwards, it h ...

September 2005 issue 606 Roger Jarvis also purchased Whittaker's Coach Travel and revived the Blue Bus name from his former Blue Bus of Bolton operation. In June 2009, with Stagecoach having purchased

Preston Bus Preston Bus is a bus operator running services in the city of Preston and surrounding areas of Lancashire. It is a subsidiary of Rotala, who purchased Preston Bus from the Stagecoach Group on the orders of the Competition Commission in 2011. ...

, bus usage of Stagecoach in Preston since the takeover in January had increased with better efficiency and a larger network. Blue Bus however incurred losses, forcing it to cease operating routes to Frenchwood and

Broadgate Broadgate is a large, office and retail estate in the Bishopsgate area of the City of London. It is owned by British Land and GIC (Singaporean sovereign wealth fund), GIC and managed by British Land. History The original developer was a joint ...

Services

Blue Bus of Penwortham operated numerous bus services. As well as standard local and inter-urban bus services, the company operated various school contracts and four

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashire is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Blackburn with Dar ...

financially supported services.

Former Routes

*110 Leyland - Seven Stars -

Moss Side Moss Side is an Inner city, inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the Manchester city centre, city centre. It had a population of 20,745 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Cho ...

Croston Croston is a village and civil parish near Chorley in Lancashire, England. The River Yarrow flows through the village. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 2,917. History Croston was founded in the 7th century whe ...

Bretherton Bretherton is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, situated to the south west of Leyland and east of Tarleton. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 669. Its name suggests pre-c ...

Tarleton Tarleton is a village and civil parish in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. It is situated approximately north-east of Liverpool and south-west of Preston. The parish includes the village of Mere Brow and the hamlets of ...

- Mere Brow -

Crossens Crossens is the northernmost district of the town of Southport, Merseyside, England. Historically part of the ancient parish of North Meols and entirely in Lancashire, most of Crossens was transferred to Merseyside on 1 April 1974, when local ...

- Churchtown -

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

*111 Preston - Leyland *112 Preston - Lostock Hall - Leyland - Croston - Bretherton

School Services

To cater for the hundreds of students travelling to school in the Preston area every day, Blue Bus operated seven contracted services to various schools. Routes 312, 709, 776 and 787 operated to schools in towns and villages including Lower Adlington,

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is a large village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". People who live in Bamber Bri ...

Brindle Brindle is a coat (animal), coat coloring pattern in animals, particularly dogs, cattle, guinea pigs, cats, and, rarely, horses. It is sometimes described as "tiger-striped", although the brindle pattern is more subtle than that of a tiger's co ...

Charnock Richard Charnock Richard is a small village and civil parish in the borough of Chorley, Lancashire, in England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,748. History The village was named in the early 13th century by the local ...

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

Farington Farington is a village and civil parish in the South Ribble local government district of Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 6,674. History The parish was part of Preston Rural District throughout ...

, Higher Walton,

Hoghton Hoghton is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 802. Brindle and Hoghton ward also includes the parish of Brindle. Hoghton Tower is a fortified manor hou ...

, Hutton, Riley Green and Tardy Gate as well as in the base town of Penwortham.

Fleet

The fleet consisted of smaller mini- or midibuses.

Mercedes-Benz Vario The Mercedes-Benz Vario (model designation BM667/668/670) is a full-size commercial heavy van and medium duty truck manufactured by Mercedes-Benz between 1996 and 2013. History The Vario was launched in 1996 as a facelifted version of the Mer ...

s with

Plaxton Beaver The Plaxton Beaver, originally known as the Reeve Burgess Beaver, is a minibus body built by Plaxton. It was built at the Pilsley, North East Derbyshire, Pilsley, Derbyshire factory of Plaxton's Reeve Burgess subsidiary from 1987 to 1991, at Plax ...

bodywork were partially prevalent, with various examples of the type. Both the Plaxton Beaver 1 and Beaver 2 models were operated. Some buses had the older Mercedes-Benz 709D chassis. Vehicles were run in a cream livery with a blue and red skirt, with some others in a livery similar to the Blue Bus of Bolton livery, which were painted in pale blue.imr-transport pictures - "Blue Bus (Lancashire), Penwortham"
Accessed 15 July 2008.

References

External links

Traveline North West
Details of all public transport services in the region.
Carlberry
Information of services
Flickr gallery
{{Borough of South Ribble culture Bus operators in Lancashire South Ribble Transport companies established in 2006 2006 establishments in England Former bus operators in Lancashire