Blackpool Transport

Blackpool Transport Services Limited is a bus and tram operator running within the boroughs of Blackpool and Fylde and into the surrounding area, including Fleetwood, Lytham St Annes, Poulton-le-Fylde, Cleveleys, Fleetwood and Preston. Blackpool Transport is owned by Blackpool Council.

History
Blackpool Transport was founded in 1885 by the town council. The tramway opened on 29 September 1885 using a conduit system to operate the trams using electricity. However, due to difficulties with this method of operation, 550V overhead wiring was installed over the tracks in 1899 to replace the conduit system. In July 1920, the first bus service was added to transport operations, running between Cleveleys and Thornton railway station. The first route to operate in the borough of Blackpool was between Adelaide Place and Devonshire Road, beginning in December 1922.

To comply with the Transport Act 1985, in 1986 the assets were transferred to a new legal entity. Neighbouring operator Fylde Borough Transport, which at the time traded as Blue Buses, was taken over in 1994; it had previously been a council-owned operation itself, but spent five months in private ownership before Blackpool Transport's takeover.

The company's network was relaunched in April 2001 under the name Metro Coastlines. Along with the new name came a new colour-coded service: each core bus route was operated by vehicles painted in a livery heavily featuring that route's colour. There were twelve such routes, and the historic tramway along the promenade also had its own variation of the livery.

On 26 July 2010, Metro Coastlines branding was discontinued and the company resumed trading as Blackpool Transport. Buses had their Metro Coastlines logos removed and replaced with a new Tower and waves logo, along with a black and yellow colour scheme. The tramway now uses a purple and white colour scheme, introduced in 2012 and based on Blackpool Council's main colour schemes. The Tower and waves logo does not feature on the Bombardier Flexity 2 trams but is featured at the top of the central doors on the modernised English Electric Balloon trams.

Offices
Blackpool Transport have three offices from which daily operations are run. Rigby Road is the registered headquarters for the company and is where all buses and heritage trams are kept and maintained. The depot contains a bus engineering shed, heritage engineering shed and fitting and paint shops onsite. In late 2022, work began to refurbish one of the older buildings onsite in preparation for the arrival of electric buses.

Blackpool Transport Trams are stored, maintained and operated from the Starr Gate depot on the promenade. This building houses all the "new" fleet Bombardier Flexity2 trams with a dedicated engineering bay.

For a short while, Blackpool Transport also operated a store on Market Street in Blackpool. This was designed to house a customer-service team, although it was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Blackpool Transport still use this property, but it is now closed to the public.

Bus fleet
As of March 2024, the Blackpool Transport bus fleet consisted of 102 active vehicles. All of these are entirely low floor, with the last step entrance vehicles being replaced in July 2016. All of the vehicles in the fleet were purchased new by Blackpool Transport. In 2016, a five-year plan to renew the majority of the fleet was announced, with the aim of no vehicle in the fleet being older than five years from 2020.

On the double-deck side of Blackpool Transport's fleet, the Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City is the most common type, with 55 examples in service as of June 2018; four more of these arrived in 2020.

The most common single-deck type is the Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC, with eighteen examples in service in 2018; this number has since increased. Other types included nine Volvo B7RLEs (Plaxton Centros) and ten Mercedes-Benz Citaro O295s. Some of the Citaros have since been sold.

Branding
Between 1933 and 2001, the fleet livery on the buses was green and cream, with different arrangements of the two colours decade after decade. From 2010, this livery was replaced with new black-and-yellow livery which replaced all of the route-specific liveries. Prior to the livery change, each bus stop also featured the line colour and timetables were also colour-coded.

Route branding was discontinued in July 2010, when Blackpool Transport introduced major changes to its bus network, replaced by a new livery of black and yellow. The route 6 service was axed in July 2010 after 84 years. Route 2 was ended in March 2015, with services 12/13 replacing parts of its route to Poulton via Staining. The 12/13 were axed a year later due to the withdrawal of Lancashire County Council funding.

Palladium
In 2015, Blackpool Transport unveiled a new premium brand, Palladium, on its bus network. All vehicles with Palladium specification are fitted with WiFi, e-leather seating, wood-effect flooring and a grey-and-yellow livery. The first route to be upgraded was the 5, which received a batch of new Mercedes-Benz Citaros.

The 7 and 9/9A were upgraded in 2016, with the latter receiving a batch of new Alexander Dennis Enviro400Citys. Other routes which have been upgraded to Palladium standard are services 6, 9, 11 and 14, with a mix of refurbished and new high-specification vehicles.

By 2019, all Blackpool Transport buses showcased the Palladium branding.

Electrification
In late 2022, it was announced that Blackpool Transport had received funding to create an all-electric fleet and started to welcome the first buses by 2024, with the aim of a fully-electrified service in 2025. No further details have been released at this time as to how these buses will look or if the Palladium branding will remain.

Tram fleet
Blackpool Transport also operates the Blackpool Tramway, which currently has a varied fleet of eighteen modern Bombardier Flexity 2 articulated low floor trams, nine modernised 1930s double-deck English Electric Balloon cars and an assortment of various heritage trams. Advertising has always been popular on trams, especially on the traditional trams.