Bus Route Branding In East Lancashire
Bus route branding is becoming an ever increasing phenomena on the roads of Britain. It is a way to attract passengers back to using public transport. Branding is used mostly on routes which stretch to 20 or 40 miles and which have a timetable where buses run no more than 30 minutes apart.
In Britain bus services form a substantial part of our public transit systems. English residents over the age of 60 get a pass which allows them to use local buses in any portion of England. Similar provisions are available in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. When a senior citizen boards they present their card and are given a Zero Fare ticket for which bus operators receive 60% of the fare from their local borough authority. County councils and Metropolitan Boroughs also subsidise some bus routes which would not be commercially viable. The bus operators can also get grants from central government to relieve them buy recent, fuel-efficient buses. Between them our two largest operators (Stagecoach and First) have ordered no less than 400 new buses to add to their fleets for the coming year.
East Lancashire has 3 substantial bus operators; Rossendale Transport (presently owned by the local council but in the process of being sold to a private company), Burnley & Pendle, and Lancashire United. Though operating as separate entities the latter two are owned by TransDev (a French company). But it is these two Transdev operations which have invested in route branding.
Burnley & Pendle have their ‘MainLine’ service that covers from Padiam through Burnley and Nelson to Colne every 7 minutes during weekdays. Every half hour this is extended at both ends; the route westwards extends to Accrington, and eastwards to Barnoldswick or Keighley (over the border in Yorkshire). Their other branded route is ‘The Witch Way’ (Pendle is famous for its witches) which operates between Colne and Manchester, via Burnley and Rawtenstall. After leaving Rawtenstall the bus uses the motorway for about 10 miles with no stops until it gets to the outskirts of Manchester. This route is served with buses on weekdays at 20 minute intervals. The livery of the bus is distinctive featuring a witch on her broomstick in the design.
Lancashire United also has two branded routes. Their ‘MainLine’ is from Burnley to Preston via Blackburn. There second route is into Manchester, starting in Blackburn it goes via Accrington and Haslingden before taking the motorway to the outskirts of Manchester. This is branded ‘The Lancashire Way’ and a stout red rose makes up part of its livery. It is a half-hourly service and takes around an hour and ten minutes to get to the heart of Manchester from Accrington.
Rossendale Transport also has a 20-mile route between Accrington and Rochdale but this is not really a branded route. The buses on the route do not have their own livery. The service runs every 20 minutes. From Accrington to Rochdale takes approximately one and a half hours.
Why do bus operators exhaust route branding? Basically, it attracts customers. Each bus has its own name just as many steam locomotives did in the past. To many these contribute to a feeling of personal identity that a mere number can never be. With more passengers it can entice more away from their cars with lower fares. The standard return fare from Accrington to Manchester is £6.50 (approx $9.70) or £9.50 ($14.10) for two travelling together. Both these fares offer a substantial saving on driving a car into Manchester and paying to park it. As was pointed out earlier those over 60 go free.
Though I have given you the situation in East Lancashire many of the medium-sized operators throughout Britain use route branding.
I should also point out that England is a small country – it is approximately the size of Ohio but has ten times Ohio’s population. As an example, going from Accrington to Halifax (just 20 miles) you would drive through Burnley, Todmorden, and Hebden Bridge – all substantial towns in their own right. With villages large and small in between the towns then it easier to understand why public transport in Britain relies mostly on local bus services.
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Filed under Find Branding by on Dec 28th, 2011. 