What is the history of Blackpool Transport?

Today marks 100 years since the very first Blackpool Corporation bus service came into operation. One hundred years ago today, the first bus service operated by Blackpool Corporation came into force between Cleveleys and Thornton Railway Station. It was a 15 minute frequency with a 4d fare being charged for the full journey. The introduction of the service was Blackpool’s response to a proposal by the railway companies to construct a branch line from Thornton to Cleveleys and which was seen as a threat to the Corporation’s Fleetwood tramroad service. The first bus service to operate within the Borough of Blackpool itself ran between Adelaide Place and Devonshire Road via Church Street and Caunce Street. In January 1924, a tram replacement bus service was introduced between Talbot Road and the Gynn, while track work was taking place on Warbreck Road. The bus service proved to be popular and was retained once the tram track work had been completed. By this time the bus fleet consisted of 19 front entrance single deck vehicles, mostly seating 28 people, and one open top double deck with a seating capacity of 50. Until 1932, the corporation department responsible for buses and trams also managed the electricity undertaking, which at that time was owned by the local authority. The new general manager, Walter Luff, became head of Blackpool Corporation Transport Department on 1st January 1933. Luff produced a five-year plan to re-vitalise the transport department and is perhaps best known for his introduction of 116 centre entrance streamlined trams. The bus operation, which had never paid its way, received similar attention and a fleet of modern centre entrance buses, mostly double deck on Leyland chassis with either English Electric or Burlingham bodies, entered service from 1933 with fleet numbers 78 to 89.

Blackpool has an illustrious history of municipal transport going back to the 1890s' and one which continues into the present day through Blackpool Transport Services Ltd (BTS); an arms length company in ownership of the town council (and Corporation). It remains as one of a very small select band of urban transport systems still in public hands, as opposed to being subsumed into the miasma of corporate fleets which dominate the UK's bus operations. The earliest Corporation buses from 1921 up to 1933 adopted the then Tramways Department red and white livery until a rebranding ordained by Mr Luff shortly after his arrival from Wakefield. Possibly most noteworthy (up until the current operation) were the years of Walter Luff's management when a distinctive fleet of centre entrance buses, almost all locally built by the firm of HV Burlingham, dominated the Fylde coast in elaborate cream and green municipal colours. Subsequently this 'Blackpool house brand' was retained by his successors for the most part until 2000 when a radical change was ordained by Steve Burd who had become the new Managing Director of BTS. A further change of management by 2012 brought yet another rebranding of the bus fleet under the direction of MD Jane Cole with introduction of radically different high quality vehicles produced by Alexander Dennis Ltd. The bus services provided under Corporation/Council/BTS tutelage for nearly a century have attracted only modest attention.

The resort's tram system has justifiably been the focus of historians and enthusiasts through generations. Blackpool's bus system and its evolution from the commencement in 1921 has fared less well in terms of print coverage. However its history is no less fascinating given the individual styling of its vehicles through successive decades. Whereas the trams were once the mainstay of the municipal operation, their role diminished quickly at the onset of the 1960s with successive route closures and run down of the fleet. Now confined to the long coastal route the trams have diminished further in both numbers while limited to a single type ordained by the upgrade to light rail standards in 2011. Conversely Blackpool's buses have morphed into a uniquely branded system with several types both single and double deck holding down expanding services. The story of how Blackpool's buses have served the Fylde coast over a century is one worth telling - 'Blackpool's Bus Centenary' is now a title in preparation for 2020.